Career Fair: Advice, ProTips, and Motivation for Jobs

Career fairs or festivals are when many companies and business gather at a college campus to promote their business and try to recruit students who would help their company succeed. All grade levels are encouraged to attend this event, often dubbed Career Days, because classes are usually canceled so that students can attend the career fair and not miss class material. Career expos are a chance for potential employees to meet with employers to realize what is expected of them as future graduates who will be competing in the workforce. In the growing technological era, and during current economic times, this may also encompass an international market and workforce which can be overwhelming to many students who may not even be accustomed to receiving any paycheck never yet a salary or commissioned earning.

When attending Career Day try to find one or two friends to go with, this will help ease the social awkwardness many feel when in a large group of people with whom they are in direct competition. Students should be aware of the companies who are eager to recruit knowledgeable graduates in their specific study. Getting information from an engineering firm when Literature is your major is highly unadvised. Many college students need to "shy away from shyness" and open up to new experiences outside their comfort zone. Career Day is a chance for corporations through franchises and human resource managers to reach the cream of the crop of applicants. If working for a big business and national and international superstar such as Nike has been a career goal, then attending the Job Fair and being optimistic is a necessary step towards reaching satisfaction. On another side, local jobs from the community, such as Ruston, Louisiana's "Peach Orchard" or New York, New York's local cheesecake bakery "Cheese in my Cake" attend the local colleges to find talent at home. Career fairs are important because they are an example of companies searching for external workers outside of their organization. While, on a small-scale, minimum-wage/ hourly job, external recruiting is common, on the corporate level it usually isn't. This is because internal recruiting, that is, hiring through promotion or job postings is common because it is less risky and the employee has already demonstrated capability.

Companies understand that all levels of students are there, from freshman to graduating seniors. It is important for lower class students such as freshmen and sophomores to attend to gather experience and develop a reputation and face-value. For Juniors and Seniors, Career Day is a time to look into the near future and set goals and objective that utilize the years of hard studying (and some partying) done at the university. The contacts and information obtained from these events can dramatically change your starting salary and future plans for travel, family, or any monetary destination.
Businesses will set up booths with varying degrees of attention-getting material. This can range from poster boards and large colorful signs to basketball nets and pinball machines. Some companies may have a single sheet of paper to represent their company. This would represent endless possibilities and infinite potential for their young lives. Their main objective as a company is to get as many students over to their booth and to try and pitch their missions, philosophies, and job duties. They focus on finding potential employees with the right characteristics to fit the job, also known as person-job-fit. Another analysis these businesses may be doing is known as a organizational-job-fit which is how well the person will fit into their organization in regards to the company's mission and overall nature. Imagine the difference between working for a tax company with strict deadlines and very formal atmosphere compared to working in a stimulating, bright, and social environment that many sales teams contribute to, such as Zappos.

Dress formally and remember how important first impressions can be to a new client. Many students are not aware of marketing aspects which demonstrate how difficult it is to change a bad first impression into a good one. It is far more difficult to change a poor first impression into a positive one, than it is to go from a good first impression to a negative. The school's career center as well as dean's of study can be excellent sources of information for what to expect and how to behave at a career fair.
Speak with confidence and have an idea of what you are expecting. Why have you been studying all these years at college when you could have been working a minimum-wage job and being lazy?

State schools around the country and internationally are recruiting at younger and younger ages. Some new college students may be familiar with career days because they were offered during high school. This is because the market is becoming increasingly more competitive and is growing a measurable amount into international trade and globalization. By starting Job Fairs early, companies hope to avoid ethnocentric and nationalistic thinking that many young Americans believe. Realizing the power of external and foreign markets is a necessary step for new employees entering work and trying to support a family or their internal needs and goals.
Internships are highly competitive and very few spots are available. What's more, is that an internship is often unpaid and doesn't guarantee a job when the internship is over. This is why it is important for students to seek information from the Career Center, internet, books, gas-stations, and the Lady of the Mist for info about what opportunities are afforded to the student, given their qualifications and initial impressions. All college graduates need to be aware the challenges of finding a suitable career. Career Day experts, such as Professor Doctor Mary Allen Garbonzo P.h.d. M.d.  recommends three keys to finding a successful and satisfying career. First, the job must be challenging to avoid boredom and monotony. Second, the job must offer some sort of post-performance reward, specifically internally- where the worker feels accomplished and can view his accomplishments as positive (such as completing the building a bridge, a supervisor manager will feel accomplished and motivated); however, companies have been known to give external rewards such as gift-certificates when intrinsic rewards are rare, for a successful Network Security management. Third, Professor Doctor Garbonzo PhD, MD, recommends a career where the employee feels they are contributing to the overall benefit of the company. Graduates should be aware of these keys to happiness for long-term success. Now that the job market demands college graduates, to an extent unforeseeable in the 1980's, college career days are opportunities of a lifetime for those young academics who are able to complete the challenges presented by higher level education.

Many of these expositions can occur on a seasonal basis depending on the demand of the local community. Many franchises look to these fairs as a main source of employee recruitment and job-retention.  This increases the importance of making a good first impression, being formally dressed, well groomed, and professional  Try standing out from the massive amount of other students by standing up straight, speaking clear, and acting upper class and alpha. No business or Human Resource center is going to want to higher some beta student before they employ an alpha specimen. This is because alpha's demonstrate the characteristics of leadership, sociability, agreeableness, and success that the firm needs.
Put a smile on and be confident and creative. These are all surefire means of being a huge success and making career day as informational and effective towards a lifetime of high paying careers, and also being thankful that the time and risks spent by furthering education pay off financially.