Career Fair Guidebook

A How-To Guide for All Things Career Fair

Overview

Big Ideas Behind a Career Fair

What is a Career Fair?

A Career Fair is a professional recruiting event during which various employers seek out prospective employees for their companies. As such, it is a fantastic opportunity for students to learn about different industries and network, and for recruiters to identify and hire promising students for a role in their company!

Basic Requirements

Yourself
- You need to bring the uniqueness of yourself to the table, you need to bring your specific interests within engineering. A company rep wants to hear why you specifically want to work for them specifically.
Resume
- A one page summary of what you’ve accomplished. Don’t over-complicate it, more information to resumes will be discussed below. A resume takes some time to create, so if you’re in the early stages of your preparation, you should start this step.
Dress
- Career fairs are business professional events. As some clothes from home can take a while to get to school, professional clothing is a necessity. The CCO office has alternatives if you do not currently own any professional clothes.

Purdue’s CCO

Purdue’s Center for Career Opportunities is filled with fantastic information for career fair prep.

Before the Fair

Carefully and thoroughly preparing beforehand is one of the most crucial steps for a successful career fair! Researching companies, finding open positions, and tapping into networks can give students the edge among other candidates when meeting a recruiter. Here’s some tips to get started!

Know Yourself!

Every company rep wants to hear why you want to work for them specifically. Be yourself, and make sure to highlight your individual interests and uniqueness! If you’re stuck, check out the CCO’s Career Decision Making Model as a resource to help identify your personal strengths and skills.

Resumes

With your personal strengths and interests in mind, draft a resume! This is basically a one page summary of all you’ve accomplished. If you’re in the initial stages of creating a resume, check out the CCO Website for brainstorming help or some of the templates in their Career Success Handbook. If you’re looking for resume review and tips, you can schedule an appointment with the CCO beforehand, or use the online enhancement tool Vmock.

Download the Career Fair Plus App

Through the Career Fair Plus app, you can filter through the attending companies for recruited majors, years, GPA requirements, etc. This is an extremely useful tool during Career Fair season, so we recommend downloading it and familiarizing yourself with it before the fair!

This year you need to create a Career Fair Plus account to access the fair. Click here for information on how to create an account and use Career Fair Plus.

Company Research and Selection

Before walking into a career fair, you should get to know which companies, especially within your industry, will be attending. Once narrowing down the list of companies to those you are interested in, make sure to research the company’s mission and what it has accomplished. Talk to recruiters about what you’ve read and what you know, and if you can, go ahead and apply for the position early! These go a long way to show that you’ve spent extra time getting to know the company beforehand and really want to work for them! The Career Fair Pluss app is a great resource for researching companies!

Cover Letters (CVs)

Cover letters are a great way to stand out among other applicants. They are a personal letter detailing your specific interest in a company, separate from your resume. Successful CVs will illustrate your interest and how you hope to contribute to the company. The CCO has a great guide to get started!

Dress

First impressions are always important! Career fairs are professional events, so western business attire is highly preferred! However, the CCO office has alternatives if you do not currently own any professional clothes. If you’re struggling with choosing an outfit, check out this article from CareerFair+ and the CCO Closet Blog.

Resume Templates and Guides

The Purdue CCO’s comprehensive Career Planning Handbook is a fantastic resource for cover letters, interview tips, resumes, CV’s and more!

Guide to Writing Cover Letters

Dustin McKissen breaks down the steps involved with writing a successful cover letter into short, simple steps. Simplifying a daunting process.

How to Build A Good Engineering CV

A good overview video of how to critque and create a resume. Video created by ready4work.my

Purdue’s CCO Career Closet

Located in Young 132 Monday-Friday 10AM-4PM. Only takes 20 minutes to find the right professional attire!

Day of Fair

Get the Most Out of Your Experience

The Day of the Fair

On the day of the fair, make sure to be familiar with the companies you plan to talk to and try to have a list of which companies you’d like to meet with and when. But, at the end of the day, just remember to be yourself! Apart from that, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Get There Early

Recruiters are only able to speak with so many people in one day, so try to get there as early as you can. The earlier you get there, the less people recruiters have already spoken to, and the more likely you are to be able to impress them and potentially land an interview spot.

NOTE: This year, since the Industrial Roundtable will be held entirely virtually, this step does not necessarily apply to IR. For this year, try to sign up for spots through the CareerFair+ app as early as you can, so that they don’t run out!

Get Contact Information

Maintaining a contact with someone at your desired company is a gateway into learning more about or getting a future opportunity there. When talking to a recruiter, try to get their business card and remember a few key facts about them. Ask them relevant questions and try to understand why they choose to recruit and what they look for in prospective employees.

Elevator Pitch

Traditionally, right when you first introduce yourself to a recruiter, you have a short window to pique their interest by displaying your capabilities and experience. Preparing an elevator pitch can greatly help here! A good elevator pitch should be 60 seconds or less, and should concisely detail yourself, your goals, and what you can bring to a company. Check out the CCO Handbook or UC Davis’s Guide to elevator pitches for additional resources.

Elevator Pitches

UC Davis’s guide to perfecting your elevator pitch.

Follow Up and Stay in Touch

Every year, recruiters meet hundreds of eager students, and it can be difficult to remember each one. So, try to get the recruiter’s contact information and let him or her know how appreciative you were to have the time to meet with them. Show that you are still interested in the role and the company, and try to stay in touch with them even after the fair. Remember, recruiters are more likely to hire people they recognize or are comfortable with!

Interviews

The interview is one of the most crucial aspects of the job application process; this is your chance to show recruiters your personality and ability. However, it shouldn’t be just a question and answer session; think of the interview as a conversation between you and the recruiter. Interviewers typically use a technique called the “STAR Method” to gather all the relevant information about a specific capability that the job requires. Oftentimes, you may be asked to describe a scenario that highlights your problem-solving abilities. So, try to think ahead and prepare a few example scenarios to adapt and explain to interviewers. To practice and see examples of good interview responses and etiquette, check out the links below.