Approaching your first (or fifth) career fair
It’s that time of the year again. For engineering students at UCLA, week 3 is always a time of hassle. Midterms start kicking in, and for students looking for internship or full-time offers, preparing for interviews and attending career fairs mean more pressure on top of the already-daunting school work.
Attending career fairs can be scary and tiring. Whether it is your first time or your fifth time, waiting in line for 30 minutes to make a 3 minute presentation of yourself only to never hear back from the company is always a frustrating experience. If you would like some tips to help you better prepare for the upcoming Engineering and Technical Fair, I have written up a short guide from my personal experience. I hope you find some of the tips useful and adopt them to elevate your game in the job or internship search.
The objective
“Begin with the end in mind.” — Stephen Covey
The objective of the career fair is usually boiled down to two parts:
- Obtain an interview
- Build a connection
Most of the students attending career fairs are actively seeking internship or full-time offers. Compared to submitting your resumes online, applying in-person usually give you a better chance of moving past the initial screening stage and receiving an interview. Although some companies will still tell you to apply online, showing up to career fair in-person guarantees that your resume is reviewed by either a recruiter or engineer, as opposed to possibly a computer filtering system.
In addition, career fairs give you the opportunity to make a pitch for yourself, to highlight your strengths which may be overlooked if recruiters only scan your resume for 6 seconds, and sometimes, to build a connection that can lead to future opportunities. In some instances, companies may not give you an interview on your first try. But after talking to them at a few career fairs, they may give you a chance just because of your persistence.
The preparation
“Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” — John Wooden
Resume
It goes without saying that resume is arguably the most important thing you need when attending career fairs. Your resume shows recruiters your past experience as an indicator of your capabilities, it highlights the type of skills you can bring to their teams, and it gives companies a way to contact you if they want to interview you. If you need tips on crafting the perfect resume, or just want a second set of eyes to look over your resume, definitely attend one of the Resume Workshops host by UPE, Career Center, HSSEAS, or other student organizations on campus.
Research
In my experience helping friends prepare for career fairs, this is one of the most overlooked area of preparation. Most students will obtain the list of companies attending each day of Engineering and Technical Fairs from BruinView, but they won’t bother looking past company names and the positions they are hiring. Often, they end up making a generic pitch to the recruiter about a super hard technical problem they solved in their operating system class, when the company is primarily looking for someone with frontend experience.
Researching companies by going through the job descriptions on each company’s website for what they are looking for is extremely important. Especially for medium and smaller size companies, it gives you a competitive advantage over your peers. You will get a better understanding of the team culture and the specific skillset the company values; it also helps you structure your pitch and show them you have done your homework.
The pitch
“So, tell me about yourself.” — basically every recruiter
It’s that infamous decade-old interview question again. It’s so commonly asked that it’s being used at career fairs as conversation starter as well. Instead of getting nervous, think of it as a golden opportunity to sell yourself. This is your 60-second opportunity to market yourself, highlight your proudest achievements, and demonstrate how your skillsets align with the company’s need (you have done your research right?). In fact, after a firm handshake, you should always introduce yourself by giving your pitch, instead of waiting for the question to be promoted.
There’s no “correct” way of structuring your pitch — everyone does his or her pitch differently. Though, through experience from chatting with countless companies at numerous career fairs, I have found the following structure to be most effective.
Introduction
I usually start off with a 1–2 sentence introduction, stating my name, year, major, and my objective.
Hello, my name is Anthony and I am a fourth year undergrad studying computer science at UCLA. I am looking for full-time opportunities and I am interested in the software engineering role at Lyft.
Why me
This is the “meat” of your pitch. Your goal is to convince whoever you’re speaking to, whether it’s a recruiter or engineer, that you qualify for the role they are hiring. Think about what specific experience, projects, or skillsets set you apart, from the person they have spoken to either before or after you. Remember, if you just list down the CS classes you’ve taken at UCLA, it’s very likely that every other student they talk to will have the same background.
