The Geeky College Girl

Mini-tip: Career fairs!! (Did that scare you?)

Mini-tips are blog entries I didn't have time to flesh out into a whole article of advice on one subject. Instead, with the time that I have, I've written about one aspect of a subject that can be read in ~5 minutes or less.

CAREER FAIR.

Just something about those two words that frighten me. Maybe because those words prompts images of too many intimidating people in one room, dreadful conversations, and just lots and lots of awkwardness.

Those WERE the first thoughts that crossed my mind when I walked into my first career fair two weeks ago. But after going to my second career  it turns out, it's not so bad. In fact, it is kind of fun.

There are two things that will make you scared (I say WILL because if you have that expectation when you go to a career fair, you  will expect it and you will at least know where you will be fearful. Versus, if you went to a career fair, encountered these two things, didn't expect it, got intimidated by the fear, and left...which is pretty much what I wanted to do):

1. Seeing so many people dressed in professional garb competing for a recruiter
2. Walking up to a recruiter and initiating a conversation

Help for fear 1:
Now, the first one is a fear that you gotta just let pass. It IS intimidating, but DON'T leave. Looking around at a career fair in a "big picture" view (seeing everyone confidently talk to recruiters etc), WILL look intimidating. But on a personal scale, you'll realize that as the fear passes, that it's just a big social and it's not that bad. All that matters is the conversation between you and whatever person you talk to that night. This is where fear two comes in....

Help for fear 2:
Now, the second fear is harder to combat because in order to fight it, you must take action. But remember the FIVE seconds it takes to walk up to a recruiter and introduce yourself and shake hands will be the only time you'll really be scared. Just think of those five seconds as an investment to your career. All you have to do is get past those first five seconds and you might have a career in line. After that, a conversation gets rolling, and it isn't as awkward.

Steps for these fears:

These are steps I take when I have one of these fears:

Walk around the room and sample:  What I mean by this is scope out what companies are there. Take note of what firm is where. Getting familiar with your surroundings helps the first and second fear.

Talk to the first recruiter that is free and looks at you eye to eye: The best way to start a career fair is to dive into your first conversation. I literally saw people standing around trying to fight themselves to talk to a recruiter.That's just awkward. Don't be one of those people. Take the initiative, remember it's just five seconds of awkwardness trying to talk to someone, smile and introduce yourself. BUT!  DON'T let this be the firm that is the firm you came to the career fair for. If anything you want to practice with a firm that you aren't familiar with or don't care too much about so that when you get to the firm you really want to impress, you would have had some practice.

"But what if I have to stand in line to talk to a recruiter?"

Okay, yes, the awkwardness lasts a little longer, but sit patiently and wait to be talked to, or walk around the room again. I don't recommend the latter because it just seems more awkward and standing in line shows confidence.

These are the only two fears I had when going to the career fair. The rest is downhill from there!

Stay tuned for more tips on career fairs

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