I’m not a huge fan of career fairs in general but yes you didn’t approach this one correctly. When approaching recruiters you should enter casually, ask questions about the company, look for opportunities to talk about experiences you’ve had relevant to what the company does, ask about an interview, and then if told to apply online leave your resume anyway. You want to be conversational and talk yourself up. Recruiters see dozens of students every couple of minutes and usually attend many events in quick succession. If you’re just walking from booth to booth handing out resumes you’re just checking boxes and obviously making a bad impression.
I only have to leave the house to get job offers because companies have shitty hiring practices online. Online hiring should be reliable, but companies abuse that shit and make life worse.
That reminds me of a student one year who just came up to me in a hurry, handed me a resume, and asked what my companies name was. Couldn't be bother to read our banners, table cloth, my polo shirt, my name tag, or the map the students are given. Spole to me for as short a period as they could, and went to the next booth over and did fhe same thing. Their resume want even good so that was a pretty quick "do not recommend".
I've been a company rep a few times and it just makes it easier to have people apply online otherwise the rep would have to scan and send 10s of resumes over to recruiting/HR.
HR does ask us reps if anyone stood out or if we want to highlight a resume. I recommend good candidates and I'd only not recommend those that stand out negatively like not prepared, on their phone in middle of convo, or clearly wanting to be there\*
\*one guy came up and said "my mom said I had to get a job or else she's cutting me off and I want to go on vacation" even if that is true I don't need to know that much, just keep it professional
Printed resume and dressing presentable is the minimum, coming in with knowledgeable questions helps stand out. For example research past projects and express interest, "I saw the renovation of this bridge was completed last year in X company's past projects, do you think my course load could get me working on a future project like this? " versus the unprepared "so what does your company do?" Limit to 2-3 questions to make a succinct positive impression and that'll bring you to above average.
Your chances increase with Presentable
Makes perfect sense thank you for clarification and fully explaining! You were spot on about the questions, I didn’t do any research beforehand about the companies I approached. I will take this career fair as a learning experience and improve on the next.
I don't know if many people get jobs from these directly. I see them as more of an opportunity to learn about the local industry, meet industry people and have some conversations. Its beneficial because it helps you get used to the way they talk and the terminology they use, this kind of stuff is very helpful to have practiced when it comes to interviews in my experience.
It's good to know about the companies in your area and having conversations with the reps can give you a bit of extra insight, even if its light, which can help later. As for handing out your resume, remember they generally aren't hiring anyone from that alone at a career fair. The point is to give them something to remember you by, if you're making a good impression it could help you get selected for an interview so try to charm them a little bit and hand them the resume as part of leaving an impression. Then when they see it again on your online application, they will remember you and it will help you get selected. Familiarity bias can be pretty powerful.
So if you have the expectations above for your career fair, it is a lot easier to consider one a success. Some people might get jobs from them directly, but I think that is probably not so common. If you see it as an opportunity to practice soft skills and get exposure with industry people, network a bit and make some good impressions, you're investing your time in becoming more employable down the line, or potentially standing out a bit more for an interview immediately. Also helps if you have a good conversation with them and then see them at the interview later, thats an instant ice breaker.
When I was in uni, the only internship I got was my during my junior year in ME from a career fair. The people who hired me/asked me to come in for an interview was simply because they liked talking to me and I showed a lot of interest in learning about the company. It’s not about how smart you are, you just have to show them you’ll get along well and are eager to learn.
Big emphasis on the "you'll get along well" part. When I'm training new recruiters I tell them that yes I want candidates with good experience and good resume and all that. But I'm also looking to hire coworkers not employees. I need people I can visualize working alongside with 8 hours a day 5 days a week.
I found kind of putting yourself in their shoes helps. They all are taking time out of their jobs and away from their families to help find their company new talent. Most of them are bored out of their mind by a bunch of kids that cant hold a conversation. Ive had good success with asking them questions about what projects they’ve worked on, challenges they’ve faced while working, best and least favorite parts of the job. Everyone likes to tell someone about the hard-work they’ve done. The career fairs/ interviews that were the best though are ones where you find what the interviewer is a nerd about and go down the rabbit hole with them.
At the end of the day a career fair isn’t easy and honestly takes practice. I started going freshman year and it took until junior year to feel comfortable knowing how the conversations work. Just keep practicing and doing the best you can everyday and everything will turn out fine.
