Before You Go to Job Interview

Know which employers are attending.
See the career fair / job fair list. The sponsor of each fair is listed (Career Services sponsors Connection Co-op & Internship Fair and Education Expo; other fairs are sponsored by other colleges or departments). You’ll see links to the web site for each fair (if there is one), and you should find a list of the attending employers with other relevant information — like positions for which they are hiring and majors sought. If there’s no information within a month of the fair, contact the sponsor and ask.
Go to any fair where the employers and their jobs interest you, regardless of your major and who is sponsoring the fair. (You don’t have to be in the college that is sponsoring the fair; just see if the employers attending are looking for people with your background or interests.)
Do enough research to make “A” &”B” lists of employers to meet.
Depending on the fair and how many employers interest you, you might not have time to speak with every employer (and every employer may not be offering what you seek). You don’t need to study employers’ financial reports to prepare, but you do need to have some sense of what the organization does, and if there is a fit between your skills and interests and the employer’s needs. Also, if you’re looking for more than one type of job — like technical sales or production management — you’ll need to know which employers are looking for what so you can give each employer an appropriate resume….
Have plenty of copies of your resume ready. You might need to prepare more than one version.
Always take paper resumes to a career / job fair, even if you submitted your resume in advance to a resume book for the fair. Job fair resume books are often online and the employer won’t have access while speaking to you. Even if the employer has a print resume book in hand, she won’t waste time looking up your resume on the spot.
And if you’re looking for more than one type of position, each being significantly different (like marketing or human resources), you may need two different versions of your resume, each tailored to support the different objective. This doesn’t mean you need an individualized resume for each employer at a fair. It simply means when you speak to an employer and say you’re interested in a certain kind of work, don’t hand the employer a resume that has nothing to do with that kind of work. (Nothing wrong with an employer giving you a new idea on the spot — be flexible and respond appropriately.)
Be prepared that some employers cannot accept hard copy resumes and will ask you to apply online. This is to comply with federal regulations about the way employers keep data on applicants.
February 2006 federal regulations had an impact on employers, online job hunters, and how status as a job candidate is determined. In order to comply with these regulations, many employers are requiring all job applicants to apply for jobs online on the employer’s web site.
This does not mean the employer is giving you the brush-off, and it does not mean the employer is wasting time by attending the fair and talking with you. The employer reps may well be taking note of candidates — you and others — in whom they are interested, but they have to follow certain procedures to comply with law.
See more about this at on CNN Money.com:
Job hunting online gets trickier February 6, 2006
(Link leaves Career Services web site; opens in a new browser window.)
Prepare a 20 to 30 second introduction to use with employers. You don’t want to sound like a telephone solicitor reading a script; you do want to sound like you thought about why you’re there. It might be something like, “Hello. I’m Daria Henderson, a junior in Communication Studies and Marketing. I’m looking for an internship related to marketing for next summer. I read on your web site that (name of company) has an internship program in your corporate marketing department, and would really like to learn more about this program.” Get the idea? Keep in mind that some employer representatives may take control of the conversation quickly and you may do more listening than speaking, but you do want to be prepared to be proactive rather than passive.
Know the dress code. Each fair has its own styles and traditions. Some are business casual; some suggest or require interview attire. (Club/date attire is not appropriate.) Again, see what the fair sponsor says about attire on their web site or other promotional materials. If they don’t tell, contact the fair sponsor and ask.