It’s January and the start of the semester. Another time for hustle and bustle – get busy with classes and work. But one event looms over my mind at the beginning of this spring semester: the career fair.
This year, the career fairs at Texas A&M University will be held the last couple of weeks of January and leading into February. I started going to career fairs since the fall of my freshman year (to be honest, simply out of curiosity!) and the upcoming ones will be my 5-6th career fair. Here’s my experience & some of the things I found out.
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE “SMALL” CAREER FAIRS
One thing that I noticed was that during spring, there seem to be more people attending the career fairs, especially the big, college-wide career fairs. Most people (or a fair amount of people) are looking for jobs and internships during the upcoming summer. You can expect to see more junior and seniors. This means that there will be longer lines and you might not get the chance to talk to the company of your choice. It can also mean that the company you are looking for will most likely hire a senior or junior if you are still an underclassmen.
For me, it was more beneficial to focus on attending the “small” career fairs. These career fairs can be fairs hosted by your major. They can also be fairs that are hosted by specific industries or are looking for specific minority or ethnic groups (like diversity career fairs). Although the company you are looking for might not attend these fairs, you are more likely to meet more companies and network with people.
THE CAREER FAIR “STARTS” BEFORE THE FAIR
You might be thinking the obvious: start researching about the companies you want to look into and where they are. But there is more. The week before the career fair, the career center will host a succession of events & workshops each day to get you prepared. These events & workshop will help you with your resume, CV, elevator pitch, mock interviews, etc. It was really helpful for me to attend these workshops and I was able to get a better picture of what to expect. One thing that caught my attention was vmock: a website provided by the university that helps “grade” your resume and gives feedback on how to improve it.
PRINT & BE PREPARED
I think that the hard truth about the career fair is that you can stand in line for hours only to meet one company that barely glances at your resume…or meet 3-5 companies in an hour. Despite the situation, always have multiple hard copies (I would say around 10 copies depending on where you are) of your resume. It doesn’t hurt to add a QR code on your resume that can take them to your LinkedIn profile or ePortfolio if they want to look more into you. In addition, have hard copies of important information or job descriptions that the companies have opened. If not hard copies, make sure the information is readily available. This can save you a lot of time.
THE BEFORE & AFTER “ETIQUETTE”
I feel that, just like when we greet people and say goodbye after meeting them, the career fair also has the before & after “etiquette.” During one of the pre-Career fairs workshops that I attended, they were talking about how to leave more lasting impression on companies. Something that struck me was communication. Some people would reach out to companies that they are interested in ahead of time and would introduce themselves. During the career fair, sometimes people would take the lead in asking questions (questions that cannot be found easily on their website). But here’s the most important part: after the career fair, they would reach back to the companies that they talked to and send out an email thanking them for their considerations. I feel like this shows the companies that you are a proactive candidate. It gives them a better impression of you, more than just a person on a piece of paper.
NO EXPERIENCE? MAKE EXPERIENCE YOUR GOAL
When I was going to career fairs there were times when I was rejected simply because I didn’t have specific experience. This can especially be true if you are a freshman, a sophomore, or have an indecisive major. And it might not always be enough to talk about project or works you did in class. As a result, I quickly realized that I need to adjust my goal. Rather than having mindset of going to the career fair to get an internship, a research position, or a job, I started going to the career fair to look for opportunities that enhance my experience UNTIL I can get that internship, job, or research position.
Are there any programs, scholarship opportunities, or workshops hosted by the company? If so, it might be best to attend or apply for them. Is the company looking for specific certifications or expertise of specific topics that you can learn through a course? Try aiming for a certification or complete courses that can get you that experience. If the companies that you are looking into sponsors a research lab or organization in the university, maybe try looking into the opportunities that they have. I was part of an organization that was sponsored by Chevron, L3 Harris, Lockheed Martin, etc. As a result, I received a lot opportunities from them. Try to expand your horizon and don’t give up!