The 10 + 20 Second Pitch

I recently spoke with a student who had his 30 second pitch down to an art.  Yet when he was at a job fair and started to introduce himself, he was stopped by the recruiter who suggested he find out a bit about the company and the openings before he fully introduce himself. The student walked away with the feeling that he should have had a 10 second 'my name is', followed by a brief conversation with the recruiter and then a 20 second 'here's how I match your company and/or openings'.

Sounds like a good learning experience and sage advice to pass along. 

This may not be the approach for an networking or job interview where you are more likely to give a longer answer to the 'tell me something about yourself' request, but it sure makes sense when you are in the fast-paced environment of a job fair.
 

Job Fairs

You can't afford to leave any stone unturned in today's market.  While job fairs feel more and more like zoos, they still provide opportunities to see (conduct some research, see who's out there, gather some business cards from recruiters and others) and be seen (actually meet with a recruiter).

A Story...
I am counseling a talented business analyst who has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry.  She is really working her search, going to network meetings, following up on leads, and putting a positive face to the world.  She left a message earlier this week stating that she had an interview coming up and wanted to go over a few things.  When we spoke, my first question was 'how did you find out about the position?'  To my surprise she said, 'at a job fair'.

She then explained that she'd gone to this job fair and, as expected, it was a zoo.  There were tons of people and very long lines.  My client scoped out the field and selected one or two target companies.  She was on a long, long line and thought about bailing out, but decided she might as well hang in there.  She got to the front of the line just as the fair was ending, so she didn't have much time with the recruiter.  She had her 2 minute pitch well polished and within a few minutes the recruiter looked at her with a big smile and said, 'finally someone who understands project management.'  The recruiter told her she'd be presenting her resume to her manager and my client got a call within a day to schedule this interview.

The interview went well and she should know within a week or two whether she'll move ahead in the process.  I'll keep you posted on her progress.

The bottom line - you have to do it all, including job fairs, because you never know where you'll uncover the next lead to a live one!

To find job fairs in your area, just Google 'job fairs in ____' and see what pops up.