Hey everyone! Jenna here from The Intern Hustle. I post new videos to this channel
every Monday, and in today's video we are talking all about career fairs. If you're
watching the video I'm guessing it's because you're considering going to a
career fair, but you don't know quite what it entails, and you want to make
sure that if you go you're bringing your A game. So I have all the preparation
tips covered for you in the video today. Stick around to find out, and in the
meantime please go ahead and subscribe by hitting that red button below. Hey
there, I'm Jenna Rein from theinternhustle.com and this is Initiative
Muscle Monday. Helping you to start each week with an intentional step toward a
successful future. Let's do this! So colleges put on career fairs all
throughout the year now. And a lot of them put on specific fairs related to
your department or major -- so you should definitely look into those. But with the
fall career fairs right around the corner, that's what we're going to focus
on today. And there are a few reasons why I think the fall career fair is extremely
valuable for you. Number one, most employers start
recruiting eight months in advance now for their summer internships. So that
means if you're looking to start an internship in May or June,
you better be starting in September or October. Getting in front of employers is
one of the best ways to do that at a career fair. So if you have a fall career
fair at your school, get in front of them now. Number two, say you just came off
some great internship experience from the past summer...how awesome to be able
to get in front of employers, and while it's fresh on your mind, have these
really valuable conversations with them... where you're getting to highlight all
the stuff that you picked up from your last internship, and showcase to them why
you would be a good fit for them the following summer. And number three, maybe
you don't want to wait for a summer internship. A lot of companies have
internships throughout the year. I actually happen to know that e-commerce
companies have great opportunities in winter. I worked at an e-commerce startup,
and a lot of them run holiday deals. Black Friday is a huge time where it's
all hands on deck. We actually didn't get much of a winter break as a company, and
so if we would have had interns helping in all sorts of departments like:
engineering or marketing or customer service, it would have made our lives so
much easier. So definitely if you're looking for opportunities other than
just summer internships, getting in front of employers in the fall is a great way
to go. Another piece of advice I have before we dive into the career fair
preparation tips is to start early. So if you're a
freshman watching this video, awesome I am so proud of you. It means
that you are actually taking initiative early on and you're getting a head start.
And what I can say is maybe you're not even ready for internships yet. That's
okay. I think it's awesome if you could do an internship after your
freshman year (the summer between your freshman and sophomore year)... that's when
I started, but even if you're not ready just getting at the career fair and
having conversations, practicing your networking skills, and getting in front
of employers. Getting some business cards, people that you can continue to stay in
touch with, in contact, it's such a great starting point. So I just want to say no
matter where you are in your college journey, getting in front of career fairs
early and often is a great way to go. So tell me -- where are you from? Go ahead and
give your school a shout out in the comments below! And if you like this
video please give it a thumbs up and share it with a friend. Okay so here are
my tips for how you can prepare and bring your A game to your next career
fair. Research. You must do your research. And this can be done in a number of ways.
I actually know a lot of colleges now that have apps where you just pull up
the mobile app and you get a full list of all the employers that are going to be
attending the career fair. There's even sometimes an interactive
map so you can go around and plan out your day, who's gonna be at what
table, and make sure you have your route planned out. If not, go ahead and check
your career center's website online. There's usually going to be a list of all
the companies that are going to be in attendance. And worst case scenario, go to
your career center's office -- walk there on campus -- and ask them for a list of
companies. They'll be happy to share it with you. But the number one thing you
need to be doing, is going through that list of companies and identifying the
ones that you would love to meet with. Which companies sound the most
interesting to you. Go ahead and highlight them, then go online and
research everything you can about them. Check their website, (but don't just stay
on the homepage) go beyond that and look at their social media profiles. What's
interesting about this company and the type of culture that they provide, that
you can then ask thoughtful questions when you're meeting with the recruiter
at the career fair. Okay, dress how you want to be addressed. Professional attire
is so important here. And I'm not saying that it's absolutely necessary you wear
a full-on suit to the career fair. I think that you can be a little bit
more business casual than that. But for guys, you should be wearing a shirt and a
tie and some nice business slacks. And for the ladies, consider wearing a nice
dress, or pencil skirt (both must be at appropriate
lengths, however), or some dress slacks and a nice blazer over a top. All of these
things are great options. I think the most important thing to consider is that
you're in comfortable shoes, because you're going to be walking around all day,
and that everything you're wearing is not too tight or too loose. We need to
look professional, right? That's the end goal here. The bottom line -- dress
confidently. And when you dress confidently, you're going to show up a lot
more confidently. I mean let's take this video for example -- you guys can't see
what I have on from the waist down. I could be wearing nothing for all you
know. But even though I'm videoing from the waist up, I actually have pants on,
and I put a little bit of a heel (laughter)...I put a little bit of a heel on, because when I'm
elevated, actually elevated, my game is elevated. So dressing how you want to
show up is super important. Think about it now, because if you're still on your
way back to school (you haven't actually gone yet), do you have a professional
outfit at home that you should make sure you're packing and taking with you so
that you have it and you're not scrambling at the last minute trying to
prepare for the career fair? Otherwise I do have some different budget options. I
actually did an Instagram post recently where I shared a few different options
by budget where you can find professional attire. So I'll link that in
the description below, because I think it's a great resource for you to get
started and just start checking out what you could be doing when you're looking
to shop for that professional outfit that you can take forward at career
fairs, interviews, and beyond. Come prepared with a portfolio that's
professional looking. I got this one at Target. It was super cheap, but it just
makes it look a little bit more professional than your standard blue or
manila folder. And it's always nice if it has a little closure so you can keep
your business cards in there, a pen, whatever you need. There are some great
ones out there that are more padfolio, so they open up, they have
the notebook inside. Whatever you do just make sure it's professional looking. So
what do you want to be including in it? Well, your resume of course. So it's important
that you have enough copies of your resume on hand, and that they're printed
on quality paper. So this also means that you need to make sure you've gotten your
resume up to date and that it's proofread. I have a great resource for college
students -- It's my Resume Readiness Checklist. It literally walks you through
everything you could possibly think of that you should have on your resume, and
that you should proofread on your resume. So I will link to that in the
description below you can download that for free.
