Job fairs are a good opportunity to find out about your opportunities in the job market. You can make valuable contacts here for starting your career after your studies or for vocational training. Even if you are already in your professional life but looking for a job, you’ve come to the right place. You can find out how to use job fairs optimally for your purposes in this guide.
What can you expect at a job fair?
There are many different job fairs. Some are offered by your university. The others are aimed at a wider audience. All job fairs have in common that they represent a kind of marketplace. Here, those responsible represent their companies and introduce them to interested parties. As a (future) employee, you can get a better overview. Here you can not only get to know personally possible employers with whom you could already imagine working. You will often become aware of companies that you have not yet had on your screen.
You can use a job fair to get in touch with those in charge of potential employers. This is how you make contacts who can be of help to you. For example, if you decide to apply to the company concerned, you can refer to your new contact and your encounter. If you made a good impression at the fair, it can enormously increase your chances of getting the job you are looking for. You are then not only an anonymous applicant but already known.
You also have the option of handing over your application documents to potential employers directly at the fair. You may even get a specific job offer on-site. Even if you do not apply directly to the company in question, such networking can still be useful for you.
Valuable tips about applications and jobs
The supporting program of a job fair helps you to optimize your applications. Depending on what kind of trade fair it is, you can have your application documents checked, for example. In this way, you can find out what is good and where there is still room for improvement. In many cases, you can also have your application photos taken at a job fair. That saves you from going to the photo studio. And of course, you will receive numerous valuable tips about jobs and applications.
Many trade fairs are aimed specifically at students and graduates. They are particularly well suited to lay the foundation for an optimal entry into the profession. To enable a seamless transition to the job, you should not only attend such a trade fair when you have already finished your studies. Prefer to visit a job fair in your last semester. Job fairs can also be helpful if you are looking for a suitable internship.
Other trade fairs are more general platforms and are also suitable for those interested who have been working for a long time.
Whether your visit to a job fair will be a success is, on the one hand, a question of planning. How you behave at the fair also plays a role. Even after the trade fair, you have options to increase your chances of getting a job.
The right preparation: so that everything runs optimally
When it comes to job fairs, thorough preparation is worth a lot. This starts with the choice of a suitable trade fair. There are many offers. What makes sense depends on you and your ideas. If you have specific companies in mind that you would like to get to know better, you should see where they are represented. Find out about other exhibitors and the supporting program to decide whether a certain job fair is right for you.
You should bring your application documents up to date in the run-up to the fair. File a professional-looking résumé and print it out several times. You can take these documents with you in a neat application folder so that you can talk directly about a job. Pocket something to write too. This way you can write down interesting information, questions, and names of contact persons.
Think about how you can briefly introduce yourself to new contacts. What makes you special?
You cannot get to know every offer at a trade fair. So make a selection. Who do you want to visit? Prepare for these interviews as if they were a job interview. Talk about yourself, be interested and friendly, and think about questions to express your interest. If you are particularly interested in meeting a certain company, you can often make an appointment in advance.
Choosing the right clothing is also important. How do you look professional? For the selection, orient yourself on the question of what you would wear to a job interview. Your clothes should match you – and convey the right image of you.
Last but not least, you should plan a relaxed journey. It is best to be there as early as possible. In the beginning, it is even emptier – and those responsible at the companies have not yet had countless discussions, but are still fully concentrated.
At the trade fair
When you are on the spot, you should take note of items on the program that are really important to you. You can’t take everything with you. Visit specific exhibitors who really interest you, but also stay open to new ideas. Often such trade fairs result in promising contacts that you did not expect.
When it comes to talking to people in charge of companies, you shouldn’t show any false shyness. Show yourself confident and polite. It is good if you are ready for questions about yourself and also asks questions yourself.
Write down important information. This applies particularly to the names of the people you have met. When you refer to her later, you’ll have the name to hand.
Stay on the ball after the fair
Valuable contacts are often made at job fairs. Then tie in with it. For example, you can send the person concerned an e-mail thanking them for the interesting conversation. You can also submit a contact request through a career network. Are you planning an application? Then make sure to refer to the personal acquaintance at the job fair in the cover letter to increase your chances of getting the job.