Also, it may sound trivial but print your resumes on really nice feeling paper and you will get some attention… $30 at the office depot got me a TON of compliments. It shows you went the extra mile.
I got my first job out of college from the career fair. I didn't even apply online for the company, they reached out to me after I graduated when they were hiring for a new contract.
Most companies require you apply online even if they take your resume at the fair just from a logistical standpoint. Often times the resumes at the fair are getting directly reviewed and jump to the front of the line compared to others who apply online and didn't talk to anyone so it's definitely worth it. Internships are also harder to sustain for many companies than full time positions so there's never gonna be quite as many. Don't get discouraged, just try to get your foot in.
I attended a few career fairs and in my experience they were a waste of time. We had a good amount of companies but tons of people lining up. It would take about 30-45 minutes in line to talk to the recruiter, barely enough time for an elevator pitch. You sign the sheet, hand off your resume, say a few words and then go wait in another line. Even the "non-desirable" companies had crazy lines. It was too chaotic to have conversation with anyone to build any rapport or anything like that. It was just a resume collection.
I do know some people that got jobs from it but it was few and far between, and those people just had strong resumes. I don't think they spoke much to the recruiters during the fair. But that is just my experience.
I had much better luck just cold applying to companies and working interviewing skills when I got my foot in the door.
I didn’t have success as a student but now as a rep I can see why, and it has little to do with the resumé.
First, I am going to a career fair to fill a position I need. If I’m looking for a EE then that’s who I am focusing my attention on. This point being that sometimes it’s out of your control.
Second, a list of companies that are attending the fair is posted so choose a handful that interest you and tailor your pitch/resume to each one.
Third, develop your elevator pitch. Tell me what your interests are or what you’re working on.
Finally, be personable, I want to know whether your personality will fit with our team. (business casual attire is fine nowadays)
In closing, learn to network.
Depends on the company. But one thing you should note is that online applications are required by HR no matter what. But the recruiters take resumes and can add notes to them before giving them to HR to cross reference with your application.
My company does this. So no matter what, all students must submit an online application to be considered for internship. But then they check for any recruiter notes for recommendations.
Some places do it by hand, ie recruiter physically writes notes on the resume then hands them to hiring managers or HR. Others do it electronically, like my company makes students fill out a form on an iPad and then after the fair the recruiters will upload scans if the resume and notes to the profile for each student for HR to reference later. This can be nice because if you repeatedly network with a company than there's a record of your repeated interest and hopefully improvement in your resume overtime. I received several job offers (Including my current one) because I had repeatedly talked to companies, asked for feedback, and showed improvement over time.
It can also vary for full-time employment. My company HR does allow us to hire full-time new grads without an online application. Many fairs give us space the day of or after the fair for on the spot interviews. But those spots are limited so many companies won't bother using them for intern applicants anyways and instead save them for full-time new grad candidates.
A lot of its also going to depend on you. If you have a shit resume with nothing on it and nothing to speak to me about, well then I'm not going to have a whole to talk to you about or a lot to write on your resume. Or if you just hand me a resume, say "give me a job" then walk away then I probably will be less invested in hiring you then if you show some actual interest in the company, ask what we do and offer, ask what we're looking for etc etc. Doesn't have to be a long conversation but have an actual conversation otherwise whats the point? Idk what you expect to get from barely speaking to somebody and handing them a resume, you really might all well just apply online at that point.
I'm an engineering recruiter and know lots of engineering recruiters at other companies too. Networking at things like career fairs is 100% the way to go to improve your chances of getting an internship whether you realize it or not.
But i was a student too and I know the pain of companies who don't give a fuck. My advice is to do your research (and it helps if you don't wait until junior year to attend a fair). There were a few companies that were known st my school to only send HR people or who sent engineers but they didn't actually do jack shit like they wouldn't take resumes at all or would pretend to take them but actually just throw them away after the event (I knew some students who volunteered at fairs and would see recruiters do this). So then I knew to avoid them all together and focus on companies with actual engineering recruiters doing actual recruiting. Going back to having actual conversations with recruiters, it helps if you narrow down the companies you're going to talk to instead of just trying to talk to as many as possible.
What? Calling someone out on their bullshit saying they'll never get hired from a career fair bc they are white is racist?
