By Genesis Combs —
Recently, employers (and a few graduate schools) gathered at the Wilks Conference Center for
Miami Regionals’ Career Fair. Here, they set up tables in the hopes of finding future
employees—us.
At events like these, it’s perfectly okay to simply show up and take a look around at what is
currently being offered, but there’s so much more you can do to really stand out. Having
attended the Career Fair myself, I wanted to give fellow students six pieces of advice for future
career fairs so that you can make the most out of your time there.
1) Check Handshake to see who will be there (and what jobs they’re hiring for).
You don’t want to spend significant amounts of time preparing for the Career Fair, only to
discover when you get there that no one is hiring for your field. On Handshake, you can look at
all of the upcoming career-related events happening at Miami. Simply log in, go to the events
tab, and click “career fairs at your school.”
Checking the Career Fair pages will give you the option to look through the companies that will
be attending. You can then check each company’s job listings to see if anyone is hiring in areas
that interest you. If none of them are offering jobs of interest, no worries; you can try again at
future fairs or potentially job search elsewhere.
2) Have printed copies of your resume ready.
If the employer is interested, they may ask for a copy of your resume. Make sure you print out at
least one copy of your resume for each company you’re looking to talk to—and then print out
two or three more, just in case. You never know who may stop you, or if a copy will somehow
disappear.
3) Utilize LinkedIn.
Most companies will use LinkedIn as a form of communication. Even if you end up not working
with the company, having that connection on LinkedIn could prove invaluable. Plus, sometimes
they make their own announcements about going to career fairs on their LinkedIn accounts.
One of the companies I had looked at did this, even stating the names of the recruiters that
would be there. This allowed me to greet them by name when I showed up.
4) Get help from Career Services.
“Having a resume and LinkedIn is nice, but how do I make those?” That would be a question for
Career Services. They will happily help you with your resume, cover letter, elevator pitch,
LinkedIn, and more. Visit them as often as you feel the need to, and meet with different people if
possible. Having multiple people look at and give feedback on your resume is incredibly helpful,
as one person may point something out that another person missed.
Career Services also has a career closet located in Middletown, which you can also stop by to
get proper clothes for interviews and the like. It’s also useful for a job fair so, if it’s possible, go
ahead and check out their closet.
Career Services are entirely free to use. You just need to make time for the appointment. If you
need more information, you can check their website.
5) Take advantage of any available professional photographer.
At the event, there will usually be a professional photographer set up in another room. Their
services are entirely free to students, so take advantage of them. You can use this photo for
your LinkedIn account, professional email, portfolio (if applicable to your field), and elsewhere.
6) Relax. They know we’re college students.
Employers know what they’re signing up for when they go to a college job fair. They know we
are largely inexperienced, with mostly our education and maybe some part-time jobs to back us
up. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t put any effort into fleshing out your resume as much as
you realistically can. Do whatever you can do in order to make yourself stand out in the crowd,
but keep in mind that companies have realistic expectations. Don’t stress too much over this.
Enjoy it. Learn from it. And good luck!