You spent weeks preparing for the Career Fair on campus. You had your resume reviewed and critiqued, you created a killer Elevator Pitch, researched the organizations in attendance and you picked out the perfect career fair suit to make a strong first impression...Now what?? Sit and wait for the interviews to come pouring in?? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Here are four suggestions on what you should be doing to follow-up after a career fair.
2. Get organized. Treat your job search as you would a 3 credit course (or better). Invest a couple of dollars into a notebook or binder to start collecting all your job search information in. Make a spreadsheet with all the organizations you spoke with at the Career Fair. Include the names of the recruiters you spoke with and make column for various job search activities. For example:
3. Use Linked In. Use all the business cards you collected to connect with the recruiters you spoke with at the fair. This is networking. When you send a invitation to connect make sure you mention why you want to connect. For example:
- Sent a thank you note
- Submitted resume on-line
- Called to follow up (include the date)
- Scheduled an interview
- Sent thank you for interview
- Connected or followed on Linked In
"I would like to connect with you. I enjoyed talking with you at the career fair yesterday at Virginia Tech. Thanks."
4. Don't Stop! You've got the momentum now, so keep looking. There are still A LOT of jobs out there to be found. Don't stop searching. Now you really need to hit the ground running. Visit company websites, join groups on Linked In, and look for job postings on line. Here's a great formula to use when searching for jobs on-line:
2 general sites + 3 niche sites = 1 GREAT JOB
I know it's not mathmatically correct, but it works and I never really liked math anyways! You need to identify 2 general job listing sites that you go to regularly. These are the types of sites that have listing for all kinds of positions and industries. Next, you focus in on your "niche" sites. (Niche is a job or activity that is very suitable for someone, it's particular or specific to a group of people). These are where you can find job listings specifically for the kinds of positions you are looking for. Maybe it's based on industry or geographic location but it is where you can find jobs that match your specific search criteria.
Career Fairs are a great resource and experience but your job search strategy needs to include much for than attending a job fair. What are some other great follow-up tips after a career fair?
