Career Fair Prep Workshop

At the Career Fair Prep Workshop, Carrie Brooks gives a brief layout on how the Career Fair functions and gives tips on how we, students attending the Career Fair, should behave.

Well, by behave, I mean behaving professionally instead of casually. Instead of the student going to each booth to talk to the companies, the companies comes to the students. This forces the student to show up and be active instead of lurking in the corner.

So in our little space, we should treat them as our "offices." We should be mindful of their time, indications of looking at a watch or glancing at another table, because they may have a limited time to actually be at the Career Fair. It would also be smart to give away items like a business card. Well, exchange business cards, so they have your information as well as you having theirs.

But as we're practicing our professionalism, we also need to research, not only the companies, but ourselves since we're pitching ourselves to these companies. Then we also have to consider the following: Do we fit in with what they're doing? Do we fit in with who they are?

Some tips Carrie Brooks had to give while giving an interview are:

• introducing yourself confidently
• place your name tag on your shoulder
• make eye contact (it's a sign of respect in our culture)
• listen and answer concisely
• learning attitude
• do not complain, don't include personal problems
• talk about projects/internships
• talk about how they relate to a job
• Talk about homework 
• how do they relate to the goal?

After the interview, thank them for their time and for the opportunity. If you're interested, reiterate that interest. Send a thank you email or a written note. Then after a week or two, follow up with another email.