‘Tis the season for college career fairs. As a matter of
fact, we held our annual business career fair last week at UMass Boston and
hundreds of students attended. Prior to the career fair, I presented a couple
of workshops entitled “How to Prepare for the Career Fair,” and several
students also came to see me in my office to get advice and pointers on how to
make the most of this premier career event. While preparing for a career fair is
definitely important, what happens after the career fair is even more
important.
A few days after the career fair, one student came to my
office and expressed her dismay that she did not have a lot of time to speak
with recruiters and that one recruiter seemed eager to move on to the next
person in line. I reassured her that this is a normal practice since recruiters
want to make sure that they get to speak with every student in line. She was
left wondering however, “What’s the point of going to a career fair if I only
have a few minutes to make an impression?” and “How will recruiters even
remember who I am given the fact that they meet hundreds of students within the
span of a couple of hours?” Good questions.
I think the best way to answer these questions is to first
clarify what students should realistically expect from attending a career fair
and what they shouldn’t expect in order to avoid disappointment and frustration.
At a career fair, you will not be interviewed, offered a job or have a chance to
have an in-depth conversation with a recruiter. However, what you will get from
attending a career fair is a chance to meet and speak with recruiters at your
dream companies and to personally hand them your resume, as opposed to having
to submit it through the online job application black hole. Just think: If you
hadn’t gone to the career fair, none of this would have happened!
To make the most of your career fair experience, you need to
maintain those relationships with recruiters in the following days, weeks and
months ahead in order to reap the full benefits. By doing the following, you’re
bound to be noticed and remembered!
Send Thank You Notes
Send
each recruiter you spoke with a personalized thank you note. Mention why you
are interested in their company and why you are a good fit. Also state that you
look forward to applying to positions there.
Recruiters
keep these emails and refer back to them when you apply for jobs at their
companies. All things being equal, the person who sent a thank you note will
get the interview over someone who didn’t. It also shows the recruiter that you
were interested enough in their companies to make time to attend the career
fair and make a point of meeting them.
Connect with
Recruiters on LinkedIn
Connect with the recruiters you met at the career fair on
LinkedIn and make sure to change the default email message to a more personal
one, mentioning something you spoke about at the fair. Make sure your LinkedIn
profile is professional and complete before you do so.
Reference the Career
Fair in Your Cover Letters
When you write your cover letters to apply for internships
or jobs at these companies, make sure to address your cover letter to the
recruiter you met at the career fair. Then mention where and how you met them
in the first paragraph of your letter.
Follow Companies on
LinkedIn
Make sure to follow the companies you interacted with at the
career fair on LinkedIn. That way you’ll get updates about what’s happening at
these companies and can make comments about those updates. This is a terrific
way to get noticed!
Attend Other Company
Events on Campus
Often companies will have separate information sessions,
workshops, and networking events on campus as a way to connect with students.
Make sure to attend those events to meet recruiters for a second (or third)
time.
Stay on Recruiters’
Radar Screens
Send them periodic email updates about your academic
accomplishments or links to articles that might be of interest to them. Post
frequent status updates on LinkedIn which will show up in their newsfeed if
they’re in your network.
2 comments:
Do you ever tried to write the compelling characters? It is really fun to write this. Some people thought that it is so tough to do this, but it actually have fun on doing this. useful site to get more ideas on the thesis, research and term papers writing.
خدمة كتابة السيرة الذاتية الإحترافية says
Ever since the man is this world always being struggling fro earning and looking for jobs every where jobs in saudi arabia or you can also check opportunity visit jobs in pakistan and where you feel your cv is not professional feel free to use our Professional resume writing services we are here to help you out there in a world where completion is moving fast
Post a Comment