CaPS Tips on…
…Making the Most of Career Fairs
What is a Career Fair?
Career fairs resemble trade shows. Employers are provided with a 10 x 10 booth space
where they meet and chat with students and alumni throughout the day. Career fairs are
a great place to meet students and, pre-screen as well as establish and maintain a
company profile. While it is essential to take enough copies of your organizational
material and staff to last the day there is more than that to being successful at a career
fair.
Choose your fair carefully and know your audience
Research which educational institutions offer the academic program most suited to your
organization. Check the total number of students as well as the number of graduates
each year. Staff at the career services office can give you advice on the various fairs held
each year and which would be of most benefit to you. Start this research in May as most
fairs are held between September and April.
Each campus has it’s own culture and characteristics. Again, talk to the people in the
career services office. They are familiar with the student population and culture.
Think through your handouts
Take time to think about the kinds of questions that students might have about your
organization. Include materials that answer these questions.
Top ten questions students ask at career fairs
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From which faculties do you hire?
I have a degree in X – do you hire people with this degree?
Are graduate degrees important to advancing within your organization?
What do you do?
Do you like your job?
Can you tell me about the environment/culture within your organization?
Can you explain the hiring process to me?
What kinds of skills and experience do you look for in the employees you hire?
How, when and where do you advertise positions?
Are you hiring? Do you have summer positions?
You may want to have two pieces of information to distribute. The first one would be a
large volume item, brief, and in a format easy to read and hold on to. The second piece
would be more detailed and given to students with whom you would like to have more
contact.
…over
Staffing your booth
Try to staff your booth with at least one recent graduate/new hire who can talk about your
organization as a peer to students. If you can send an alumnus from the institution you
are attending, even better. Respect diversity and demonstrate this with your choice of
staff at the booth. You may want to have human resource people at the booth but don’t
leave out the line people who can address the questions of what exactly they do during a
typical day. One last word of advice, know your fair. For example, Careers Day at the
University of Alberta is host to over 7,000 students and alumni in one day so don’t come
alone.
Prepare a script
Prepare three or four screening questions to ask students that would give you an
indication as to whether you would like to know more about this person. This will help
you break the ice as well as get to know which students are of interest to you. Students
have told us that they attend career fairs to talk to organization staff, not to be referred to
the website. You may be sure that serious students have already visited your web site
and now they would like to talk to you.
Job Postings
Know if your organization has a current job posting with the career services office.
Know before hand if you are accepting resumes at your booth or if you will be asking the
students to apply to the job posting through the career services office.
If you are not currently recruiting let students know when you expect to be hiring – the
honesty is appreciated as well this is good information for students who may not be
currently looking for employment, rather they are gathering their own career planning
information and looking to the future.
Logistics
While most schools provide as much help as they can it is still necessary that you have
someone assigned to look after the practical aspects. For the logistics to flow smoothly it
is best to have someone attending the fair who knows how, when and to what address
your materials were shipped as well as how to set up and take down the booth. Career
services staff will do their best to help with last minute glitches, they will have phones,
tapes, scissors, felt pens, etc; however, it is usually impossible to find a lost booth in the
hour before the fair starts.
Survival Tips
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Wear comfortable clothing and footwear
Take breaks
Keep your sense of humour
Enjoy the day!
Linking you with Alberta’s best: CaPS Works!