Tips for the Career Fair

Recently, I was speaking on a panel along with recruiters and employees, and we were giving tips to freshmen for the career fair. Some of the tips I heard from the recruiters can be applicable to anyone for the career fair. So here are a few tips:

Tip #1: Have a Strategy

Don’t just aimlessly walk into the career fair randomly looking for companies. Have a strategy. You should go through the Career Fair booklet (or website) and look at the companies attending the fair. Pick out your top 10 companies and locate where they will be on the Career Fair map. Then number each company according to the order that you will visit them. I recommend starting with your top company first. If you are nervous or are a freshman, however, you might want to start from the bottom up (with number 10 first) so that you can use them to practice before you go to your dream company.

Tip #2: Do your research

If there are some companies that you are interested in, research about them prior to the career fair. Know what the company does and what internship opportunities are available. If there is anything that you can not find on their website or through a google search, then you can ask such questions to them at the career fair. Simply doing a little research shows the company that you are actually interested in them.

Tip #3: Have an elevator pitch prepared

An elevator pitch is a < 30 second speech about you. When you meet a recruiter at a company booth, you will have to start by talking about yourself. You should say:

• Your name
• Your course
• Your year (you can skip your year if you are a freshman/sophomore)
• Things you have done at MIT
• Your summer experiences
• The skills you have and your interest
• Relate your experiences and skills back to the internship/job by saying how your experiences and skills are relevant to the job

Tip #4: Keep track

Keep track of what you are talking about with recruiters. A nice trick I like is to ask for their business card. Then, after you walk away from the company’s booth, write a few bullet points down on the back of the business card highlighting what you talked about. At the end of the Career Fair, you will have several business cards with notes about your conversations. ‘Why do I need this?’ you ask. Well, that brings me to my next point…

Tip #5: Follow Up

When you are at the career fair, ask for the recruiter’s business card/email and then follow up! Recruiters were disappointed with students who seemed to have an interest but didn’t follow up. ‘How do I follow up?’ you ask. Within a couple of days of the career fair, send emails to the recruiters you talked to. The email should include a sentence about you, a couple of sentences of what you talked about, and a few sentences indicating your interest and any follow up questions.

Tip #6: Make the connections last

If there was a company that you really like, make the connection last by attending their information sessions during the semester. Even if there are no available internship opportunities for you (if you are a freshman for example), the connection you make at the career fair is still important! For example, I was working in New York City this summer, and wanted to visit a certain company’s headquarters in New York City whilst I was there, so I reached out to a recruiter that I met at the career fair. The recruiter set up a personal meeting for me to visit the office because I made the connection last.

Tip #7: Free Stuff

Yes, the Career Fair is also a great opportunity to get a bunch of free stuff from companies. This, however, should not be your goal of the career fair (if you want to get an internship/job). If you are talking with a company you really like, it is best to approach the recruiter, talk with them, and then if you really want that Google Cardboard, ask if you can take one of those items.

Tip #8: Things to bring

Here are a few items you might consider taking with you:

• Folder (to hold your resumes and other stuff)
• Notepad
• Pen
• Several copies of your resume (depends on how many companies you plan to talk to – 15 copies should be fine)
• A piece of paper with questions you have prepared (from your research 😉 )
• Mints (just in case)

Tip #9: Be Professional

Be somewhat professional – if you do not follow the ‘basic rules’, it could be harmful to this opportunity. Dress appropriately. Most people will be wearing business attire. Smile. Firm handshake. Shower. Okay, you get the point.

Tip #10: Passion and Persistence

This tip can be applied to getting a job in general. If you are approaching a company you really like, do not be afraid to be enthusiastic. Tell them how much you love the work they do, and how it fits with your interests and skills. Tell them why you are interested in the company and recent good news about the company. Most importantly, be persistent with the passion. It is useless to express your enthusiasm, and then never follow up with them. If they do not hire sophomores and you are a sophomore, keep on going to their information sessions and talking with the recruiters. A year will go by quickly. A recruiter told a story about a guy who didn’t have the GPA requirement for the job, but he still talked with the recruiters and found out more about the company. Two years later he got his GPA up, applied and got the job.

If you have any questions that were not addressed here, feel free to comment below or ‘Contact me‘.