Preparing for a career fair
From 7th to 10th of June 2021, the free virtual Summer Careers Festival will be held at the University of Leeds. It is a wonderful opportunity for students or graduates to meet with their future employers. It is also a great time for organizations to showcase their available roles to meet some talented students. This careers festival will be taking place in four different sectors: Yorkshire Careers Day, UK careers Day and Global Careers Day. Before attending this great event, I have attended an online webinar from our expert student careers staff to share some motivating advice for students to prepare well.
First and foremost, a general pre-research needs to be done before meeting your expected employers. Following are the tips that help students do their research by Marc:
- Make a list.
The list should contain all of the employers that you want to meet and the time slot that you book with them. “Finding a job is the job itself!” Using a spreadsheet, database or Word document can help you make your list clear and well-structured.
- Look at the job role that you want to apply for the vacancy.
In this part, use LinkedIn to find someone who is currently in that role. It might be recent graduates or the student who is in his/her placement year in that company. It helps you to get a general idea about the type of work they are doing presently. Chat to them with confidence and you will be able to learn a lot from them and their job and company they work for. In the perspective of looking for a vacancy, you can find information from MyCareer or browse the company’s website. Further to this, the company’s details also can be found on different social media, for instance, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. These platforms contain the most up-to-date information about your expected role. Do not only rely on a single website to do your research.
- Think of evidence from your CV that matches with skills/tasks.
In my opinion, it is the most important part that I need to consider during the preparation time. I need to think about what experience and skills I have, what project I have done and how to structure my story to tell during the meeting. In this part, we need to recall the work we have done before and the abilities learned from that time. Such as team-working, leadership, and communication skills. And thinking about how this experience and skills can be matched to the role that you want to apply for.
- Research the work of the company.
“The employers are always willing to talk to candidates who have done some research on the company.” Knowing about the company is as important as looking for the role. For example, you may need to do some research about the company’s culture and background. Besides, you may consider the evidence from your CV if it is matched with the culture of the company.
- Be ready to talk about your research in your meeting.
You need to remember, the interview aims to stand out from the crowd! Showing your research during the meeting. Telling the recruiters what you have done, showing your motivation and ambition about your expected role. Make recruiters think you have the future talent for their company.
Secondly, after your pre-research, you have to show your work in the one-to-one interview. Here are some points that I have recognized useful in the webinar.
- Be an “Opener” in the meeting.
After briefly introducing yourself, you can tell the recruiter your interest in the corporation. It is based on your company research. Think about what you have done because of this interest and show your motivation in your wanted role.
- Have an agenda for the meeting.
You may need to prepare some questions for your meeting. For example, thinking about what you want to know about the role and the company. The most significant thing is you need to take charge of your meeting to get the messages that you want.
- Be ready to talk about yourself.
In the research part, you have already done your CV and recalled the experiences that you have completed. During the conversation, do not repeat the word exactly in your CV. You need to expand your language to tell your experience fluently and politely.
The third part is carried by Kiera who is illustrating the website for the career fair- Career Fairs plus.
Once you have done your profile, you can find the fairs that you have already booked. If you have not booked any fairs yet, just enter the University of Leeds on the “Select an organization” page and it will lead you to the upcoming fairs. Next, choose the fair that you are interested in and see which company and what kind of role that you are expected for. Followed by that, when you read the company’s profile, you can find the link to the company’s website. After researching about the company, if you think “Well, I am ready to meet with a recruiter.” Then, double-check the scheduled time, the available timeslots, interaction type provided, and... enjoy your meeting! Also, you can get information about the opportunities that the company provided on the profile, such as graduate opportunities, opportunities for first-year students or internship program. Further to this, on the left-hand side of the web page, you can tick your preferences to narrow the search scope and find your desired position more accurately.
Overall, this webinar is so motivating and useful. Those tips provided can be used in preparing interviews from now to the future. Hope you guys who attend the summer career fairs can enjoy your time and be inspired.