home business awareness home
| f.a.q.s
| students
| graduates
| employers
| staff
| site
map | stop
press! All information copyright © University of Edinburgh Careers
Service
business awareness
![]()
Making the most of Careers Fairs and Employer Presentations
Careers
Fairs
Fairs are strange events… often resembling the opening
hours of a sale. Don’t panic, yes it will be busy but if you do a little
bit of preparation before the event you won’t get lost in the crowd.
Careers fairs are what you make them - the more you put in, the more
you’ll get out of it.
Careers
Fair Preparation
1. Pick up a programme for further
details and a map of the event from the Careers Service in advance or
check the Fairs page
via the web.
2.
Research
companies/organisations that you are int
3.
You might like to prepare a copy of your CV. If you need help with this
you can attend one of our
CV workshops,
check out the information available on
CVs
& Applications and you can see a Careers
Adviser for advice on your final draft.
4. Think of questions you might like to ask the
exhibitors, e.g:
At
the event
Identify the location of employers you want to speak to, wait until the
stand isn't too busy and make a natural approach. They will be glad to
talk to you, that is what they are there for!
Make
a good impression on employers, dress smart but casual, be courteous and
show your enthusiasm and motivation.
Sell
yourself! Be able to talk knowledgeably about your degree, the projects
you're currently working on and your future goals in terms of completing
the course and your career path.
Before
you leave a stand, make a note of the person you talked to - it will give
you a contact to follow up later.
Don’t waste the
valuable information you have just collected.
Perhaps you could
make some brief notes about what you felt about the employers you spoke
with. You could make a list of pros & cons.
Think about what kind
of companies/organisations attracted you most. Are there similar companies
out there which didn’t attend the Fair, but who might be worth finding
out a bit more about, to widen your options?
Remember the details
you took down about the person you spoke to? Why not write a brief note
thanking them for their time, advice and information? If they said to send
a CV, then do it.
Back
to Making the Most of Networking Opportunities