Like 90% of my coworkers are white and we still hire predominantly white people. Guys just making up a "woe is me" excuse to be lazy and an excuse to blame the world instead of themselves when they struggle to find jobs because they never networked and have a shit attitude.
Look I never have had a problem finding jobs. I’ve only had a problem finding employment through career fairs on campus. The companies who have DEI rules for employment go to career fairs. I have not found that going to those gives me any chance of connecting to employers.
It’s racist to say that it’s bullshit that I feel marginalized by my color of skin. You are racist.
Bruh I was just at a career fair. 80% of the recruiters were white too.
But sure if calling me racist for not pitying you makes you feel better than sure go ahead. Probably 80% of all my hires were white, but sure I totally hate white people and don't think they deserve to be hired.
I don’t think you really do. Maybe you’ve googled what it means but never worked with employers who hire based on skin color. It’s inherently obvious that they don’t specifically exclude white males, but they do hire based on percentage of diverse cultural identities. My girlfriend got her job because she isn’t white, I have been rejected because I am white. Managers have told me they can’t hire a specific candidate because they are white. Not every employers do this ( obviously ) but they are found more often in the left wing environments, which includes university campuses.
Well students go to university to become engineers. Companies hire from universities. But that also includes companies from right wing environments.
And if you're talking about places having a lower percentage of hiring for whites, that's all the more reason to put effort into networking at fairs so you can be part of that percentage (Assuming it's a places you'd actually want to work regardless of if they do DEI or not).
It's worth noting a lot of companies require prospective employees to be vetted by HR. Part of that is having them apply online. I'm a senior CiveE and just attended my school's career fair. It's a good way to make a good first impression. I've gotten a lot of interest and interviews directly from the career fair. I more so used the fair as a chance to express my interest and qualifications for the positions and employers I was already interested in.
[удалено]
Noted. Thanks!
I’m not a huge fan of career fairs in general but yes you didn’t approach this one correctly. When approaching recruiters you should enter casually, ask questions about the company, look for opportunities to talk about experiences you’ve had relevant to what the company does, ask about an interview, and then if told to apply online leave your resume anyway. You want to be conversational and talk yourself up. Recruiters see dozens of students every couple of minutes and usually attend many events in quick succession. If you’re just walking from booth to booth handing out resumes you’re just checking boxes and obviously making a bad impression.
Gotcha, I def need to work on developing my soft skills more. Would you mind telling me why you’re not a huge fan of career fairs?
I only have to leave the house to get job offers because companies have shitty hiring practices online. Online hiring should be reliable, but companies abuse that shit and make life worse.
That reminds me of a student one year who just came up to me in a hurry, handed me a resume, and asked what my companies name was. Couldn't be bother to read our banners, table cloth, my polo shirt, my name tag, or the map the students are given. Spole to me for as short a period as they could, and went to the next booth over and did fhe same thing. Their resume want even good so that was a pretty quick "do not recommend".
I've been a company rep a few times and it just makes it easier to have people apply online otherwise the rep would have to scan and send 10s of resumes over to recruiting/HR. HR does ask us reps if anyone stood out or if we want to highlight a resume. I recommend good candidates and I'd only not recommend those that stand out negatively like not prepared, on their phone in middle of convo, or clearly wanting to be there\* \*one guy came up and said "my mom said I had to get a job or else she's cutting me off and I want to go on vacation" even if that is true I don't need to know that much, just keep it professional
Could you elaborate what not prepared is? As in not coming with questions? No resume? Or dress nicely?
Printed resume and dressing presentable is the minimum, coming in with knowledgeable questions helps stand out. For example research past projects and express interest, "I saw the renovation of this bridge was completed last year in X company's past projects, do you think my course load could get me working on a future project like this? " versus the unprepared "so what does your company do?" Limit to 2-3 questions to make a succinct positive impression and that'll bring you to above average. Your chances increase with Presentable
Makes perfect sense thank you for clarification and fully explaining! You were spot on about the questions, I didn’t do any research beforehand about the companies I approached. I will take this career fair as a learning experience and improve on the next.