You should focus on 2–3 previous experience or projects, be sure to specify your role on the team, what you did, how you did it, the technologies you used, and give any specific numbers if you can. If possible, try to point out how your experience aligns with what they are looking for. Also, avoid giving an overview of the things on your resume. Instead, pick a few and go into details. As you speak, point them to where it is included on your resume, so they can follow along (and hopefully highlight/circle/annotate).
“[…] When I was interning at Snapchat, I worked on the Core Camera team to improve the performance of snap capturing on our iOS app. I saw on your website that you’re looking for someone with previous experience in mobile development, as well as the ability to move fast and thrive in a startup environment. I believe my internship experience from Snapchat makes me a very qualified candidate for this role. […]”
Why them
Besides convincing the representative from the company that you are the right candidate, you should also briefly touch upon why this particular company is the right fit for you (yes, even if the answer is “I need a job…I’m getting rejected from everywhere and I’ll take anything”). Try to bring up something unique about the company, whether it is the product or something you found online about their work environment (you did your research right?).
“I am particularly interested in the opportunities at Lyft because I have been a frequent-user of the app for many years. Additionally, I learned from your career page that Lyft prides itself in building a team with self-driven and passionate members — something I value in a workplace.”
Wrap up
Depending on the person you’re talking to and the non-verbal signals they give, you might want to cut your pitch short (or make it longer if they seem interested). Sometimes, they interrupt you and start asking questions, and the conversation flows naturally. Other times, you’ll need to wrap up your pitch with 1–2 sentences.
Again, this varies from person to person. For me personally, depending on how confident I feel about my pitch, I either go with:
“I would love to join the teams at Lyft and contribute to the app I love, and that’s the reason I came to speak with you today.”
Or, if I’m feeling very confident:
“I believe my experience from industries and personal projects makes me a great candidate for this role, and I look forward to hearing back regarding next steps.”
Bottom line
Rehearse your pitch, but don’t memorize it completely and talk like a robot. Recruiters are looking for not only qualified candidates, but also individuals with the right cultural fit — they are looking for people they can see themselves working with. They are people too! Think about the number of resumes they have read through and the number of pitches they have heard already, a simple act of consideration or a change of topic to lighten up the conversation can go a long way (I once saw an engineer wearing a Dodgers jersey. Being a big sports fan myself, I opened up the conversation by asking him about the Dodgers and we proceeded to discuss how the season has been — still one of the best encounters I have had at a career fair.)
Relax, and you will do just fine :)
What’s next
“The rest is still unwritten.” — Natasha Bedingfield
Answer questions
In most cases they will have questions for you. This can range from the standard “do you require sponsorship to work in the US” to anything technical or non-technical on your resume such as “what was your role on this team” or “why did you pick PHP for your server” (I mean, I’d ask that same question too). Make sure you are comfortable discussing everything you list on your resume.
Ask questions
Prepare a few questions to ask at the end. Even if you really don’t have any questions, asking a few standard ones is still better than having none — it shows that you really are interested and come prepared. Be sure to address your question to the right audience though (don’t ask a recruiter “what does a typical day look like” unless you are applying for a recruiting role).
Ask to follow up
The success rate of obtaining a contact info to follow up generally varies. Some recruiters or engineers will have no problem giving you their work email, while others, especially those from large companies, generally don’t give out their contact info, given the amount of candidates they meet at each career fair. Regardless, it never hurts to ask. If you do get their email, be sure to follow up within 24 hours, remind them who you are and restate your pitch and objective briefly.
Bonus: expect the expected
The following are real encounters at career fairs:
- After getting to the front of the line, I was given a pencil and a clipboard with a technical question written on the top of the page: “bring this back with your resume after you finish the question”
- “We would like to interview you, are you free this afternoon?”
- “You listed that you are ‘proficient’ in C++ on your resume. What does the keyword ‘static’ do in C++?”
While there’s no way to be prepared for every possible scenario, sharpening your interview skills regularly and familiarizing yourself with technologies listed on your resume will definitely help you tackle the unexpected (but should-be-expected).
That’s it! I hope you find this guide helpful! Give it a 👏 or comment below with your own thoughts and tips. Best of luck on your internship and job search!
Thanks to Thomas Keady, Frank Chen, and Mohammed Husain for the feedback!
