Making the Most of Career Fairs

Most candidates I’ve spoken to about #Career Fairs have provided me with mixed feedback – some found them useful, others not so much. Given I’ll be present at the TOTech Career Fair today afternoon, I thought I’d write a quick article to help you make the most of Career Fairs in general and some things to keep in mind:

1)     Attend the RIGHT Career Fairs. I met a job seeker recently and we started speaking about Career Fairs and whether they’re even useful to #jobseekers or not. This candidate fell into the group believing they weren’t really of much use, as they attended one recently and it was a waste of time. I asked “Was it a #technology specific career fair?”. It wasn’t. That was the problem. I mention technology as that is the vertical I recruit for, however whatever your field/domain/vertical – you will probably get the most out of attending career fairs with a focus on your vertical.

2)     Research the exhibitors/attendees. Who will be sponsoring the event? Who are the exhibitors? You can expect to be able to network with these people since they’ve probably paid money to be there. So they’re usually very eager to meet you and make the most out of their presence at the event. Now, this doesn’t mean each and every sponsor or exhibitor is going to offer you a job. The point here is – this is an opportunity to speak face to face with individuals who may be involved in hiring or recruitment in some respect who you can get into contact and communication with. Knowing this, do some research on the organizations present which most interest you so you're able to let them know about your interest in working with them and show them you've done your research versus being someone just handing out resumes.

3)     Have your elevator pitch ready. If you don’t know what an elevator pitch is, take a quick few seconds to Google it and come back. I’ve heard some places on the internet talk about “keep your elevator pitch to 2 minutes” – no way! With people’s attention spans getting shorter and shorter, 2 minutes is the equivalent of eternity. I would suggest you keep it tight. I’m talking 15-20 seconds ideally; 30 seconds MAX. This forces you to focus on what’s important and use those 15-30 seconds to set a hook and capture the other person’s attention - if not for an immediate hiring need, then for something in the future.

4)     Be prepared with your resume/CV. There might be thousands of other attendees, however there will be a much more manageable number of recruiters and/or hiring authorities for you to connect with. Print out a couple of copies of your resume to present them with – or at least for those you feel it makes sense to.

5)     Know what you’re looking for. Unless you’re visiting an exhibitor booth specializing in career advisory/coaching services, you don’t want to start asking for suggestions on what you should do with your career. You’ll mostly be meeting with Recruiters or hiring authorities who are looking for specific skill sets, both immediately and for future anticipated opportunities. If you don’t know what you want – they won’t either. Figure it out before the event folks. You have to know what you want in order to put yourself in front of the right people.

6)     Have a clear idea on next steps. Let’s say you speak with an exhibitor who may have an opportunity for you. What do you do next? You need to put a follow-up plan in place to continue the conversation and keep building the relationship. See if you can schedule a follow-up phone call or meeting to continue the discussion. Make follow-up YOUR responsibility. Remember – there will usually be a couple of hundreds or thousands of other attendees they have to balance out. Be sure you separate yourself by taking the initiative to follow-up.

7)     Be prepared to network. While you may primarily be there to network with Recruiters and hiring managers, don’t miss out on networking with your fellow attendees. Add each other on LinkedIn, keep in touch. Perhaps you might be able to help them, or they might be able to help you at some point in the future. Its never a bad idea to expand on your industry contacts.

There you have it – hope those tips prove helpful. If you’re a #Tech Professional, don’t forget to come meet me at the TOTech Career Fair taking place today (October 8, 2019). I will be at the Robert Half exhibitor booth from 1PM to 3:30PM.

I look forward to meeting you in-person!

Dean Kulaweera - #TechRecruiter

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