MNPC JAIF 2014 - Message 15

Fair Essentials

1.      Get to Fair

The first requirement for fair success is to SHOW UP!

Transportation to the fair is generally on your own.  Historically people have had such different schedules that group transportation has not worked well.  I think many of you have already made plans to travel to and stay in the Twin Cities the night before the fair – which is great.  BUT, if you need assistance getting to the fair on Wednesday, please email career@gustavus.edu with the subject line Need a Ride to Fair.  Career Development will contact you about transportation options.

2.      Be Dressed Professionally

If you are looking for an internship, a career position, or seeking information – MOST PROFESSIONAL DRESS is expected.  This means suits and ties for men and suits (skirt or pants) or professional dresses for women.  You want to look like professionals, not college kids.  The fastest way to do that is to be dressed professionally.

3.      Have Résumés (Immediate Concern!)

All organizations at the fair will expect you to share a résumé.  Plan to bring 25 copies of your resume printed on good résumé paper (available at BookMark and other stores). In addition to you having a powerful résumé for each of you individually, I want strong Gustavus résumés to brand Gustavus to employers.  That means, every time employers see Gustavus I want them to think: “good candidates”, “well prepared”.   Get résumés done ASAP! 

4.      Be Able to Talk to Employers

You must be able to walk up to employers and introduce yourself and talk about your career interests and ideas.  You will do better with this if you think about it before you get there.  Fair is NOT the time to wing it!  To assist with this….next Tuesday, Feb. 11 I will do a session in the Center for Servant Leadership at 3:30 on Talking to Employers at Fair.  We will go over what to say to employers when you walk up to them at fair, what questions to expect from them, and also a bit about interviewing.

5.      Know Which Employers to Talk To

With over 200 employers at fair, it will not be possible for you to talk to all of them.  You will need to identify who to talk to and to do that, you will need to know something about the employers.  At mnpcfair.org there is loads of info on the employers – BUT it will take you time to review the list!  To assist you with this process, next Friday, Feb. 14 at 2:30 p.m. in the Center for Servant Leadership I will do a Review Employer List for Fair session. 

Suggestion: Copy employer list from website and put into Word.  Go through list and highlight those employers you know for sure you are interested in and delete those you know for sure you are not interested in.  Go through the list again and highlight with a different color any employers that you do not recognize the name of.  Then you can go to those you are for sure interested in to read what they are seeking at the fair.  After that you can go to any employers with no highlighting – as they may be of interest to you – and read about them.  Finally, go through the list of names you do not recognize and read about them.   If you reviewed 20 employers in an hour it would take you 10 hours to review all the employers….so it is great to reduce the number!