Networking Skills for Career Fairs: Boosting Confidence for High Schoolers
SaveThis article offers tips to help students prepare for career fairs, emphasizing the importance of creating a strong resume, practicing an elevator pitch, and conducting research on attending companies.
In a society where the rise of technology and the impact of a global pandemic have a constant influence on the job market, young students will, understandably, be nervous about securing a job in a new field, securing an internship, or even just securing their first job out of school in general. Career Fairs are a great entry point to exploring new jobs because, in a world where so many interactions take place through a screen, students have the opportunity through a small window to interact face-to-face with a company recruiter.
While students may not have much time for interaction, they can make a great and memorable first impression and potentially get some additional information about a specific position or company to further access if it is a good fit.
Before getting to the point of interacting with recruiters, there can be so many nerves leading up to attending a career fair. Whether attending a community-based career fair hosted by an external organization or preparing for the first career fair once in college, preparation is the key to success. Being prepared is something you as a parent or guardian can support your student with step-by-step. It will also directly result in a confidence boost for them once it's time to shine.
The Resume
Before thinking about attending a career fair, the general pursuit of a job or internship should begin with the creation or revision of a resume. This document should be one page, and display your student's range of academic, community, and extracurricular experiences while in school. A basic header should have a name, contact, and location information (if searching for geographic-specific positions). A picture is optional but helpful for remembering faces met at what can be a very busy environment.
Beyond the header, your student may choose to add an objective statement that lets a recruiter know, in no more than three lines, a synopsis of their experience and the kind of position they are looking for. Following this, your student should introduce the school they are attending. If they are just starting at a college, they should list the school, expected graduation date, and their major if selected. If still in high school, students should list the school they are attending and potentially add a GPA next to the expected graduation date if it will boost the overall impression of the resume. One thing to note is that selective exclusion has a small role when it comes to resume building, but it is more helpful to utilize the more experience your student has. In high school, listing all experiences is usually the best approach. Doing so will show the best range of your student's abilities.
Experience and Extracurricular Activities
After the introductory pieces of the resume, comes the time to introduce coursework, any work experience, and extracurricular activities. Whether in high school or just starting college, your student can begin by listing the classes they are currently enrolled in. This shows acquired knowledge that supports the kinds of jobs they're going after. For example, a required arts course from sophomore year of high school may not be the best fit on a resume looking for computer science positions, but an AP Art course might fit for those pursuing a job in design. Depending on the number of courses included on the resume, and how self-explanatory the course titles are, it may be appropriate to add a one-liner describing the main learning objectives of the class. Otherwise, it may be best to just list them with bullets or in a line separated with punctuation to save space.
Work Experience
Work experiences should then be listed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent experiences at the top, and dates that show how long the position was held. Dates can be displayed in a range using month and year (i.e. May 2020 — January 2021). Next to the title of the position, your student can also list the organization in which the position was held. Position titles and organizations can be separated using text formatting like bold and italics, instead of using a new line for each piece of information. Each position should have 1-2 bullets describing the responsibilities your student held in the position and the bullets should lead with action verbs such as led, managed, coordinated, etc.
Extracurricular experiences in which your student helps leadership positions should be listed at the top, potentially in its own section titled 'Leadership' or 'Leadership Experiences' so as to not disrupt the flow of reverse chronological order within a specific section. Like the work experience section, each leadership position should have an attached description of the responsibilities, in 1-2 bullets or lines under the position title and affiliated organization. The same extends to any non-leadership extracurricular activities, and descriptions should highlight participation and skillsets developed through these positions, memberships, and general experiences. The goal is to show a snapshot of your student's abilities on one piece of paper, so all experiences listed on the resume should contribute to that goal.
Clubs, Awards, and Other Skills
Some skills and experiences may not be tied to a specific club, class, or position held. If it still contributes to displaying your student's overall ability, they can be listed under a section titled relevant projects. Descriptions in this section can speak to your student's specific role in the greater project or what the project accomplished more generally. Outside of GPA, another way your student's teachers and administrators evaluate their success is through awards and scholarships.
An additional section on the resume should list academic and community awards your student has received and their respective dates. Finally, your student's resume may want to reiterate skills they feel confident in that don't relate to the experiences and coursework already shared on the resume. Skills developed in their free time like coding, graphic design, or even expertise in particular software like Adobe can be listed under a final section under 'Skills.' This is often communicated as a final line at the bottom of a resume, an opening line under the resume's objective statement, or as a side column of the resume's format.
