Preparing for the Job Fair: Research & Resumes

Preparing for the Job Fair: Research & Resumes

January 11, 2019 - Hellene Meyer


 Make sure to put your best foot forward when attending our annual Job Fair by doing your research and polishing up your resume! Read our blog post for tips on how to stand out from other students at the get go, by being prepared ahead of time!


Want to have a successful job fair experience? With the annual Job Fair run by the University and St. Clair College coming up shortly on January the 23rd, it’s important to make a good impression on employers. Preparation for a job fair should never start when you wake up on the day of the event, in fact, you should start preparing at least a few days or weeks in advance to make sure you get the best chances of getting noticed by employers.  

Research 

The most important step in being prepared is to do your research. Take a look at the list of attending employers and note which ones you’re the most interested in. These will be your target companies and you should make it your job to know what they do, what sets them apart from other companies in the same industry, what positions with them you’re keen about, and other things such as their mission statement, some current industry news regarding them, and any unique facts about them. Find these details for each of the employers you’re interested in and make a list with the employer and these points (summarized bullet points should work best) that you can take along with you to the fair for reference.  

Resumes 

Research is crucial for the next part of preparing for a job fair, your resume. Make sure that you’re starting out with a strong resume by reading our previous articles on resume writing, attending our Resume 101 workshops, and taking advantage of our weekday drop-in hours where the Peer Advising team can help you develop and edit your resume or cover letter, and provide you with all sorts of resources that can help you. 

Tailoring your resume to the positions you’re interested in is an important way of showing potential employers that you care about their particular company. While you may not have access to specific, detailed postings at a job fair, use your head and think about the kinds of positions you’re interested in with your target companies and using your research tailor your resume to what you think they’ll be looking for in a potential employee. Don’t hand in the same resume you would use to apply to Walmart to a recruiter for an engineering company or financial institution. Understand the qualities these companies are looking for and make sure they show up clearly in the skill statements of your resume. Even better, if you have the time and given your research you can make it work, maybe tailor a few resumes to specific companies. At a job fair, you’re competing with hundreds of other applicants in an already hectic environment, so you should take whatever advantage you can get to stand out to recruiters. Read more about standing out to recruiters on our job fair blog about job fair attire and how to nail your elevator pitch. 

If you feel you need more help, attend our Preparing for the Job Fair Workshops, read our Tip Sheet, and don’t be afraid to come in and speak with our Peer Advisors, who are available at the CDEL Office every weekday from 10am-4pm. If you’re looking for more information regarding the fair, visit the Job Fair webpage or check out the new Job Fair App.

Remember, the Job Fair itself is only a few days away, and takes place on January 23rd, from 10am-2pm and the St. Clair College SportsPlex, so it’s time to start getting ready! There will be a free bus shuttle going between the college and UWindsor’s Vanier Circle every fifteen minutes, so there’s really no excuse NOT to go!