This past week I attended my first job fair and to keep a long story short, I was unprepared. It’s not that I was under dressed or acted too unprofessional or anything else of that nature, I just didn’t really know what to expect and therefore couldn’t really brace myself how I probably should have.Â
I knew what it meant to go to a job fair, yet I still wasn’t ready for the kind of intense environment or the questions that were asked of me so for your sake (and admittingly my own), I thought it would best to reveal some of the so-called “unspoken rules” of job fairs.
Dress to impress
This might just be the only thing that I was sure of before going to the job fair and that was to be well dressed and “presentable”. I have to say, sometimes this is easier said than done. For these kinds of events, I would say that business casual is a safe way to go but if you’re anything like me and aren’t entirely sure what constitutes as “business casual”, I would say a nice button up, some nice pants, and clean shoes are your best bet. On that note, I can promise you that you will neither be the most “overdressed” (though I don’t think there is a way to over dress for this kind of activity) nor the most “underdressed”.
“who has any questions”
Before actually getting to the venue of the job fair, I knew that it was common practice for the people representing these companies to ask you questions and vice versa but because I was already feeling out of my element and the fact that I just didn’t recognize half of these companies, I was not doing so hot in this category. I don’t have too much else to say on this matter except that I think it is important to stay on your toes and try your best to engage in other ways to show that you understand and are listening, especially when you don’t know how to answer a question.
get ready to listen and repeat!
Okay, this might also be a given and this goes along with the last rule but if you by chance mention another table/company that you talked to earlier at the one you are talking to currently (which, arguably, don’t do that), don’t act surprised when the person you are talking to asks about what you learned at the other table. So… I may or may not be speaking from experience here (definitely not one of my best moments). When I say I was taken aback, I mean that wholeheartedly. I was floored. Now, please don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not that I couldn’t tell them about what I had talked about earlier with the people at the other table it’s just that I was so caught off guard that I didn’t really know where to start. So, if you do end up talking about different company from the one you are speaking with, just be sure to handle the situation a lot better than I did and do so gracefully.
bring your resume!
Perhaps this is common knowledge for different people, but as someone who is the first person in their family to go to college and doesn’t know anyone who has gone to/gotten a job from a job fair, I had absolutely no idea that bringing copies of your resume to give to the different businesses was something you should do. Full transparency, I knew way before I even decided to go to this job fair that there wouldn’t be any companies that I would be interested in joining, and unfortunately, I was right. Even though this wasn’t a problem for me this time around, if you go to a job fair where you know there will be booths that appeal to you, I’d definitely recommend bringing your resume. Personally, I will definitely be making a note to remember this for the next time!