Five Ways to Lose at Career Fair
Career Fairs serve many purposes. These are great places to network, spring board into a career, gain internships, set up informational interviews, or gain insights. The challenging thing about career fairs is you are there with a room full of your peers that are there for that exact same purpose and you don’t know what kind of cards their holding. Don’t worry about your neighbor. Focus on your blessing ahead of you because we all have different gifts and are designated for different purposes in life that will help one another. Although you are at the right place, at the right time, make your time and the interviewee’s time worthwhile.
Outside of the traditional dos and don’ts: no miniskirts, no wearing the bracelet from the club around the fair, here are five quick tips on ways to lose at Career Fairs:
1. Don’t seem unprepared. Don’t walk up to an interviewee at a career fair and the first thing you say is “So tell me about your company!” You have already been flagged as unprepared, uninterested in the company, and as a candidate with no ambition. There are way too many resources on the internet for you not to have any knowledge about a company prior to approaching them in any career and/or business settings.
2. Don’t negotiate salaries or relocation packages. Let the interviewee tell you about the compensation. The point of the career fair is to build a connection that you hope will lead into a career relationship. You will have plenty of opportunities to discuss compensation (a great resource for salary information http://www.indeed.com/salary) . To find out what type of salary you will need for a potential area use the cost of living calculator http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx
3. Don’t put business cards in your pocket. This is insulting to an interviewee. A serious company isn’t just handing their card out to every candidate that walks by. Show them their information is valuable to you. Purchase a business card holder or find a place for them in your business portfolio.
4. Don’t stare down at your resume. You need to make the right amount of eye contact. You don’t want to stare down your interviewee so they feel you are trying to intimidate them but you don’t want to stare down at your career map the entire time as if you are ready to move on to the next table.
5. Don’t make eye contact with a career table and keep walking. You will be amazed at how many of these companies are connected. If you are walking and make eye contact with an interviewee at a table take five seconds walk over, introduce yourself, and have a small discussion. You never know where it may lead; you want to be the candidate that everyone wants.
I believe practice makes improvement. Go to a career fair that is not high on your list just to practice your skills. Evaluate your best practices and skill sets and then take these on to the Career Fair you have your eyes set on. So empower yourself, seek the wisdom: A mocker seeks wisdom and never finds it, but knowledge comes easily to those with understanding Proverbs 14:6 (NLT). © Tiffani Chase
