Job Fair Advice

Yesterday, I attended the Military Job Fair of Virginia.  This job fair caters to transitioning and former military personnel.  My firm does a lot of recruiting for defense contractors and we wanted to expand our network of candidates. It was a great event and we met a lot of good people. 

Interestingly, the most common first question I was asked was “What jobs do you have?”  This may seem like an acceptable question – it is a job fair with companies trying to fill jobs, after all.  The problem is that it demonstrates that the job seeker is focused solely on their needs.  This goes to the heart of the biggest mistake you can make in your job search.

Who is the Customer?

In a job search, who is the customer and who is the sales person?  Companies advertise jobs, market themselves to generate interest and traffic and need to persuade job seekers to work for them.  Based on this, most people consider the company as the party that is selling and the job seeker is the buyer.

This is wrong.  The company is the one with the money, and the job seeker is the one that has the “product” to sell.  The “product” the job seeker is offering is the contribution they will provide the company.  How can you make a good impression and get a hiring manager excited about you if you are focused on “what’s in it for you.”

The other problem with asking about jobs is that it is almost impossible to answer.  A company that goes to a job fair usually has multiple needs.  For large companies, this could be hundreds, or even thousands of jobs.  The company representative then has to pick what job they think is most appropriate for the job seeker based only on what they see.  Do you want to be categorized and stereotyped based on your appearance?  Leading off with this question is asking to be stereotyped. 

For some people, how they look will not create the right impression.

Job Seeker Example

Although the job fair was designed for transitioning military personnel, it covered a much broader range.  In fact, there were a number of entry level job seekers, particularly in administrative roles.  Because the event had a military focus, there were less women than men. 

There was a point midway during the day, when I had talked with a series of young women that were all looking for administrative positions.  Then, a woman I remember walked up that looked especially young and had a similar image to the others I met. 

If she had led off with “What jobs do you have,” I would then have to guess what career field and the level of the position would interest her.  Essentially, by asking about jobs first, she would be requesting that I stereotype her based on the other job seekers I had met that day. 

Instead, this woman started off by saying, “Hi, I’m <name>.  I have been working in the <industry> for the last eight years and just completed my MBA.  I’m interested in learning about your firm.”

By framing her background, she ensured that I got the right impression of her from the start. 

What Should You Do at a Job Fair

Your goal at a job fair should be to build a relationship with a number of companies.  Talk to as many people as you can.  Learn a little about each company.  Make sure you take away information that will allow you to follow up with the person you met. 

I talked with well over one hundred people.  I can only a recall a few.  The ones that I will end up working with are the ones that are proactive and follow up with me.  This demonstrates both initiative and organization. 

If you have attended job fairs in the past and didn’t get the results you wanted from them, change your approach.  Focus on building a relationship with the recruiters that are there (both corporate and agency), and follow up after the event.

Additional Resources

I’m going to start working on a guide to help job seekers get better results from job fairs.  On the way home yesterday, I mapped out the organization for the guide and some of the tools I’m going to include.  It should help you make job fairs much more effective for you in the future.

I’m hoping to make this available in the next few weeks and will announce its availability here on the blog. Check back for more information.

How to Start Building an Industry Presence

Yesterday, I wrote 10 Ways to Get Employers to Find You.  Today, I want to give you a simple, easy to follow plan to get started utilizing a few of these techniques.

You’re probably thinking that this isn’t going to be easy, no matter what I say.  The truth is, it can be easy if you make it easy.  Despite this, very few people will do what is necessary.  This isn’t because the techniques are difficult to implement.  The reason that few people will do these things is that they are slow to work.

Most people want a quick solution.  A slow, methodical plan, no matter how effective, just isn’t appealing.  If you want employers to seek you out, you need to do two things, and neither can be achieved overnight.  You need to become a recognized expert in your field and you need to build a huge network of professionals that know and respect you.

The Step-by-Step Plan

  • Step 1: Setup a LinkedIn account and build a profile.  This will give people a place to learn about you and your career.
  • Step 2: On LinkedIn each week, invite one or two people in your industry that you don’t know to connect to you on LinkedIn.  To do this, consider getting a premium account on LinkedIn. It will make the process much easier.
  • Step 3: Start following the LinkedIn Answers or Yahoo Answers for topics in your field.  Participate by answering a few questions a week.
  • Step 4: Search for blogs and forums related to your industry and pick one or more to follow.  Participate in the discussions by posting comments.
  • Step 5: Write one or two articles per month and post them on an article marketing site.
  • Step 6: As you build a library of articles you have written, begin referencing these in you Answers, blog and forum postings. This will reinforce with your network that you are an expert and that you actively contribute to the field.

Time Commitment

Building a network is not something that will happen over night.  It will take work and time.  Fortunately, the time commitment isn’t huge.

