How to rock a career fair
Vault Career Intelligence’s Frank Siano breaks it down
by Briyahna Rice
With graduation and summer approaching, it is the key season for applying for jobs and internships. Five Town College’s Career Services brought in guest speaker Frank Siano, Associate Director of Sales at Vault Career Intelligence on Wednesday, April 3rd to inform students on how to prep for and rock a career fair.
BEFORE THE FAIR: PREP!
“Before the fair is sometimes the biggest component, and when I mean before the fair, I don’t ideally mean the night before. Hopefully, a couple of days prior, do as much research as possible to make sure that you are the stellar individual that’ll be speaking to the employers,” said Siano. He also advised students to print out many copies their resumes and to make sure that they’re out and ready to hand in, not just shoved into a book bag. He then went on to urge the importance of researching all of the companies that interest the student, as well as potential roles and responsibilities that they may be qualified for.
Siano even asked the students to think about why they’re actually attending to the fair. It’s not just to get free merchandise, but ultimately land a job or internship. Even if a student is an underclassman looking to gather information on the next potential career fair, once they have the resources that they need and some practice, it’ll be easier to ace the one that really counts for them.
QUICKEST WAY TO RESEARCH:
“The easiest way? You can go directly to their company website. All these sections have either a career page or an ‘About Us’ so you can learn a little bit more about when they started, how long they’ve been around, what’s their current jobs postings, and the job functions. You learn these pieces of information, so it’ll make it much easier for you when you actually go ahead and start talking to these employers,” Siano explained.
AT THE CAREER FAIR:
Next, the elevator pitch was an important point of interest that he touched on, when students would need to say their intentions, what they've learned about the organization, and ask about potential next steps. According to Siano, students need to make sure that they’ve done their due diligence as they walk from booth to booth. Students also have to find a way to separate themselves from the rest of the pack to secure a position that other candidates are competing for. Furthermore, showing up early and approaching the booth solo are also big pluses because it allows the recruiter to focus on one candidate at a time. Career fairs can be competitive because companies often have limited postings and only one or two open internship positions.
Before Siano joined Vault, he attended his very first career fair thirteen years ago as a junior business major in his Spring Semester at SUNY Plattsburgh. Siano attended a career fair that housed 30 companies. Only four students attended. Siano made an appearance and was chosen as the best candidate not only because of his resume but also because he showed up on time and wore a suit. Experiences like this and many others over time taught him how valuable it was to attend a career fair to find either an internship, part time or full-time job. And now at his job at Vault Career Intelligence, he is able to use his knowledge to help students with their career searches.
For more information, go to www.vault.com.