It is career fair season at colleges and universities. Students are updating their resumes and pulling out their business professional outfits from the back of their closets. It is easy to forget that companies attending career fairs have to prepare ahead of time too. As an employer, it is important to put your best foot forward with every student in attendance, whether they have the chance to speak with you or just walk past your booth. When engaging in a career fair, it is expected for you talk to a lot of students whose skill set and experience might not align with what your company is looking for. The number of students is overwhelming. But the same is true for the students. Your company’s booth is one of hundreds pack into this packed auditorium. So at the end of the day, the college students that stand out will be knowledgeable, professional and people that you want to leave a lasting impression on.
In order to attract top talent, it’s important to accurately represent your company by coming prepared with educated employees that represent the culture and provide information that will lead potential employees to engage with your booth. We’ve put together some quick tips to help ensure a career fair full of success.
1. Bring Devices To Showcase Your Company
Throughout the career fair process, it is important to attract college students in a way that will make them feel comfortable. Given the fact that technology has quickly taken over both the education and business space, try attracting potential talent by using a screen, like an iPad or laptop, to display photos and videos of your workspace, company outings and examples of previous clients your company has worked with. In addition, try creating a branded spreadsheet where you can capture individual email address to provide any additional information they may be interested in. This will alleviate the pain of inputting the students information manually into your system afterward. This is also a good way to form personal connections and get students involved with your company via social media or a newsletter!
2. Come With Swag And Incentives
Try to give away something cool and unique to everyone you meet. Students love free stuff and what better way to give it to them while marketing your brand. Create memorable swag such as pens, notebooks, USB drives and cell phone accessories that students can use on a daily basis. Or create incentives to engage with your brand on social media by giving something like 10 percent off a meal from a popular restaurant around campus if they like or follow your companys LinkedIn page or sign up for your company’s newsletter. This will keep your brand top of mind, and it can also serve as a great conversation starter.
3. Create A Colorful And Appealing Display
It is important to keep in mind that you will not be the only company showcasing their talents at the career fair. So, create a booth that's both unforgettable and informative. While your company might have a lot to showcase, try to do it in the most visually appealing way possible. Use charts or graphs to ensure your information is fluent and attractive. On top of graphs, include facts that can serve as talking points for people who approach you. These facts can include anything from the company's growth, client engagements and social media buzz - this content will really speak to your audience. Finally, lighting is key! Create a booth that will not only promote your company colors, but will also balance the professional aspect with the excitement of the career fair. Try mixing professional colors such as dark blues, greens and earthy tones with more exciting colors like red, orange and black hues.
4. Provide Collateral
Although this might not be as exciting as fun swag items, providing physical collateral for your business is highly important. To create a positive, well rounded networking experience, be sure to provide a business card at the end of each of your conversations. It is important for the potential employee to have the means to reach back out to you if their interest in the company and position continues. Also, creating fact sheets and job descriptions surrounding the company will help the students remember all aspects of your conversation while hopefully answering any questions that weren’t covered during the actual career fair.
5. Create A Personalized Experience
While the sole purpose of career fairs is to network with potential employees, unfortunately you won’t automatically click with everyone you speak with. However, it is still important to recognize the skill and talent behind each potential applicant and be as personable as possible. To do so, try standing infront of your booth to make yourself seem more approachable. Regardless of each conversation going ideally, try and spend an equal amount of time with each individual who comes to your booth, even if you don’t believe that individual is someone your company would hire for the current job openings. Business is ever changing and you never know when you might run into that person in the future.
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