College Job Faires

I graduated just before AI became widespread. It was out when I was in college but so clunky and early that it wasn’t really a concern, so please, take that into consideration with these suggestions.

1. Go to the job faire your freshman year, during your first semester. Don’t print a resume, dress presentably, and just walk around. Get a sense of the place, get a sense of what people are wearing. Talk to some people if you feel like it, but really, you’re just familiarizing yourself with the bustle and space.

When you’re going to try to find a job.

1. Research the companies. If I were in college today, I would copy the list of companies and feed them to an AI and ask them to sort out the top 5 companies relevant to me and my major. I did this manually when I was in college. I’d also ask the AI to search the internet for any cool developments they’ve recently made in the past 5 years that are relevant to me. Bring those up. I know that in today’s fast pace something from 5 years ago seem ancient, but the people you’re talking to probably are familiar with it and appreciate the conversation topic. If you can though, bring up something more current, and don’t go past 5 years. Also, make sure you know a little, you don’t have to know everything, but maybe read an article or two. Enough that you can say you’ve been following the progress of this project. Bonus points if you’ve actually been following it from the start.
2. Print out your resume. Print a standard resume. Print it on nice paper, slightly above printer paper if possible, but it’s just going into a pile. If they’re interested, the recruiter will mark it so they can pull it out. Printing it on high-gloss textured paper is more likely to make it hard to read under the harsh gym lights. They will ask for your resume. make sure you have a good, work friendly, email on it. Remember, the recruiter has to pitch you, through your resume, to someone, so if something is off about your resume, the supervisor will eliminate you from the pile.
3. Dress business casual. This is often not the place for 6 inch heels, unless it is. It’s also not a place for a sweatshirt and slippers. Wear clean, unstained long pants/jeans, a clean, unstained neat shirt/blouse/button-up. A blazer can be great but it is optional and if it’s a warm day/warm in the gym, get rid of it.
4. Wear antiperspirant. When I went to job faires I used a antiperspirant that i bought year one and used only at job faires. The locations are always hot, you’re always dressed up, and it’s nerve wracking talking to people. I’m going to be honest, stress sweat smells, and should be avoided. It also shows. I never had that problem but I also never gave myself the opportunity to have that problem. 24 hours before the day, I’d shower and apply it.
5. Avoid strong perfumes. Although lovely, this is a place for subtle perfumes. It’s too hot to have a strong perfume. Unless you’re extremely confident, try to avoid smelling too strongly of something .However, I always wore 1-2 sprays of a nice clean scent.
6. Practice your elevator speech with friends. I know, it’s not fun or cool, but do it anyways. There’s almost nothing like talking to a live person and getting instant feedback. Time each other. Refine each other’s speech. Be kind and have grace. Also, don’t do this 5 minutes before it starts, do this a week before so you have time to workshop it as needed. Start your workshop with your name, major, year, relevant experience. Then talk about why that company interests you (the news topic from AI) and finish by asking if you can give them your resume.
7. Practice your handshake with your friends. This is an odd one. However, when you’re in college, you likely haven’t had a lot of opportunities to shake someone’s hand and it actually says a lot about you. It gives a first impression before the first impression. Do you give a limp handshake, do you squeeze, do you squeeze too hard, is your hand wet, etc. You are aiming for a firm, dry, handshake, one to two vertical movements and then separate and give your elevator speech.
8. Expect not to have a bag on you. There’s too many people, too little space, and also security risks so you won’t be able to take your bag in with you. Prepare accordingly. Have your resumes in a hard (ish) folder, have a pen and put your post-it notes on the inside of the folder. These are so you can quickly jot down the recruiters name and email if they give it to you and say you should email them. Always have some paper prepared beyond another resume.
9. Cheat sheet. If I were to go to a job faire tomorrow, I’d have an AI give me the mission statement of 5 companies, two markets/products that are relevant to me, and one or two current developments/news articles that are at most 5 years old for each of those companies. I’d read the articles. Then, I’d ask the AI to shorten the mission statements to 10 words. I’d write each company name on the top of a post-it, followed by the mission statement, followed by the markets/products and news. Just headers. Make sure these are appropriate and well-written in case the recruiter accidentally gets them. They show that you are prepared. I’d attach each to a resume, and keep 5 resumes in reserve. Then, just before I got to the head of a line for a company I was interested in, I’d quickly review the cheat sheet, remove it,, shake hands, do my elevator speel, and hand over the resume.
10. Cast your net wide. Do go to these faires with the intention to talk to your top 5 companies, but maybe include 5 ‘B’ companies. I’ve had job offers from companies that I struck up a conversation with because their booth was empty, the recruiters were glad to just not be standing aimlessly, and they had extra interview slots.
11. Interview slots. In my experience, each company has a set number of interview slots. So you might get an interview just for talking, consider if you want to actually work there, and consider going for the practice.

Be presentable, know somewhat what you’re doing (no one expects you to be perfect), smile, shake their hand firmly, give your elevator speech confidently, and hand over your resume. Ask them a question or two (start and end dates for internships are great general questions or questions about the new development i.e. Tell me more about {insert product here]. However, don’t take up too much of their time. There are other students, they need to talk to others, and if they have to awkwardly or forcefully end the conversation because you won’t let it go, you won’t get a callback. Be confident, give them your best shot, and move on. The right opportunities won’t be avoidable. You got this.