Making the Most of a Career Fair
By: AgCareers.com
You are dressed in your best….have a stellar resume ready….and you are off to the career fair. On the way, the anxiety builds and nervousness mounts. How will I know which employers to approach? What will I say to the person to start the conversation? All relevant and common fears among college students, but you don’t have to be nervous. With a few simple steps and some preparation, you can sell yourself and impress!

Do Your Homework
Being prepared for a career fair begins long before the day arrives. One of the biggest pet peeves of company representatives working a career fair is a student that approaches them and when asked what they’d like to do, the student responds with, ‘I don’t know or I’m not sure.’ Have in mind what it is you would like to do or areas that you are interested in. It is okay to have interests in more than one career type, such as sales or marketing. It is also okay if you know your career type but maybe not the industry sector you’d like to work in, for example seed sales or animal nutrition sales. As long as you have an idea of what you’d like to do, that will help you articulate your career goals to employers, but also compose a much stronger resume to highlight relevant skills.

Most colleges and universities will post information or a listing of employers that will be attending the career fair. Career fairs are not only about the employers finding the right employee, but just as much about students finding a company that is a good fit for them.

ADVICE FROM THE COMPANY:

Have a positive presence and outlook when you meet one of our business colleagues. We look at resumes for experience and activities, but we engage the person and assess the manner in which they articulate information about themselves. Communication skills are the first and lasting impression our business representative take away from the student's visit. Kathy Schindler - Syngenta

Do your homework prior to approaching a company booth at a career fair! Understand what the company produces, sells, or provides to their customers. All this information can be found very quickly via the internet and doesn't take too much time on the student's part. This will also help you develop good, solid questions to ask the company representative to get the conversation started. Amanda Kritzer - Agrium Wholesale

Career fairs give you the opportunity to learn about and explore many different organizations. Do some research on the companies that will be at the career fair. Find out what types of jobs they have – often times this is listed on the career fair website, but can also be found on the company’s website. Determine if the company’s mission and services are something that suit you. Try to get a feel for the company culture and those that work for the organization (again, something that you can get a sense of from a company website and also the representatives at the actual career fair). The more you know about the organization going into the career fair, the more prepared and confident you will feel when approaching employers.

Build a Strong Resume
After you’ve left the booth, a resume is all that is left to speak for you. Building a resume that highlights your best skills and top attributes can be the difference between getting further in the hiring process or not. Take time (not just the night before) to work up a really strong resume. It takes time to think through all of the experience and activities that should be included in a resume. Another advantage of doing it sooner, is to have time to have the resume critiqued by a friend, mentor or someone within the career services office on campus.

Focus your content on work experiences that you have had. Remember to use action words and ‘measurables’ in your brief descriptions of work experience. Employers are looking for what you actually accomplished and how you did so, not just a job description. Be honest about your accomplishments and don’t go overboard using action words that are not descriptive of your accomplishments. Keep the resume formatted neatly using a professional layout with white space, bulleted phrases, and a logical order. There are a number of templates online or available through AgCareers.com to help build a strong resume.

If you have done your homework and know a few employers that are going to be at the career fair that you have a high level of interest in, you might consider a customized resume that outlines the specific job you have interest in. This can be done with a tailored objective statement or through a cover letter.

One note about resumes, most employers have really tried to get to a point where they can accept resumes at the career fair, but some may still ask you to submit your resume online through their website. Don’t let this discourage you. It does not mean that they don’t have interest in you. The company likely gets a lot of resumes and has to have resumes submitted online in order to be tracked and managed according to governmental regulations.

Make a Great First Impression
Always dress to impress! Unfortunately, first impressions are usually made based on appearance versus what a person says. This doesn’t mean that you need to go out and purchase a $500 suit. It does however mean that you need to make an effort to look your best. Nice slacks, shirt and tie will likely suffice for guys and slacks/skirt and a blouse for ladies will work in most cases if a suit is not in your wardrobe. Be sure that clothing is clean, in good condition and pressed. If you need advice on what to wear, visit a local department or business attire store and ask for assistance from a sales associate. You might consider asking for a suit for a present from your parents for future career fairs or interviews.

Beyond clothing, consider the rest of your appearance or presence. Ladies, keep makeup and perfume minimal. Gentleman, same for you – keep cologne and aftershave minimal. Some organizations are becoming more accepting of piercings and tattoos, but within the agriculture industry the overall population of employers tends to be pretty conservative still. Consider this as you dress and make the determination of what you have visible based on your discretion given this information.

The handshake….yes it is important! Have a firm yet not too strong handshake. Look the person in the eye and clearly state your name. Practice your handshake with a friend and ask for feedback. Having a good handshake is something that you’ll use long after the career fair!

What Do I Say?
Make a list of the organizations that you definitely would like to talk to before you arrive. Keep in mind to explore some of the smaller/medium sized organizations that you maybe are not as familiar with. Again, here is where research prior to the career fair on an organization can be very helpful in generating conversation and setting yourself apart. In most instances, hopefully the organization has sent company representatives that are naturally approachable and ready to talk to students. In those situations, conversation will likely flow easily. But for those, that maybe don’t flow so quickly, here are a few simple conversation starters after you have introduced yourself:

  • “I see you have an opening for XXXXX job. What type of person or skill sets are you seeking for that role?” Let the employer share their thoughts and then provide comments on the skills and work experience that you have that may match.
  • “I read on your website that your company recently won a XXXX award. Can you share with me a little more about what that was for?”
  • “I’m interested in both sales and marketing, would you be willing to give me a little perspective? In your organization or opinion, what are some of the major differences between these two areas?”

What if it is a company you don’t know or hadn’t researched? Don’t be afraid to approach them. Be honest and let the representative know that you aren’t very familiar with the company, but would like to learn more about the organization and opportunities they have available. Hopefully this will be a rare occurrence because you’ve done your homework, but it does happen. Not all employers make it onto the list of participating employers in time.

Next Steps
Many times students forget the most critical step that can help advance their chances for progressing to the next step in the hiring process. Ask the employer what the next step is! How is it that you can continue the conversation with the company? In some cases that may be signing up for an interview the following day or submitting your resume online. It might take you asking the contact for a business card to follow-up or seeing if the employer plans to follow-up with you. You can only gain insight into what is the appropriate next step by asking. You don’t want to be too pushy, but assertive.

When you know what that next step is, be sure if you are doing the follow-up that you make yourself a note and actually follow through in the given timeframe. If the employer has said they’d be doing the follow-up and you have not heard back from them in the time period given, remember that these representatives are busy traveling to career fairs and have a lot of students to connect with. Give them an additional week and if you still haven’t heard from them, try reaching out to them via email or phone. Ask if they could provide an update on where they are at in their hiring process.

When leaving a career fair booth, don’t be afraid to take promotional material that is offered. Don’t go overboard on taking all of the fun giveaways, but it is okay to take one if you’d like one. Companies have them there for a reason! Be sure to say thank you to the company representative. It is a simple gesture, but makes a great impression!

Career fairs don’t have to be overwhelming or stressful. With a little preparation and planning, you can go into a career fair confident and with purpose. Make the most out of a career fair and use the opportunity to explore the wide variety of opportunities that the agriculture industry holds! For further advice, email AgCareers.com at agcareers@agcareers.com.