As an international student who is not familiar with the U.S. job market, I was overwhelmed when I first attended a college career fair. I can still remember how nervous I was when I walked into the career fair room. My hands were sweating. My heartbeat started increasing. I couldn’t even introduce myself articulately when I talked with a recruiter. After years of studying in college and searching for jobs, I came up with my own tips to prepare myself for the career fair and to perform well. I want to share those tips with you to build your confidence and improve your performance.
- Prepare for the Career Fair
It is important to be prepared before attending a career fair. The first thing I like to do is get a list of companies who are coming to the campus, making my own list of companies that interest me most, and researching those companies using whatever resources I have, such as the company’s official website, Google, and maybe friends who have worked at that company. I want to find out the company’s business model, its history and future plans, its culture, and which department and what title they are hiring for. With this information I can figure out which part of the company I will fit in best and what value I can add to the company. I will also write down notes of my research and prepare some questions for the recruiter.
- Develop A Strategy
Most people will go straight to their dream firm and talk with the recruiters. This is not a bad thing if you are really confident that you will perform well, but I like to take a different approach. I will start with talking with other job-seekers to share information about job leads and their recruiting strategies. It helps me to get more comfortable speaking in English, and it is also an opportunity to learn more about the company before speaking with the recruiters. Then I will go to talk with the firm that I am less interested, because It is a good opportunity to practice my elevator speech and get warmed up to interview with other companies.
- Follow Up With Key Recruiters
Follow-up is as important as how you performed at the fair. Recruiters meet with hundreds of students during the fair. It is very possible that they will not remember who you are after the fair. A thank-you letter is an opportunity to remind the recruiters who you are and restate your interest and qualification for the opening position.
These are the tips that I find most useful when I attend career fairs. I hope they will help you when you attend career fairs as well. GW has a lot of resources for career development such as the Career Services office. You might also go there to ask for help.
Zhiqian Wang is a student in the Master of Science in Computer Science program at SEAS. After completing his M.S., Zhiqian hopes to become a software engineer for financial firms.
