What are Job Fairs?
If you are a student, you must have often come across some job fairs in your college or even when you are working in a firm or a company already; there are a number of opportunities where you get to attend such fairs. However, you may not think of going to one. But wait! Have you ever considered what big opportunities you are losing upon? Do you even know the huge information that lies inside those fairs? The job fairs are certainly a great opportunity for job seekers, fresher as well as the ones with some prior work experience. They open up vast and distinct fields of interest that you may want to explore. They provide tremendous employment opportunities to a large number of students or job seekers. There is no better place than a job fair to find out everything about a huge number of companies that may interest you.
You may think that job fairs are a thing of the past, but it is not so. These fairs still provide immensely attractive job opportunities, and more importantly, the jobs are provided in bulk. This helps you do away with a lot of traveling here and there, and it also saves you time and energy, which you’d otherwise deliver in looking for jobs everywhere. In addition, these job fairs provide you with a platform where you can connect to a number of prospective employers. You can get to know them, their needs and requirements, the companies, the work culture and everything else that you may find important for your career growth. You can meet and interact with the recruiters, make personal connections and also form up a network of possibilities for yourself in the market.
Tips For Job Fairs
So now you have made the decision, and you are going to take an in-depth look at job fairs at your college. But before you go, there are certain things that you need to remember to make the most out of it.
Keep the below-given 11 tips for job fairs in mind:
1. Get your hands on some research
It is fairly important to remember that you should always go through the fair guide. First, you must know about the companies that are coming to the fair. You can, maybe, take down the list of the companies and chalk out the preference that you may want to work with. Once there, it gets easier for you to narrow down your search and concentrate on the next step, which of course, is presenting your resume to the employer and the things that follow.
2. Pre-register for the fair
Most of the fairs usually put up big hoardings to advertise. There are ads about these fairs online on social networking sites as well. They give you the opportunity to re-register yourself for the job fairs. Don’t hesitate to register yourself since registering would secure you a more vivid opportunity to come into the eyes of the employers and the fair organizers. And also, you’ll get updated on all the latest advancements about these fairs.
3. Check out information about the job fair options
With prior knowledge of the type of jobs that are available at the job fairs, you are in a position to understand what you can expect from these jobs. You will also get to know the kind of people and degrees that are being looked for. This will also give you an insight into the skills that the employers and the companies are interested in. There is a page available on these websites about the fair where you can get all the necessary information about the fair. This will ease your task of enquiring about the things at the job fairs.
4. Develop your set of questions
You can always develop a set of questions that you may want to ask the employer. But it does not have to be the superficial questions, the answers to which are readily available on the internet. Therefore take some time ad frame the questions that you think are appropriate to ask your employer. You can ask the employers to elaborate on the information they have provided online or in the fair guides etc.
You can even ask them about certain new products or new schemes they have launched recently, and then you can brief them about the selective skills that you think will prove beneficial for their company. This is just a way to start it off. It is almost like exploring the avenues that are available for you. Therefore it is important that you should be prepared well in advance with a set of queries that might get you to the crux of the companies that are hiring for jobs in these fairs. After all, it is always smart to be prepared for a job beforehand.
5. Keep your resume ready
It is always a good idea to keep your resume updated. Before you go to the job fairs, be sure to proofread your resume. The more interesting your resume is, the better the chances of selection you have. Your resume is like a blueprint of your skills, and it can get the recruiters and employers interested in you. So make every attempt to make your resume do the talking. You can proofread your resume and put it together for the job fairs.
Now that you have just remembered all the important things that need to be taken care of just before the job fair, it is time to tell you about the things that you should remember while at the job fair. So here we have compiled a list, along one for that matter, to get you going. Because after all, a job fair is everything like a job interview.
6. Be dressed just right for the occasion
You are what you wear. Don’t negate this perception because it’s with every job interview; the way you dress up is definitely going to leave a mark on your interviewers or recruiters. While you may choose to just go about wearing your daily college attire, this may just not be good while you are at a job fair. You should dress just like you would dress for an interview.
