Resumes. Check.
Ironed professional attire. Check
Talking points and elevator pitch. Check
A 13-gallon bag for free pens and highlighters… Check.

With the Hawk Career Fair less than three days away, the above questions may be similar to your pre-career fair checklist. It is a great practice to plan prior to the career fair through researching employers, revising your resume, and developing your elevator pitch. However, make sure you have considered the common concerns, such as updated copies of a resume, as well as those seemingly small concerns.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “A small leak can sink a great ship”. Here are a few seemingly small concerns that contribute to career fair success:

Avoid the SWAG

• On first glance, this phrase goes against everything that popular culture tells us. At career fairs, employers’ tables are filled with SWAG (Stuff We All Get) and it is tempting to re-stock on pens and to pick up a few snack size candy bars. The career fair is the time to showcase your skills and network with employers. So, be sensible with SWAG: ask for a pen or two, accept SWAG when offered, but keep your eyes on the prize.

Take Notes

• One student can easily connect with 5-10 employers within an hour. Each conversation may bring a different outcome including an offer to follow-up by e-mail or information about an unlisted job. After an hour of career fair stimulation one can easily forget this information. Be sure to carry a small note pad or use a padfolio to keep notes of conversations you have with employers.

Leave your Wingman at the Door

• While you may travel to the career fair with a friend, avoid connecting with employers in groups. This can cause a myriad of challenges and detract from your own attempt at expressing your skills and interest in an employer.

Collect Cards

• Employers attend the career fair to learn more about students and find potential interns and employees, so naturally they are interested in networking and receiving resumes following conversations. Similarly, make sure you get the contact information of the recruiters you speak with by asking for a card after each conversation.

No Need for Aromas

• In many ways, career fairs should be treated like interviews. In interviews, you do not want your perfume to bring your interviewer to tears or cause a coughing attack. In the same way, be considerate to other career fair goers and recruiters. Avoid colognes, perfumes, and smoking prior to the career fair.

These are just a few considerations to place on your checklist. If you have not already prepared for the Hawk Career Fair, schedule an appointment with Career and Leadership Development. Also, as you are entering the Hawk Career Fair on Wednesday, feel free to stop by Career and Leadership Development’s table at the entrance for a last check. Doing the small things right can lead to grand opportunities!

See you at the Hawk Career Fair!

During a recent appointment, I met with a student who wanted assistance with her resume. In our conversation, her effective communication skills and interpersonal presence were apparent, and I suggested that she consider attending the Hawk Career Fair on September 26.

She was not aware of the Fair, and was almost apologetic with her concerns that she was: a) not a business major; b) not very involved on campus; and, c) that her 2.9 GPA might not be good enough to merit serious consideration from employers. She wondered if it would still be worthwhile to attend the Fair, given her “imperfections”.

We began to talk about her accomplishments outside of her academic identity. Some of her “imperfections” were due to the fact that she worked about 30 hours per week while being a full-time student. We discussed how her work ethic itself was distinguishing and appealing, and that she could focus on that, along with her effective interpersonal skills and presence, and lead with those attributes to promote herself at the Hawk Career Fair.

Moral to the story:  You don’t have to be “perfect” to attend the Hawk Career Fair. Just lead with your strengths, and let the conversation unfold from there.

To prepare in advance of the Fair, research the employers and the jobs and internships of their recruitment interest. How do you find that information? Here are the steps:

• Log into Hawk Jobs with your Net ID on the Student Login page.
• After logging in on Hawk Jobs, click on the Career Fairs & Workshops tab.
• Click directly on Hawk Career Fair.
• Select ‘View Employers’. At this point, scroll through the names of employers, or use filters, and then click on the name of a particular employer to reveal the Positions Available, Majors, Degrees Sought and Job Categories. The name of the recruiter(s) may also be revealed. If you want to gain a competitive advantage, you can really distinguish yourself if you contact recruiters and introduce yourself appropriately and effectively to them prior to the Fair.
• If an employer has attached a job or internship announcement to their profile, read the details of the announcement, and think of how you can connect your background to the characteristics sought by the employer.

How ever you have grown and developed as a person, you can draw from all of your experiences to promote yourself to employers. Just think about the knowledge and skills that you possess – whether related to your academic identity or not – and articulate them in an appealing way.

If you need help with this process, you’re welcome to schedule an appointment with someone in Career & Leadership Development, where we can help you identify skills and attributes that you already possess.