Four Things You Can do at a Career Fair Besides Job Hunt

I love multitasking and I am always looking for ways to optimize my time to ensure I get the most out of every minute. As a job seeker, we have a tendency to become singularly-minded on landing a job. However, I caution you to take a step back and realize that if you focus too much on the end game, and not enough on the process, your job search may just take longer.

A common activity for job seekers is going to a career fair. In the spirit of multitasking and optimizing your time, I wanted to give you some alternative focuses for the next time you attend a career fair. Of course you will go to the career fair to job search. However, once you have walked the career fair and talked to your target companies, I urge you to take advantage of these other activities before you call it a day.

Network
It is always a great idea to network with the company representatives at each booth. Gather business cards and jot brief notes on the back of the cards after you step away from the booth. The key is to personalize your follow-up communication and to do it quickly, while the career fair is still fresh in their mind. However, don't just stop at networking with employers. Do your best to network with fellow job seekers and representatives from educational institutes. Tap into the hidden job market by expanding your network of referral resources.

Build Your LinkedIn Contacts
As you meet people at the career fair - employers, recruiters, career services professionals, and fellow job seekers as them about connecting on LinkedIn. Your sphere of influence and potential for referrals and personal introductions grows each time you add a connection through LinkedIn. Once again, it is very important that you send a personalized message, and not use LinkedIn's template message.

Have Your Resume Reviewed
This can be a tricky one because everyone has a different opinion on what should and should not be done on a resume. When having your resume reviewed, ensure they are a professional that has current and updated information of resume writing. If the reviewer recommends you change something on your resume, always ask them the strategy behind their suggestion. If the answer is "that is the way I prefer it to be done," then you are getting opinion instead of strategy-driven constructive feedback.

Explore Educational Opportunities
Most every career fair has representatives from several educational institutions including trade schools, certification programs, and formal degrees. Talk to the school representatives about your options, not only for improving your marketability through additional education, but also about gaining funding to pay for your education.

Are You Making One of These 3 Critical Job Search Errors?

You have a great resume, you have purchased the perfect interview suit, and you have practiced all your interview responses. You are ready and your job search is foolproof, right? Not so fast! If you are making one of these three errors, you just may be sabotaging your own success.

Failure to Add Networking to Your Job Search
You already know that your applications are all made online - usually through a company's website or an online job search engine. However, if your only means of looking for open jobs is surfing the web for openings, you are missing out.

I spoke recently to a global recruiter that told me 80% of the positions she fills are never even posted. She searches LinkedIn, asks her existing staff for referrals, and reaches out to her network to find candidates before she even considers posting a job. Don't discount networking - both social networking and in-person networking - as a critical factor in your job search success.

Failure to Use a Cover Letter
The cover letter is a professional introduction to the resume and is still expected by hiring managers and human resources professionals. The cover letter will most likely not make or break whether you get an interview. However, not sending a cover letter is definitely a strike against you.

Human Resources may not read the cover letter during the screening process. However, they will pass your letter along to the hiring manager who uses this tool to get to know a little about you, your personality, and communication style before the interview.

Failure to Focus Your Search
There is no such thing as an effective generic resume. In order to do its job well, the resume must be focused to a specific job, industry, and company. Don't make the HR person work to see how you will fit in their company. Chances are, if you don't make your targeted presentation of how you fit in within the top third of the resume, you will never even get close to an interview.

The Benefits of Joining a Job Search Networking Group

As a resume writer, I volunteer several times a year for a local networking group. This is a very organized and structured group of people in the Phoenix Metro area that are dedicated to connecting job seekers with the resources they need to succeed. As I sat in the group earlier this week, I wondered why ALL job seekers don't participate in these organizations.

There are so many different ways a job seeker - or someone looking to further their career - can benefit from joining one or more of these types of groups. Here are just a few highlights.

Solid Job Leads and Referrals
The best job seeker networking groups will put you into contact at every single meeting with employers and recruiters. At the very least, you will meet people who are either in a similar industry or know someone that can serve as a source of referrals. In a job seeker networking group, everyone in the room generally understands the value of networking and is there to exchange information and leads. You simply have to remember to clearly state how the group can help you meet your needs. Take full advantage of the situation!

Finding a "Partner in Crime"
A job search can be very lonely and isolating, especially if all you do is sit at your computer and look online for job postings all day. Get out of the house, meet people in the same situation as yourself, trade tips, and find someone who you can talk to when the going gets rough. Don't look for someone that will whine and complain with you. Instead, look for someone who can serve as a positive influence and motivator when you get frustrated or down.

Access to Experts
Networking groups are free. The exchange of information, ideas, and resources is free of charge. This week, for free, I took my job search expertise and advised a number of people on how to better target and focus their search. If they had not attended this event, they would never have received this information that hopefully improved the efficiency of their job search.