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Preparing for Career Fairs
Dr. Joseph Barber, Associate Director
University of Pennsylvania Career Services
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FAQs about career fairs
• I’m uncertain about my future career; how can the
PennDesign Career Connection career fair be helpful?
– Explore the types of internships and jobs advertised by the
employers (e.g., on their website, PennLink)
– www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/careerfairs/studentinfo.php
– Think about how your skills and experiences match the
requirements of the positions, then chat with employers
• Ask informed questions to employers at the fair that
can actually give you actionable information
• “From my research into your firm/organization, I know
that you are working on some interesting projects, such
as X, and I was wondering what type of skills you are
looking for in candidates that would best suit your
needs for this type of project work?”
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FAQs about career fairs
• What are the overall benefits of the career fair?
– An opportunity for you to identify possible employers and
career paths, or to rule out unsuitable ones
– An opportunity for you to start thinking about a Plan B in
case Plan A does not work out
– An opportunity for you to identify actual steps you can
take over the next 6-12 months to make yourself a better
candidate in the future
– An opportunity for you to gain additional information and
contacts = networking
– An opportunity for you to practice introducing yourself to
employers = networking
– An opportunity to apply for internships and jobs!
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Agenda
• Background research
– About yourself, organizations, internships, and jobs
• Networking
• Your introductions
– Talking about yourself; sharing your portfolio
– Resume essentials
• Some basic career fair advice
– Career fair etiquette
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Know yourself
• Self-assess your interests and skills to get to know
yourself a little better
– This will help you explore a broader range of career
options with more confidence
www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/careerexploration/topics.php#self
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Know your discipline
• Have a complete understanding of your discipline, and
of the broad range of career paths you can follow
Review the “Resources by Career
Field” pages and get:
• Advice from Penn alumni
• General career advice
• Links to associations and job lists
• Links to Penn-specific resources
www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/careerfields/#design
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http://whatcanidowiththismajor.com/major/architecture/
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Know the organizations
• Who is attending the career fair:
– www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/careerfairs/studentinfo.php
• Follow on LinkedIn to gain additional insights
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Know the organizations
• Who is attending the career fair:
– www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/careerfairs/studentinfo.php
• Follow on LinkedIn to gain additional insights
• Vault and Wetfeet guides
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Know where others have boldly gone
• Career Plans Surveys
– www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/reports.php#grad
• QuakerNet
– www.myquakernet.com
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Career Plans Survey
• Career Plans Surveys
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QuakerNet (alumni database)
www.myquakernet.com
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PennDesign specific groups
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QuakerNet
Internship
supervisors
Friends
Family
Other alumni
networks
Classmates
Faculty
Association
members Student group
members
NETWORKING
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What is Networking?
?
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Is this networking?
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Networking as a process
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Networking as a process
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So what is networking?
• One way to define it is as a consequence
– If you have cultivated many friends, colleagues, clients, or
collaborators, you are networking
– If you have strategically used your contacts to find info or
seek out new opportunities, you have already networked
• Looking for people who can support your career progress
– Using their knowledge, their contacts, their connections, or
their recommendations about you
At career fairs:
• Asking employers how your unique interests, skills, and
knowledge could best be applied at their organization
• Speaking with Penn alumni who are representing their
employers about their own career pathway
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Networking is…
• An opportunity for you to share information about
yourself
– As part of a mutual exchange of information and ideas
between individuals
At career fairs:
• You can just ask questions…
• BUT, you will make a better impression
by talking confidently and positively
about yourself, and your skills, interests
and experiences
• A little practice can be helpful…
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Let’s get introduced
• Introduce yourself to your neighbour as you might if
you were introducing yourself to an employer
– You have 60 seconds!
• Listen to their 60-second introduction
– Listen for ways their introduction differs from yours
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Let’s get introduced
• What were you most interested in hearing about when
you were the listener?
• How did you try to structure your own introduction?
– What do you think are the most important topics to
cover in 45-60 seconds?
– How do you end your introduction?