Working with your student's abilities to follow these steps to develop their resume will be key in preparation for any career fair. The more familiar they are with the content of the resume itself, the easier it will be for them to talk about their experiences when the time comes to be face-to- face with a recruiter!
Preparation Before the Fair
Developing the resume is a key point of preparation for a career, and there are a few other steps your student can take to be most prepared stepping into that room. A more recent trend at career fairs, with increased integration of technology, is being referred to apply to a position online after discussing it with a recruiter in person. It used to be that submitting your resume at the career fair was enough to be considered for a position, but times change.
Research
Organizers of a career fair will often post a list of the companies attending in advance. Your student should take advantage of this. Having the list of companies is a great starting point to research the majors or related fields they hire in, to get a preliminary understanding of the opportunities they offer (full-time jobs, part-time internships, etc.), and to see what is currently open. Having these sets of information handy makes for easy conversation starters on the day of. It's also a way to show your level of preparation and attention to detail to the recruiter. From this research, your student can prepare a few questions for the recruiter about team dynamics, company culture, or the specifics of the kind of work employees do to ease the interactions along once they reach the company table.
Professionalism
Outside of research and your student's resume, first impressions are also made by appearance. Professionalism and what it looks like in practice is constantly shifting, but business casual or business professional is the recommended dress code when attending career fairs. You can look up specific business casual/professional outfit ideas to share and shop with your student as a key bonding moment, but generally, it includes items like collared or dress shirts, khaki or dress pants, skirts that fall below the knee, and jackets. However, what is most important when it comes to dressing on the day of is that your student is comfortable! If they are wearing a shirt that is too stiff or too tight, or shoes that are too small or have too high of a heel, it will subconsciously disrupt the goal of attending the career fairs by taking energy away from being able to communicate their skills and abilities. Picking out an outfit in advance and even choosing something that has been worn before is a safe bet for comfort and preparation when it comes to career fairs.
Building Confidence on the Spot
A lot of maintaining confidence at these career fairs is displayed through your student's comfortability, in themselves and their abilities. Aside from reviewing their resume, building confidence may look like practicing and reciting some affirmations leading up to the fair so they don't get stuck in their head when it's time to talk about themselves.
An alternative to that is having your students get very familiar with a short script that summarizes the content in their resume or their experiences more generally. An elevator pitch is explained as the short pitch one would give about themselves if they only had one elevator ride to do so. Typically, this is a pitch under 60 seconds that emphasizes the kinds of positions your student might be looking for and an overview of 1-2 experiences that speak to their skillsets to pursue that position specifically. An elevator pitch is something your student can practice consistently on their own or with you.
Mock Interviews
A brief mock interview may also be something beneficial for you and your student to practice. After skimming through their resume, come up with three to five follow-up questions that ask them to detail some of their experiences, lessons learned, skills acquired or other main takeaways. This will also prepare them for any follow-up questions that come from the recruiter or even an actual interview if one gets offered on the spot. While it's not standard, some recruiters will spend a few days in the area after a career fair specifically to host interviews with qualified candidates met during the fairs.
Follow-Up
A lot of confidence around career fairs is built through preparation leading up to attending the fair itself. Having your student be familiar with the flow of the fair itself and what to expect can ease nerves and translate into feeling confident. It's also important that your student has a few follow-up steps in their repertoire. When ready to depart from the recruiter or company table, your student should confirm the representative's name or even ask for a business card or LinkedIn.
Once your student receives this information, the key is to do something with it. Sending a thank you or follow-up emails are a simple and effective steps to stand out amongst the many candidates a recruiter may have met during the fair. This is a great opportunity for your student to share their resume once more digitally and perhaps share a LinkedIn in contact as well. Alternatively, your student can also connect with the recruiter through LinkedIn and send a thank you message that way.
The more your student attends these events and opportunities, the easier it will be to network in these settings.
Justina Thompson
Justina "Farmer J" Thompson is the Farm Education and Volunteer Manager at Urban Creators, Philadelphia, PA. Justina intentionally attended school in Philadelphia so she could “connect her passion and experience to the ongoing environmental justice work in the area.” As a speaker, educational curriculum designer, program leader, and community organizer, Justina possesses extensive knowledge on urban farming inspired to work in the field of environmental justice from a young age.Articles & Advice
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