How to Navigate A Career Fair Like A Boss

The dreaded career fair. Love them or hate them, it’s where big firms recruit most of their students. The fact is that people DO get internships at career fairs, your goal is to make sure you are one of them.

Career fairs tend to have some of the biggest companies show up. After all, they have to spend thousands of dollars to get a booth setup and send employees there to staff it. The point is that the companies have a vested interest in hiring students. The issue is that career fairs also have the lowest barrier to entry. Any student with a suit and tie will receive as much attention as you. In short, career fairs are the tinder of recruiting (okay that’s it, no more tinder jokes from here on out). How do you make a lasting impression in a sea of identical recruits.

Scope Out The Place:

Even if you have a game plan of what companies you are going to talk to, when you get to the career fair walk around the place. Figure out what booths are overly crowded and which ones are lacking traffic.

Take a few minutes and figure out which booths are engaging with students and which ones are there to give away flyers. Some companies will have sign-up lists on the spot for the interview. Take note of all this. That way, while everyone else is placing all their bets on one company by waiting in line, you can talk to a dozen companies. 

Hone In:

Once you’ve found you’ve walked around, make a list of what companies you want to target.

First take a few minute and sign up for every company that has an interview sign-up sheet. Don’t waste too much time, but make sure you get all the easy pickings.

Second, talk to the companies that you are interested in but don’t have long lines. Take this time to have genuine conversation.

Lastly, if you have time, wait in those long lines for the super popular companies. At this point even if you don’t get anything out of it, you’ve at least made connections at other places.

Call to action:

The average student goes into career fairs, talks to the recruiter, leave a resume and then walk away without making a clear ask. Once you’ve connected with the recruiter, ask them how you can intern with them. Is there an online application, should you reach out to someone, do they want you to contact them? And be specific with your questions. The more specific questions you ask the more it proves that you are planning on applying.

Don’t leave that booth without having a clear idea of what your next steps are. Most students will fail to do this. They will go the fair, talk to a few people and once they get home they take their suit off and forget about everything they spent the day doing.