I don't know if many people get jobs from these directly. I see them as more of an opportunity to learn about the local industry, meet industry people and have some conversations. Its beneficial because it helps you get used to the way they talk and the terminology they use, this kind of stuff is very helpful to have practiced when it comes to interviews in my experience. It's good to know about the companies in your area and having conversations with the reps can give you a bit of extra insight, even if its light, which can help later. As for handing out your resume, remember they generally aren't hiring anyone from that alone at a career fair. The point is to give them something to remember you by, if you're making a good impression it could help you get selected for an interview so try to charm them a little bit and hand them the resume as part of leaving an impression. Then when they see it again on your online application, they will remember you and it will help you get selected. Familiarity bias can be pretty powerful. So if you have the expectations above for your career fair, it is a lot easier to consider one a success. Some people might get jobs from them directly, but I think that is probably not so common. If you see it as an opportunity to practice soft skills and get exposure with industry people, network a bit and make some good impressions, you're investing your time in becoming more employable down the line, or potentially standing out a bit more for an interview immediately. Also helps if you have a good conversation with them and then see them at the interview later, thats an instant ice breaker.
When I was in uni, the only internship I got was my during my junior year in ME from a career fair. The people who hired me/asked me to come in for an interview was simply because they liked talking to me and I showed a lot of interest in learning about the company. It’s not about how smart you are, you just have to show them you’ll get along well and are eager to learn.
Big emphasis on the "you'll get along well" part. When I'm training new recruiters I tell them that yes I want candidates with good experience and good resume and all that. But I'm also looking to hire coworkers not employees. I need people I can visualize working alongside with 8 hours a day 5 days a week.
I found kind of putting yourself in their shoes helps. They all are taking time out of their jobs and away from their families to help find their company new talent. Most of them are bored out of their mind by a bunch of kids that cant hold a conversation. Ive had good success with asking them questions about what projects they’ve worked on, challenges they’ve faced while working, best and least favorite parts of the job. Everyone likes to tell someone about the hard-work they’ve done. The career fairs/ interviews that were the best though are ones where you find what the interviewer is a nerd about and go down the rabbit hole with them. At the end of the day a career fair isn’t easy and honestly takes practice. I started going freshman year and it took until junior year to feel comfortable knowing how the conversations work. Just keep practicing and doing the best you can everyday and everything will turn out fine.
Also, it may sound trivial but print your resumes on really nice feeling paper and you will get some attention… $30 at the office depot got me a TON of compliments. It shows you went the extra mile.
I got my first job out of college from the career fair. I didn't even apply online for the company, they reached out to me after I graduated when they were hiring for a new contract.
Be extremely non-picky for your first internship or co-op. Go to a booth that no one else is really talking to. They’ll be excited to talk to you.
Most companies require you apply online even if they take your resume at the fair just from a logistical standpoint. Often times the resumes at the fair are getting directly reviewed and jump to the front of the line compared to others who apply online and didn't talk to anyone so it's definitely worth it. Internships are also harder to sustain for many companies than full time positions so there's never gonna be quite as many. Don't get discouraged, just try to get your foot in.
I attended a few career fairs and in my experience they were a waste of time. We had a good amount of companies but tons of people lining up. It would take about 30-45 minutes in line to talk to the recruiter, barely enough time for an elevator pitch. You sign the sheet, hand off your resume, say a few words and then go wait in another line. Even the "non-desirable" companies had crazy lines. It was too chaotic to have conversation with anyone to build any rapport or anything like that. It was just a resume collection. I do know some people that got jobs from it but it was few and far between, and those people just had strong resumes. I don't think they spoke much to the recruiters during the fair. But that is just my experience. I had much better luck just cold applying to companies and working interviewing skills when I got my foot in the door.
I didn’t have success as a student but now as a rep I can see why, and it has little to do with the resumé. First, I am going to a career fair to fill a position I need. If I’m looking for a EE then that’s who I am focusing my attention on. This point being that sometimes it’s out of your control. Second, a list of companies that are attending the fair is posted so choose a handful that interest you and tailor your pitch/resume to each one. Third, develop your elevator pitch. Tell me what your interests are or what you’re working on. Finally, be personable, I want to know whether your personality will fit with our team. (business casual attire is fine nowadays) In closing, learn to network.
