It’s all in your approach. I am no fan of job fairs. To me, they are wastes of time, but that is bad of me to discourage you when my job is to ENCOURGE! Many of us do not know what to say when we have an interview/appointment for which we have had time to study. Can you imagine ‘being on your feet’ in a NOISY and CROWDED room full of strangers and hiring managers who did NOT send us a personal invitation (i.e., they have not seen our resume and have no idea who we are)? This makes our job so much harder and uncomfortable. We have to sell this complex product (ourselves), to a stranger who has probably already been overwhelmed with all of the, “Hi! I am ….blah, blah, blah.” So just how does one elicit the interest of oneself to a stranger in 30 seconds or less? I’m “gonna” tell ya!
Step 1
YOU’VE GOT GAME!
You already know these hiring managers are only participating because “it is the right thing to do”. The corporation will probably get some big tax write-off or something. No one voluntarily WANTS a line of strangers rushing up to them in an unorganized manner to listen to them (most of you) babble about their past work experiences. So how do you differentiate yourself from the last 25 people who had no “Game”? You’ve gotta HOOK ’EM! You must snap these hiring managers out of their robotic stances and responses and come correct with your own personalized game plan. You want to make them believe you already had interest in them before you got there. You want to make them believe that you have already browsed their corporate websites for jobs, even if you hadn’t. You also DO NOT want to tell them who you are and what your experience is BEFORE you find out from them what types of jobs they have to offer and what skills they seek. This way, you will not “X” yourself out. You don’t want to tell them you are about X, Y, and Z when they are looking for A,B and C. You want them to tell you FIRST that they are about A,B and C and then you want to make them believe that you TOO are about A, B and C as WELL AS your own X,Y, and Z and whatever else they might be looking for!
So a line such as this should suffice: “Hi, I am name here. I browsed some of your open positions earlier in the week. Can you tell me in what areas of the company do open positions exist and what are some of the skills you are looking for?” You see…..it’s about S-T-R-A-T-E-G-Y and now….”YOU’VE GOT GAME!” You see….you’ve flipped it. Now, you have them talking about their company so YOU can decide if you want them instead of you standing there blah, blah, blah-ing about yourself when they may be half-listening because they have been listening to blah, blah, blah-ing all day.
Step 2
Once you have their attention and you’ve got ‘em talking, tell them you have applied via their website previously but you recently had your resume revamped to more clearly highlight your strengths and abilities and then SHOVE that copy in their faces!
Step 3
Get the name of the person you handed your resume to. When you get home and submit your resume on their website (and I strongly urge you to), when it asks where did you hear about the position, BE SURE to say from an internal employee and put down the person’s name that you spoke to at the job fair. Insert their name into your online profile so every time you apply for a position at this company, that name, which is a goldmine, can be referenced as a referral.
Would this be you? I am all for education. I believe education makes one well-rounded, increases ones credentials, and in some (not all) cases, increases ones opportunities in the job market. If you are reading this, you should know that I produce resumes for individuals from all ends of the occupational spectrum. I have also worked in the corporate environment for over 20 years.
I have worked amongst extremely qualified, driven and bright high-school graduates with amazing experience to mediocre and complacent college and post-college graduates. I have also worked with high school graduates with no ambition who obtained their educational training the “free-way” in public school, to college educated individuals who have obviously learned how to make it work for them by using their many years of expensive and paid for education.
This leads me to draw certain conclusions. Don’t be fooled by an “MBA”, “PhD”, “BA”, “BS” (no pun intended on this one) title.
In my resume writing profession, I have encountered many who have amazing credentials: Bachelors in Business Administration with a Masters in Finance or a Masters in Computer Science, for example. Yet, these people are in low-level positions. Not low-level for someone who has a HS diploma or even an Associates with several years of experience. I mean low-level for someone who paid so much for “school training” but are doing nothing to get their education to “pay their way through life”. There are many students out there who are being misinformed, who have not yet attained any hands-on experience (i.e., those who went straight from HS to college to grad school but have not yet worked) who have been told that the more degrees they obtain, the more money they will make. This is somewhat true but not absolute. This is true for those who know how to make the right connections, network and know how to self-market themselves and negotiate their way to an entry-level position that is moving fast up the ladder. This is NOT true for those who obtain all of their fancy education and go out and stand in the middle of the work world and expect the dream, high-paying job to fall into their lap while exhibiting a mediocre personality, mediocre drive, and below average communications skills.
I have also worked with people who have completed HS or college, with a few years of hands-on work experience under their belt who have decided to go back to school because they felt as if they could not get ahead and were stuck in a dead-end job. Now again, allow me to reiterate, I am NOT against anyone furthering their educational goals. But people….do it for the right reasons. If you are a HS graduate making $35,000 as an Accountant and you have had your job for several years and believe that once you complete your degree in Accounting and go and hand it to Human Resources, who will then increase your salary by $10,000, you are sadly mistaken.
My occupation by trade is in the Information Technology and Finance field. I don’t have an MBA or a Masters in Computer Science but believe me, that I have made a S*load more money than many that have worked alongside me with the fancier credentials but did NOT know how to TALK and sell themselves into a better position.
What we need to focus on is soft skills. Listening, talking, and communicating. Your fancy graduate degree may get you notice on “paper” and may grant you the interview invitation, but while you are interviewing or are gearing up for that promotion in an already established job and you don’t know how to “A-R-T-I-C-U-L-A-T-E” or communicate the needs of the organization or how your skills can contribute to the organization, “fuhgedaboudit” , as we say in my treasured home-state of the N-Y-C. You can bet Bob, the High Schooler, with the C average, years of experience, a great talker, motivator, “out-of-the-box” thinker is coming to take all you’ve worked so hard for and believed to be yours.
Let me also clarify: If you are one of the workers that just sits in the back and develops masterpieces and complex algorithms for your organization, that degree with no communications skills on your part, may just make it. But if you are in a high visibility position and in a position to discuss ideas, elaborate on the business, communicate to senior management and yet, you have no personality or do not know how to TALK, “fuhgedaboudit!”
