Ping Ping King

Standing out at a Job Faire can make a difference in your search. Job Faires are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a Silicon Valley Job Fair in January, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 career faires scheduled for this year across the States.

How do you rise above the crowd at a Job Fair? The competition can be significant, but you can help yourself stick out from the crowd with advance homework. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified step-by-step process to get ready. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:

First, investigate the organizations that are going and pick your targets. Use the internet to research the organizations that are there before you even decide to go. Go to their web sites and see if they have their openings posted. Pick a tenable number to target, and get ready to spend an hour or more researching each one. It’s hard to do more than seven in a day, and 3-5 is a much more reasonable target. For each company, you want to know: recent news, key product lines, and exectuve names. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You will end up with with a page or two of research for each company/job.

Second, if there are job openings on the web, read them to see what the hiring department is looking for. Create a mapping of your accomplishments and skills to the requirements of the job. Make the nomenclature match. If the hiring organization calls customers "clients", your resume should do the same thing. The achievements should be written in the style of the hiring company.

Third, create a ‘mini sales pitch’ for each likely organization/job combination. Write down a ninety second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud showing why you are a fantastic candidate for that job. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet people at the job booth.

Fourth, modify your resume for each position. The objective on your resume should exactly match the job you’re going after. The executive summary should be a written form of your “mini sales pitch” for the job. Then choose the accomplishments and skills that most clearly match the job prerequisites. Especially at a Career Faire, the purpose of your resume is a sales tool for you – to get you on-site job interviews. It should be simple to see that you’re a match based on your resume.

Fifth, rehearse your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each opportunity - bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a intelligibly labeled folder. Keep them in a lightweight briefcase or folio.

Finally, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be fittingly groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any cologne or fragrance meagerly, if at all.

Remember to smile, and good hunting!

Lawyer and Republican activist, Ken Mehlman was a partner in the law and lobbying firm Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, which tasked him to focus on developing solutions for clients who had concerns in the regulatory, legislative, constituency, as well as in the corporate and public relations arenas at the state, federal and global levels. Some people refer to his work as “providing political intelligence”.

Aside from his work for the law-lobbying firm, Ken Mehlman is well experienced in other aspects of business and politics. He used to be the chairman of the Republican National Committee, was former President George Bush’s Deputy Assistant, became part of the White House staff as Director of Political Affairs during Bush’s term, and acted as Bush’s campaign manager during his 2004 re-elected bid. Ken Mehlman also served as Congresswoman Kay Granger’s chief of staff.

In January 2001, as part of Bush’s White House staff, Ken Mehlman was held responsible for supervising all issues related to President Bush’s political. This saw him work alongside federal agencies, Congress members, community groups, and state parties.

A member of the Maryland and DC bars, he graduated from the Franklin and Marshall College in 1988 and in 1991, he obtained his JD from the prestigious Harvard Law School.