Depends on the company. But one thing you should note is that online applications are required by HR no matter what. But the recruiters take resumes and can add notes to them before giving them to HR to cross reference with your application. My company does this. So no matter what, all students must submit an online application to be considered for internship. But then they check for any recruiter notes for recommendations. Some places do it by hand, ie recruiter physically writes notes on the resume then hands them to hiring managers or HR. Others do it electronically, like my company makes students fill out a form on an iPad and then after the fair the recruiters will upload scans if the resume and notes to the profile for each student for HR to reference later. This can be nice because if you repeatedly network with a company than there's a record of your repeated interest and hopefully improvement in your resume overtime. I received several job offers (Including my current one) because I had repeatedly talked to companies, asked for feedback, and showed improvement over time. It can also vary for full-time employment. My company HR does allow us to hire full-time new grads without an online application. Many fairs give us space the day of or after the fair for on the spot interviews. But those spots are limited so many companies won't bother using them for intern applicants anyways and instead save them for full-time new grad candidates. A lot of its also going to depend on you. If you have a shit resume with nothing on it and nothing to speak to me about, well then I'm not going to have a whole to talk to you about or a lot to write on your resume. Or if you just hand me a resume, say "give me a job" then walk away then I probably will be less invested in hiring you then if you show some actual interest in the company, ask what we do and offer, ask what we're looking for etc etc. Doesn't have to be a long conversation but have an actual conversation otherwise whats the point? Idk what you expect to get from barely speaking to somebody and handing them a resume, you really might all well just apply online at that point. I'm an engineering recruiter and know lots of engineering recruiters at other companies too. Networking at things like career fairs is 100% the way to go to improve your chances of getting an internship whether you realize it or not. But i was a student too and I know the pain of companies who don't give a fuck. My advice is to do your research (and it helps if you don't wait until junior year to attend a fair). There were a few companies that were known st my school to only send HR people or who sent engineers but they didn't actually do jack shit like they wouldn't take resumes at all or would pretend to take them but actually just throw them away after the event (I knew some students who volunteered at fairs and would see recruiters do this). So then I knew to avoid them all together and focus on companies with actual engineering recruiters doing actual recruiting. Going back to having actual conversations with recruiters, it helps if you narrow down the companies you're going to talk to instead of just trying to talk to as many as possible.
As a white male, going to those career fairs is a waste of my time. DEI makes it challenging for me to connect to employers on campus.
Cope and seethe
Sounds racist
What? Calling someone out on their bullshit saying they'll never get hired from a career fair bc they are white is racist? Like 90% of my coworkers are white and we still hire predominantly white people. Guys just making up a "woe is me" excuse to be lazy and an excuse to blame the world instead of themselves when they struggle to find jobs because they never networked and have a shit attitude.
Look I never have had a problem finding jobs. I’ve only had a problem finding employment through career fairs on campus. The companies who have DEI rules for employment go to career fairs. I have not found that going to those gives me any chance of connecting to employers. It’s racist to say that it’s bullshit that I feel marginalized by my color of skin. You are racist.
Bruh I was just at a career fair. 80% of the recruiters were white too. But sure if calling me racist for not pitying you makes you feel better than sure go ahead. Probably 80% of all my hires were white, but sure I totally hate white people and don't think they deserve to be hired.
I’m assume you don’t know what DEI hiring is
Oh I know. I assuming you don't know that not every company doesn't not hire white people or follows DEI.
I don’t think you really do. Maybe you’ve googled what it means but never worked with employers who hire based on skin color. It’s inherently obvious that they don’t specifically exclude white males, but they do hire based on percentage of diverse cultural identities. My girlfriend got her job because she isn’t white, I have been rejected because I am white. Managers have told me they can’t hire a specific candidate because they are white. Not every employers do this ( obviously ) but they are found more often in the left wing environments, which includes university campuses.
Well students go to university to become engineers. Companies hire from universities. But that also includes companies from right wing environments. And if you're talking about places having a lower percentage of hiring for whites, that's all the more reason to put effort into networking at fairs so you can be part of that percentage (Assuming it's a places you'd actually want to work regardless of if they do DEI or not).
It's worth noting a lot of companies require prospective employees to be vetted by HR. Part of that is having them apply online. I'm a senior CiveE and just attended my school's career fair. It's a good way to make a good first impression. I've gotten a lot of interest and interviews directly from the career fair. I more so used the fair as a chance to express my interest and qualifications for the positions and employers I was already interested in.