Business cards as well...I think it's so important as a student to have a
business card. It's just another great way for you to brand yourself and to
stand out from the crowd. And there are some really creative ways you can go
about creating these. I also have a good blog post on how to create memorable
student business cards. I'll link to that in the description below. But make sure
that you have enough of these on hand so that you don't get caught not having
them when you need to hand them out. It's the same with your resume, you want
enough copies of both resume and business cards. It's always better to
over prepare for these things than it is under prepare. And then finally, make sure
that you have a notepad and a pen. So this notepad should already have a
bunch of notes on it that you you've gathered from your research on the
companies that you're going to be meeting with. And it should have some
good questions bulleted out for each company as well, that are really
thoughtful. And so you want to make sure that you have that on hand, you're ready
to go, as soon as you step away from meeting with someone you can take and
jot down notes as you go. So day of career fair here are some things that
you should keep in mind...First of all, don't be the last one to show up.
Recruiters will have been talking to students all day long, and they will be
pretty tired. So you want to take advantage of getting there early and
having some fresh conversation. Second, if you are standing in line please stay off
your phone. There's no need for you to be scrolling through Instagram, or whatever
else you're going to be doing. You should be using this valuable time to actually
study all of those notes that you took the time to research ahead of time. Make
sure that you're prepared so that when you get to the front of the line to have
this conversation you know exactly what questions you want to ask, and you're
being thoughtful about the time that you have with this individual. Just stay off
your phone. Employers don't want to think that if they hire you for an internship,
every five minutes when you're not working on a project for them you're
scrolling through Instagram. They want to know that you can manage your time more
effectively and be adding value to their organization. Walk up and present
yourself with confidence. This means standing tall, eye contact, smiling
through the whole conversation, and a firm handshake. We've all had that
princess handshake before... you know what I'm talking about, right? The limp wrist,
the weak grip... nope, we're not doing that here. Firm handshake. Exude confidence. Let
them know that this is someone that they want to be having a conversation with. So
while it's important to have an elevator pitch, and to of course practice that a
few times, I don't think that you're actually going to have to use it every time
you walk up and have a conversation with a recruiter at a career fair. In most
cases you're going to walk up and introduce yourself, tell them what grade you're in,
what your major is, they may ask for a copy of your resume, and from there
they're probably going to ask a couple questions based off what they see on
your resume. And so what this means, is that it's really important that you know
what's on your resume, and you can speak well to it. So you should have some
specific examples of things that you've done related to each bullet point on
your resume. Be able to speak to that and be authentic. Show your personality. Being
your authentic self is going to be so much better, and it's going to stand out in a sea
of robot students out there who are just reciting the basics and what they think
they should be saying. Personal stories here are going to set you apart from the
rest. However I do think that you should have an elevator pitch. If you
need some help crafting that, if you're wondering what exactly should go into an
elevator pitch, I have written a blog post about that. I'll link it in the
description below and you can check it out for some more examples. Always, always,
always, one of the most important things you can do in a career fair, is show
interest in the company and ask them questions. Show that you've done the
research. And you have, right? Because we talked about that already. You've done
extensive research on the company, and you've come up with very specific
questions that are beyond the first page on their website. You've actually
dug in. Maybe, for example, you've looked at their social media account and the
company just got done running a 5k for a cause that's very important to them. Well
maybe you just put together a 5k for your fraternity. What a great topic to
bond over and show that you took the initiative to organize an event on
behalf of your fraternity. And it also shows that you've dug in a little bit
deeper and you know about their company and some of the things
that they value. Whether that's giving back to their local community, or making sure
that they're keeping their employees' wellness top of mind. Regardless, it shows
that you've looked into their company a bit more than the average person. And ask
questions. If you're hoping to get an internship with them it's good to ask
specific questions about their intern program that they might not already have
posted online. So an example of a good question would
be maybe -- What are some of the projects that you ask your interns to work on? or
What are some of the things that may have made your most successful interns
in the past really stand out above the rest? And for sure, when you're asking
these questions, don't just ask and then start thinking about the next thing you
want to say. Absorb what they are saying. Make sure that you're listening, because
