Written by- Celestine McGee, Senior Employer Relations and Outreach Specialist
You may have attended the career fair at Illinois Tech a few weeks ago, but you’re still waiting to hear back from many of the companies you met with. This is common and it is up to you to turn the situation around for the better. In this blog post, I will provide some tips to help you strategize a plan of action after a career fair event.
Tip 1–Organize the companies that you visited from the Career Fairs App
- What companies did you speak with?
- Which ones appeared to be the most promising for employment based upon your dialogue?
- Have you tracked the companies that you have spoken to? How?
- Develop a spreadsheet or a manner at which you can organize the companies that you plan to follow-up with.
Tip 2- Keep the conversation open and follow-up via email with employers so that you can track by date, discussion, status, etc.
- Highlight your last conversation
- Refer to your resume
- Speak to key points on why the position is of interest to you
Tip3- Update your social media such as LinkedIn and other related platforms, resumes, professional group status, etc.
- When you take the initiative to reach out to employers you will want to make sure that all documents are relevant to the position, skill set, and transferable skill components
- You want to make a favorable impression, always make sure that you have a second look of eyes review any public documents which are posts…ensuring that they are free from errors
Tip 4- Maintain contact, but try not to be overbearing
- Stay in contact enough to let the company know that you are still interested
- Avoid daily contact as this may come across as overbearing to employers
Tip 5- Stay abreast of the resources that your college/university has to offer.
- Such as brushing up on your communication skills for Interviewing with Interview Stream
- Tapping into your strengths with Strengths Finder
- Knowing your work environment preferences and processing style with You Science
- Your online job portal HandShake for a range of opportunities varying from permanent, part-time, internships and an array of experiential learning experiences
- Stay connected with your IIT alumni community with the Bridge
- Utilize Career Shift and Going Global to further explore the wealth of opportunities
Tip 6- Highlight your experiences at the career fair and take note of the companies, conversations, and potential job opportunities that you found interesting.
- Overall what stood out for you?
- What do you think you did well?
- What would you do differently at the next career fair?
- Did you gain any key take-aways from each employer that you spoke to?
- Make your own personal reflection assessment, get all that you can out of these events…just think about it you were in the midst of many employers. The world is your oyster!
Lastly, plan to arrange a visit to the career services center to get some additional advice regarding following up with companies and instilling in them that you are a viable candidate to be considered.