Why career fairs are still relevant to Singapore job seekers

It may seem very 20^th century but career fair is still a very useful avenue for you to interface directly with the market and find out first-hand what is available.

You see, career fair is a pretty expensive arrangement for employers. To go through the hassle of booking, allocating headcounts, provisioning of collaterals, posters plus the burning of a possible weekend means these employers are really in need of people.

So the supply of jobs is read. But the supply of job seekers would be too. Here are 3 strategies you can apply to ensure you stand out from the crowd.

Be clear about why you are there

We are pretty active in career fairs and to make the experience more interesting, we tend to bring along giveaways and bundle them into games so everyone will have a good time. It is meant to entertain and bring the tension down.

Unfortunately there would always be that few of them who lament about our giveaways or the time it took to queue for our game. Not a single word mentioned about the job opportunities we have or the clients we work with.

A career fair is just that, a place where you look for your next career. Not a place to get the most number of freebies.

Bring a smile

A career fair could bring in hundreds of thousands of job seekers. And usually there would probably be at most 8 guys on duty. Throw in the fatigue from standing the whole day, the usual memory don’t really work that well.

So the ones usually remembered would fall into two camps. The ones that formed a really good impression and made our day; and the ones that we feel like kicking their arse.

Put on your best smiley face and bring that ray of sunshine with you.

You are your own salesperson

In most job applications, it is pretty on directional. You send in your resume and just wait for the HR to reply. In most cases, they don’t. The good thing about being at a career fair is you get to interface directly with the HRs and sometimes even the hiring managers. It is the best time to get a quick assessment of the company’s requirements and ask all questions you may have about them. But you really need to toughen up and market yourself.

Your job at the career fair is to be your own salesperson for the number of hours you intend to spend there. And you can’t sell if you don’t get yourselves into the thick of action and get face time with the exhibitors.