Spring Job Fairs: Refresh Your Job Search

Along with the end of winter, spring brings the likelihood of nicer weather and something you might not have attributed to spring — job fair season.

A job fair is a refreshing change of pace from online job searching and allows you an opportunity to meet face-to-face with employers and ideally make connections with potential employers.

Below is a list of upcoming spring job fairs in the Northern Colorado area followed by some important tips and reminders to make the most of your job fair experience.

Focus on meeting with the employers who you think would be a good fit and have job openings in your field

Job Fair Tips

Research

As the job fairs get closer, you can usually get a list of employers who will be attending the job fair. If you are interested in a particular employer, research the company beforehand. Being knowledgeable about the company or organization will help you stand out to employers and will also aid with the flow of the conversation.

Along with researching companies online, company information is available through the Library’s databases Mergent Intellect and ReferenceUSA located at Poudrelibraries.org under the green “Research” tab.

Practice

Tammy Olivas, Office Manager/Employment Technical Consultant, from the Larimer County Workforce Center encourages job seekers to “prepare and practice a 30-second professional introduction that describes your skills and qualifications.” She says, “The organized introduction will make you look polished and professional, and will no doubt help you stand out from the many other job seekers attending the job fair.”

Planning

Start by meeting with the employers who you think would be a good fit and have job openings in your field. If time permits, keep talking to more employers even if they do not have openings in your field. Not only is it good networking practice, but those companies might also end up having openings in positions that are not being advertised.

What to Wear

Wear comfortable, professional clothes to a job fair. Wearing clothes that you like will help you appear more confident. Carrie Pinsky, a career counselor and founder of Pink Sky Career Counseling, also reminds you to avoid strong perfumes, colognes, and even heavily scented hairsprays. She says, “The room will likely be hot and crowded, and these scented products can become really over-powering.  You don’t want to do anything that distracts from making a great impression.”

What to Bring

Bring many copies of your resumes to give to employers, but go beyond just handing out resumes. Having meaningful interactions with employers will help them remember you later on.

Follow-Up

Send a thank-you note or a thank you email to the employers who you connected with at the job fairs. If you are stumped on what to include in your follow-up email or note, Pinsky recommends a simple and straight-forward note: “I enjoyed meeting you today and really appreciated the time you took to tell me about________.”

Be sure to also attach a resume and ask for a follow up action of some kind. Your thank-you email or note helps employers remember you, shows that you are still interested, and separates you from the people who did not bother to follow-up.

Job Fair Questions?

Contact our partners with the Larimer County Workforce Center Business Services at 970-498-6665 or via email at businesservices@larimer.org.  Good luck with the job search!