AgCareers Career Guide - September 2016 - CDN

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AATTENDING YOUR CAMPUS CAREER
FAIR is a foundational component of
securing your first career or summer
work experience. Unlike emailing or
submitting your application online, this
is your chance to meet face-to-face
with representatives from a company
and make a great impression.
Unfortunately, many of today’s students
skip this critical opportunity and find
themselves playing catch up, sometimes
well beyond graduation. Those who do
attend are a step ahead of their absent
peers, but if they’ve not adequately
prepared, they’ll find their resumes at
the bottom of the recruiter’s stack at
the end of the day.
DRESSED FOR SUCCESS
A student who has taken the time to
complete a few small tasks to prepare
before hitting the career fair floor can
be spotted quickly. A prepared student
has dressed appropriately for the
occasion. They understand that the way
you’re dressed says so much about you
before you even mutter a word. Their
clothes are professional and well-fitted.
Even if not wearing a full suit, their
attire doesn’t look like they picked it up
off their apartment or dorm floor that
morning. These students have given
thought to the fact that they’ve got a
lot of ground to cover and they’ll be on
their feet for a while, so their shoes are
professional but also comfortable.
A prepared student has made a few
notes (we’ll discuss the how and why of
those notes momentarily), but it adds
one last element to their wardrobe. The
finishing touch is a discrete folder or
padfolio. Inside are a few copies of their
generic resume, along with any
customized resumes for specific
employers — just be sure you keep them
organized into separate groups inside
the folder. A pet peeve of recruiters is
receiving a resume with a competitors’
name or job title referenced in the
objective statement.
Additionally, your padfolio should
include notes about the companies you
hope to meet with plenty of space to
add a few more following each
interaction. Then, if they’ve really gone
the extra mile, a handful of their
personal but professional business cards.
This level of preparation is visible to
employers before you even visit their
booth and will tell the employer that
you mean business when it comes to
securing a job with their company.
NOTEWORTHY NOTES
So how do you prepare your magical
notes locked away inside the padfolio?
An unprepared student is a student who
walks up to the company booth and
asks, “What does your company do?”
“Where are you located?” “What kind of
jobs do you have available?” Those are
questions you should know before the
career fair, but sadly, nine out of ten
students with whom I’ve interacted
with at career fairs use these as their
starting questions. That tells a
representative that you haven’t given
a lot of thought to your future and you
aren’t going to be a self-starter on the
job if you didn’t have enough initiative
to do a little homework before the
career fair. Your knowledge will help the
conversation flow much smoother and
allow time for deeper conversation
regarding specifics of the company
culture and career opportunities.
Every career fair publishes a list of
companies in attendance prior to the
event. Many of those lists also include
company information, a link to their
website, and often titles of the roles
they are recruiting for at the career
fair. Through the registration process,
companies took the time to input this
information so it would demonstrate
resourcefulness on your part to invest
the time to read that information and
dig a little deeper.
Beyond the basics, additional items
to research include the company’s
mission, their major competitors, the
organization’s clients or customers, and
if they have been in the news lately
(and what for). Having your answers,
thoughts and questions based on your
research jotted down to quickly review
before approaching a booth will also
give you an ice breaker to start the
conversation. Then you won’t be asking
6 Ag & Food CAreer guide
the importance of preparation
BEFORE THE CAREER FAIRby Ashley Collins, Education & Marketing Manager