The way you carry yourself gives out an important message about your professionalism. For instance, if your shirt isn’t properly ironed or your shoes look dull and lack shine, then your interviewer might make this a hurdle for you in the fair. Also, remember not to wear too much makeup or too much jewelry because this is just not right. Your clothes must not be too short either. You don’t, however, need to suit up for the job fairs, but you can always dress casually for the job fairs to make it work for you. They may even relate it to your seriousness towards the work, and well, we all know that first impressions are very significant in an interview, so why to take a chance. Dress to the occasion and dress just the right.
7. Introductions should be a notch better
Introduce yourself so well that the employer may not forget you when you approach them outside the fair. You can go up and say a nice professional ‘hello’ and begin introducing yourself in an appalling manner. Exchange those professional glances with your employer and be ready to talk about all your career interests, your skillset and, of course, your academic and co-curricular excellence. You have to show them your strengths and your abilities so make sure you put your best foot forward. Certainly, you are trying to market yourself in the job fairs; therefore, you must do it so well that the recruiters readily present you with the offer letter.
8. Always be courteous
It never harms you to be courteous. So gather up and be courteous enough at the job fairs because you are not only representing yourself, but you are also representing your institution, your college, or university. You shouldn’t be just crowding the space. Make it comfortable for yourself, for your fellow students, and also for the recruiters. No one likes a crowded place, and well when the place gets crowded, you are in a mess. And good things do not come out of a mess. So when you are up in the line, be courteous enough to give some space to everybody. You can schedule up your meeting sometime later at the fair. This will show your positive attitude and gentle behavior, which of course will count as your strength in the market hence making you a more attractive choice for the employers at the fair.
9. Communicate well
It is equally important for both the recruiter as well as the student and any job seeker at the fair to be able to communicate; however, the recruiters are already good at it. It is you who has to work on getting out just the right communication in order to succeed. The way you frame your answers, the way you put your experiences and statements in front of the employer says a lot about who you are and what skills you possess. Verbal communication is a very important tool to get the best out of a job fair. Apart from this, you must also give detailed attention to your non-verbal communication, your actions, eye contact, body language, etc.
10. Take notes and take the cards
You have already chalked out your preferences online. You know exactly who you are approaching in the fair. You also know about the positions that have been advertised. So precisely, you have all the required information. And now, at the fair, you are doing pretty well with the introductions, resume, interviewing and everything else. It is pertinent to mention here that when you are at the fair, you must make sure that you take down notes for future references.
This may include taking the contact numbers of the recruiting team, confirming the hiring dates and other such information which you find important. This is just for your record so that when you return home, you can get your hands on the information you have gathered and made sense out of it in order to help you for your further steps in the process. Also, you can always ask for the cards of the representatives and thank them for their endeavors. And also, you must respect the give-away content material that the companies may have brought along.
11. Don’t forget to follow up
Now that all the deed at the fair is done, you only need to go home and do the rest. But before that, you must make sure that you apply online for the same companies that you have paid a visit to during the entire day at the fair. This gives you more accountability to be counted as a desirable employee, and also, job fair success rates your candidature well for future hiring. All you have to do is just register and apply online and never forget to mention your earlier meet at the job fair. This will secure you a good position at the firm or the organization. Also, you must take due care to take some time and write a follow-up email to the company. This will help you gain a better chance of being hired in the near future.
Although the job fairs are not much in fashion these days because of the availability of all this information online, it is still important to take these job fairs a bit more seriously and rather professionally. You never know what you may find your dream job at the fair. There are, of course, innumerable options at the fair to choose from. It gives you an option not only to choose from amongst the multiple companies but also to choose a profession that gives you the best satisfaction. So buckle up and grab the most of the job fairs.
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This is a guide to Job Fairs. Here we discuss the introduction and 11 tips for job fairs respectively. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –