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The most important tool for networking
• Your introduction!
– Answers the “tell me about yourself” question
– Starts the conversation
• A general introduction can include:
– Some info about relevant work/academic experience and
achievements
– A little about your key skills and interests – what you can
do really well, and how you are looking to apply them
– A confident statement about your future plans/goals
– Some overall idea of how the person you are talking with
can help you (if they can help you)
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Let’s get re-introduced
• Practice helps…
• Find someone else and introduce yourself again?
– Listen to their introduction
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Yes, don’t bother putting
your glasses on, headless
co-worker, this one has 3
typos in it – let’s toss it
Creating a Resume
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Resumes = currency of career fairs
• Transactions that occur at career fairs:
– Be prepared to give your resume to employers
– Always ask for business cards from employers
– Generally, business cards are not given to employers
• Resumes need to be tailored
– At least for industry (e.g., consulting, design, architecture,
non-profit, public sector, private, etc.)
– Perhaps even for employers (based on research on who
will be attending fairs)
• Keep it concise, and ensure it is easy to read over quickly
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• Contact information*
• Objective
• Summary or profile
• Education*
• Relevant coursework
• Technical skills
• Specialized skills
• Relevant experience*
• Leadership activities
• Service/volunteering
• Honors and awards
• Languages
• Other experience
*required/expected
RESUME (skills)
• People may only spend 30
seconds reviewing resumes
– If your skills aren’t obvious
then you are not maximizing
your impact
• Look at your resume and
write down the 3-4 main
points/skills/experiences
you want to get across
– What information would you
want an employer to walk
away with?
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YOU EMPLOYER
Are you communicating effectively?
RESUME
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YOU EMPLOYER
• Your descriptions do not match what you actually did • You are describing tasks not skills • You are assuming a common knowledge of experience • Your language is problematic (unclear, jargon, too specific)
RESUME
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YOU EMPLOYER
• Your statements are misinterpreted • The reader pictures something different than you do • There is no shared contextual experience • The reader does not understand what is written
RESUME
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YOU EMPLOYER
Blah blah blah
TRY…
?
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YOU EMPLOYER
Blah blah blah?
? ?
…TRY…
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YOU EMPLOYER
Blah blah blah, blah blah blah!
? ?
?
…AND TRY AGAIN
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YOU EMPLOYER
I identified and creatively solved a longstanding problem!
Real-time tailoring of language/examples used to promote understanding
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YOU EMPLOYER
Are your resumes a good stand-in for you when you are not there to explain/interpret?
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CV/RESUME 101
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The basics
SPELLING MISTEAKS
Why are these so important?
– Attention to detail
– Effective communication
– Distracting from actual content of resume
Why do these happen?
– Your brain falls asleep after reading your own resume for the 100th time
– You haven’t selected the option in Word to spellcheck words in ALL CAPITLES
– You haven’t had a critique from a career advisor
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Common errors
PROFESSIONAL EXPEREINCE
– PROFESIONAL EXPERIENCE
Words that are spelt correctly but that are not the right words:
– From/form; asses/assess; discuss/discus; is/if
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F ORMAGoal of resume is to transfer information (content) quickly and efficiently into brain of reader
– Poor formatting disrupts flow of information
– Poor formatting distracts reader from content
– Poor formatting provides a reason to say “no”
Made-up statistic:
– 86% of all employers don’t care about format of resume…, until it suddenly and unexpectedly annoys them – then it’s all they can focus on
True fact:
– There is no single format you have to use – find the best way to get your content across effectively
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When talking about EXPERIENCE
Skill – Situation – Outcome
• Skill
= active doing verb (taught, researched, solved…)
• Situation
= enough context to make the skill make sense without distracting reader from the skill
Not just “analyzed data” – think type, amount, method used
• Outcome
= the result of you using that particular skill in that context (e.g., paper, presentation, new collaboration, more efficient approach, new insight, finished project…)
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Resume = skills in action
• Good teamwork and management skills
• Worked with team on research projects
• Oversaw progress of team towards completing research
• Oversaw 5-person team working on research
• Oversaw 5-person team comprised of planners and
engineers from 3 departments by developing action
plans and clear project goals, resulting in effective
completion of project on-time and under budget.
Be skill &
outcome specific –
add quantifiable
elements to make
your experiences
believable
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What employers are looking for
• Someone who can do the job
• Someone who understands their unique needs
• Someone who can speak the language
• Someone who fits
• Someone who can communicate
• Relevant keywords
• An excuse to put your application in the “no” pile
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PORTFOLIO
• “Don't add every project that isn't going to represent
something that you may do there. Only put in the ones
that will excite them to let them know that you have
the experience that will help them do what they need
to do. So when you are crafting your submission to
firms it almost like you are putting together a proposal
for a project. You really have to be intentional and
specific to where you want to go”
• “I would say 4-5 design sheets of your work is usually
the way to go”
• “I don't know if there is too many, but if you put
irrelevant projects first they are not going to get to the
rest”
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Share your portfolio with enthusiasm
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Know what you want to highlight
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Be prepared for a close look
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Make it accessible
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Some general tips
• Don’t ask these questions:
– “So…, what does your company do?”
– “I don’t have any questions for you, but can I just give
you a copy of my resume?”
– “Looking at my resume, what do you think I could do
at your company?”
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Do… A perfect introduction – firm handshake and good eye contact!
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Do… A perfect introduction – firm handshake and good eye contact!
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Take Care! Consider putting your bags on your left shoulder so that they don’t slip
down and knock everything off the table as you reach to shake hands!
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Take Care! Consider putting your bags on your left shoulder so that they don’t slip
down and knock everything off the table as you reach to shake hands!
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Take Care! They spent time setting this up – don’t knock it down by mistake!
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Do… Always have plenty of copies of your resume available to hand to
employers. Keep them neat & tidy, and don’t spill your lunch on them!
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Take Care! Cups full of liquid have the tendency to spill when you least want them
to. Always keep your right hand free to shake hands with the employer.
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Do… Enjoy yourself at career fairs, and always project a positive, lively
persona. Employers meet many people, help yourself be noticed.
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Do… Smile and have fun. Don’t walk around with a sour face..., ooops
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Do… Speak clearly and loudly – you have to be heard above the noise.
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Take Care! Work schedules may not permit it, but business casual is usually better
than casual at career fairs. Take every opportunity to sell yourself.
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Do… Dressing smart is especially important when you know you will be
talking to smart-dressed employers. Business casual works just fine.
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Take Care! That bag is trying to make a break for it – ready to slip off as you shake
hands to say goodbye. Make sure to leave a good last impression.
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Do… Avoid grabbing freebies before you have chatted with the employer.
Only take them if you have somewhere to carry them out of sight.
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Career fair etiquette
• Thank the employer/representatives for coming
• Be aware of students behind you – don’t monopolize
employers
– Ask if you can follow-up after the fair if you have more
questions or more to share
• Take advantage of employers with short lines
• Plan your time wisely – the fair will end at 4pm, and
employers will need to leave
• Don’t just leave a copy of your resume on each table
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After the fair
• You have business cards, send a thank you email
– Include any additional materials or information you
said you would send
• Continue to expand your network and explore career
options by reaching out to alumni and employers
• Get ready for interviews
– Use www.penn.interviewstream.com
– Call 215 898 7530 to set up a 60-minute mock
interview at Career Services
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More resources
• Wetfeet Insider Guide:
– Follow this link: www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/library/
– Click on “online subscriptions”. Sign in and then scroll down to
Wetfeet, and click on this link
– Look for the insider guides in the top right-hand corner
– Search for “Conquering the Career Fair” guide. This includes:
• How to prepare for the career fair & determine your objectives
• How to stand out from the crowd and leave a good impression
• The appropriate ways to dress and present yourself
• How to identify new networking contacts
• What recruiters are looking for at career fairs
• The right way to follow up afterwards
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Questions?
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