Career Fair Preparation

Everyone wants to live the American dream, but not everybody known where to start the road to success. Whether you're a freshman just starting in college or a senior on your way out, a career fair is one of the many great ways to get your name out there to potential job/internship opportunities. When attending a career fair one must be absolutely prepared in order to impress anyone. Through my business seminar class I have been fortunate enough to learn from a professional businessman named Steve Bonus on how to go about preparing for such an event. Mr. Bohus works for the company Auto Owner and part of his job includes being a representative for his company at career fairs.

 So from the opinion of someone on the other side of the career fair process our class was given multiple steps and tools for perfect preparation. We were first told to select a few of the companies you are most interested in and research each of them in depth and have a few questions ready in order to draw the attention of the representative and better increase your chances of being remembered. Also, another key aspect to this process is to have a stack of your resume on hand at all times to hand out to each rep you talk to. Though, all of these tips are equally relevant one of the most important aspects to this process is presentation. The way one presents themselves to the representatives is huge, so make sure to dress in business attire; Dress pants, dress shoes, button down, tie and jacket for men; Nice skirt, nice flats, or business suit for women. Another key aspect of presentation is how you introduce yourself; greet each representative by introducing your name, giving a firm handshake with the right amount of eye contact. According to Mr. Bonus, you can tell a lot about a person by the way they shake your hand. No matter how little or tedious some of these takes may be they are all absolutely necessary if you want to succeed in this process.

All throughout the process it is important for you to recognize that there are hundreds of companies sending representatives and thousands of students talking to each rep so it's crucial to make yourself known. You must be attentive and respectful as well as interesting in each of your conversations because the whole point is to get your name out there in the most positive way. No matter how young/old you are it is never to early/late to start getting your name out there. What are you waiting for? You have all the tools, now go out there and get that dream job!