as soon as you walk away it's important you're taking notes on this. Okay,
always have an ask ready for the end of the conversation. So when you feel it
starting to wind down make sure you know what you want to ask for out of this. So
if you are interested in applying for an internship, just straight-up ask them
what the best way to apply is. And maybe you already saw on their website that
they take all the applications online. State that. Don't come off like you
haven't looked this up before. Be like, I noticed that you accept your
applications online, is that still the best way for me to submit a resume to
you or should I leave one with you today? In most cases they're going to tell you to
submit it online, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
And then follow up and ask them if you can have a business card of theirs so
that if you have any additional questions about the position, or the
company in general, that you can reach out to them and follow up. They're
usually more than happy to give you a business card. And I alluded to this
before, but as soon as you walk away from that conversation you should be taking
notes. So one of my favorite ways to do this is if you get the business card
from the person (which hopefully you have), take notes on the back of it about that
specific individual so that you can just always flip it over like a quiz for
yourself. You look at the front of the card, see who the individual is, flip it
over on the back and know the fun facts about them, or the things that really
stood out in the conversation, about them personally. So that when you connect
later, when you're sending a follow-up email or reaching out to them on
LinkedIn, you have personal moments that you can connect with them on, and remind
them about the conversation that they had with you. And definitely make sure
that you're taking notes about the company. You did all this pre-work, right?
You have all the research. You have bullet points that you put down before
you even got to the career fair. It would be a shame if you wasted all of the
valuable information you just got out of that conversation and didn't add to your
notes. So before you even go on to the next opportunity, and the next
conversation, I want you to take notes on the company that you just met with.
Because while you think you may remember, you won't. Everything's going to bleed
together by the end of the day. So do yourself a favor and take notes
immediately following the conversation. Okay and following up with everyone you
meet is super important. Even if you don't think it's an opportunity you
immediately want, you never know where this person could end up in the future.
And so just making sure that you're staying in touch with people, and not
just immediately following the event but a few times a year, just to make sure
that you're on their radar and you're connecting with them. Maybe about
industry trends or things that you've noticed that have been going on well with
their company. And one of the best ways to do this is to send them a LinkedIn
request. And so really important here -- if you don't have a LinkedIn profile, or if
your LinkedIn profile isn't up-to-date and matching your resume experience, you
better get on that before you go to the career fair. Because I guarantee if
they're interested in you that's one of the first places they're going to look. And
if you're sending them follow-ups after the fact, that's also one of the first
places they're going to look when your name pops up in their
email. And how awesome if you actually initiated a LinkedIn request to them, and
sent them a nice little follow up note in the email. But, big but! Don't do it if
your LinkedIn profile is not professional, or is not up to date. You need
to make sure that you've actually taken the time to take good care of your
LinkedIn profile, and be thoughtful about the information you're presenting
yourself with there. And so this means having a great picture, a professional
photo. It means having a nice summary that it gives a little bit of personal
information, background on you and the opportunities that you're looking for.
And tailor that to whatever experience you're currently looking for, that's a
great place to do that. And then make sure that your experience really does
match up with what you have on your resume. So if you're sitting here going
"mmm dang it!...I haven't done that. Or I haven't updated my LinkedIn profile in a
long time and I really don't know how to maximize it." I have a free training
series for college students (specifically for college students), on how to really
take their LinkedIn profile to the next level. How to get some great
networking opportunities out of it. So I will link that below as well. It is a
great resource for you, it's absolutely free. Sign up and you get access to these
five trainings that walk you through everything from the basics of how you
set up LinkedIn, to how you can really maximize the networking potential that
is within it. So what do you think? You guys excited? Do you feel like you're
going to be able to rock your career fair now? Take some of these tips forward and
really put them into action? If so, give me a hustle! in the comments below. I'm so
excited to see you guys rock these career fairs, and I really hope that you
get some great opportunities out of them as well. Just make sure you're following
up. If you found this video helpful, go ahead and give it a like, share it with a
friend or two, and hit the subscribe button below so that you don't miss a
thing. Thanks so much for watching, go rock that career fair, and I'll be
back next Monday with another video. (beep!) I can't even stand up on here.