A couple of months ago I received an email invite to a career fair in Denver specifically targeting veterans. I let the email sit in my inbox for about two weeks. This wasn’t because I was too busy or lazy to respond; I just have a serious distaste for career fairs in general.
Let me explain. I think career fairs, especially those with specific target audiences, are great for people who fall squarely into those target audiences. Many times folks in those target groups (which are generally groups with larger numbers) will end up having a lot of success. The issue arises if you attend fair and you find you are outside the group it was designed for. In that case your visit may feel like a waste of time, which can be frustrating. That said, I get it. The organizers must plan to serve the largest population in attendance. I don’t fault them for that.
In the end I decided to attend the veteran career fair in Denver, not because I thought I was going to make some amazing connection with a company and walk away with a job offer, but because I didn’t know what opportunities might present themselves there. You never know what connections may pan out. I also wanted to have the experience to write about and hopefully help others as they are deciding whether or not to put on a suit, print out a stack of resumes, and “speed date” with companies.
As a veteran who is also graduate student getting an MBA in finance, I am a part of a pretty small group of people. I know this, and I walked into the career fair knowing that the event might not have opportunities for me. But I trudged on in, put on a smile, and walked up to my first table:
“Hi, my name is Tommy, I am a second year MBA student…”
(I have the pitch down so well at this point that I don’t have to think much about it when I am speaking.)
The company at the first table was one that I have actually been targeting in my job search and was a company I was excited about, until I finished talking that is.
“Hi Tommy, nice to meet you and thanks for coming today! Unfortunately, we aren’t really looking for people with your background right now but let me take your resume and put your information in our database… [aka the black hole of resumes lost never to be seen again].”
I was very polite, handed over my resume, shook their hands and walked to table number two, which was also a company I had on my radar to check out (well before this career fair). I got a similar response from them, but I got a cool thumb drive out of the deal. It was handed over with an almost pitying look, as if they knew I was in the wrong place to find what I was looking for.
This same scene played out at 4 more tables with one exception. A company there wasn’t even looking to hire, they had a course they were interested in getting veterans into (disclaimer: I happen to think the course they offer is REALLY worthwhile and I may actually try and take it), but when I asked if they had any openings the response was “I think we need a line cook in our café.” Awesome…
The floor of opportunity!
You may be surprised at the take-away from all this (for me and for you): YOU SHOULD GO TO EVERY CAREER FAIR OR NETWORKING EVENT YOU CAN DURING YOUR JOB HUNT!
Why? Because as I said at the outset you never know the connections you may make and you never know what might come out of shaking hands with new people in varied industries. That one person who told you they had nothing for you may have coffee with a colleague the next day who has the perfect job for you. Who knows--I may get that call tomorrow! The career fair also gave me a free audience to practice and refine my elevator pitch with zero pressure (and I mean ZERO!).
So get up, take a shower, comb your hair, shave, print out some resumes, and go to the career fair. If you don’t, there is a 100% chance you will get nothing out of it.