  • LinkedIn Profile Setup – 5 Hours – One-Time: Setting up a profile can be done very quickly, but to do this right, it will take a few hours.  The more time you put in writing about your background the more effective the profile will be.
  • Invitations – 10 min/wk: Sending one or two invites per week will only take a minute or two.  What may take time is conversing with your new connections.  Some will accept your invites without a response.  Others will send a personal email and start a discussion to get to know you.
  • Answers – 30 min/wk: The time commitment here is up to you. 30 minutes a week to read and answer questions can be very effective.
  • Blog Comments – 30 min/wk: Reading and participating in blogs and discussions can be effective with 30 minutes a week.
  • Articles – 1-2 Articles per month – Time Varies: The time commitment here will vary with your writing skill.  Some people can knock out really good articles very quickly.  Others may require 10 or more hours per article.  The key isn’t writing a lot, it’s being consistent over time.  One article per month will develop a significant portfolio over next couple years.  Expect the first few articles to take some time, but you will get faster and it will get easier with time.

If you follow these steps, you will build relationships and propel your career forward.  Because this is a slow process, few people will take the time to do this.  If you do this, you will differentiate yourself from your competition.  Don’t give up if you can’t devote this much time – just scale back to what you can do.

The Results

Now, fast forward a couple years.  You decide you want to make a career change, and start the process by contacting people in your network and ask them for help.  Some of the individuals you have developed a relationship with will be happy to recommend you to their companies.  Their referral will be more than just passing your resume to HR.  They will be able (and probably very willing) to share with key managers that you are an expert in the field, have published a number of industry articles and are a resource others in the industry turn to with questions.  In most cases, you’re going to get a very close look and have a great chance of getting hired.

10 Ways to Get Employers to Find You

In life, it is not what you know or who you know that counts — it is both!
Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book

Becoming a recognized expert in your industry and developing a large network are two steps that can propel your career.  Very few people devote much if any time to either of these tasks.  The ones that do, are often sought out by employers. 

Both of these goals may seem extremely difficult to achieve.  The truth is that they are much easier to reach than they appear.  I'm going share 10 ways to improve your industry standing and build your network.  These techniques will help employers find you when they need to fill a key position.

The benefits are simple:

  • You will learn more and develop faster as a professional
  • You will build relationships that will expose you to opportunities, often before you decide to make a career change
  • You will have a network to tap into for opportunities if you find you need to make a career move
  • You will meet potential employees you can hire

Most of these steps require very little time on a weekly basis.  What they do require is a commitment to consistently work on them.  If you do this, a few minutes each day, you can make a huge impact on your career.

The Plan

To become an industry expert, recognized by your peers, it is important to study your industry.  Find resources that publish good content in your field and follow them.  Google Reader, RSS Feeds and other free services make this easy.  If you are not familiar with these, check them out – they're really easy to use and can save a lot of time.

Once you are comfortable that you understand your field (you are probably already at this point), start contributing.  Share your expertise, either by writing articles and white papers, or by participating in online discussions.  In either case, you will begin interacting with people in you field you would not otherwise know. 

As your presence in the field grows, your expertise will continue to increase and you will build your network. 

10 Ways to Build Your Presence

  1. LinkedIn – Create a profile on LinkedIn and link to people in your industry.  Try to add one or two new contacts every week.  In a couple years, you will have 200 people in your field that you know and can help you.  Remember, networking is always most effective when you look for ways to help others, not just yourself.
  2. Personal Website – Create a personal website outlining your background and professional interests.  This gives people a chance to find you and understand your career.
  3. Facebook – Create a Facebook page (or Myspace or one of the other Social Networking sites) and share you career background and interests. The social networking pages are designed to be places for social interaction, but this doesn't mean they can't be used to help your career.  Obama and McCain both have Facebook pages.  In fact, Obama has over 40 different Facebook accounts (Virignia for Obama, NY for Obama, etc.).  Janis Joplin, the singer who died in 1970, has a Facebook page.   There's a book store in the UK with a page, a number of charities and a bunch of Arts festivals with Facebook pages. 
  4. Industry Forums – Most fields have industry associations that sponsor online forums where people can post questions or participate in discussions.  Join one or more of these and contribution to the group.  In the IT field, searching forums has been a very effective way for recruiters to find talented candidates. If you are in an industry without an effective forum, you can start one, although this is much more time consuming.
  5. Article Marketing – Write articles and post them on article databases.  EzineArticles.com is the biggest.  By posting an article you authorize publishers to reprint your article on their websites or in print as long as they credit you as the author. 
  6. Answers – LinkedIn Answers and Yahoo Answers both have very active communities.  You can post a question on any topic if you need information.  By answering questions, you can develop a reputation as an expert. 
  7. Blog Comments – Visit blogs in your industry and post comments.  Add additional information to a post or pose a question for the author. 
  8. Hub Pages/Lens – Set up an account on Squidoo or Hubpages and create a resource page for your industry.
  9. Knol – This is a new article posting site on Google.  Post some articles in your field.
  10. Blog – Start writing a blog about your industry.  One or two posts a week will grow and become a significant online presence.  This a bigger commitment, both in time and effort, but can be very effective.  If you can't write consistently, look to the article databases like EzineArticles and publish articles from other authors to supplement what you write. 

If you commit to a few of these activities on a routine, consistent basis, you will build a very effective network that will provide significant benefits to your career.