How to Successfully Navigate a Careers Fair

By Akira Leyow

MTL Fellow and Features Writer

I became an associate of Making The Leap in February 2018. Entering with zero expectations, it was a pleasure to find myself learning and regaining confidence in my abilities. The time spent at Making The Leap taught me a lot about myself and encouraged me to find the self-confidence I needed to emerge through the job market victorious. The team at Making The Leap works hard to cultivate relationships with numerous prestigious companies and direct all those who have been through the programme to success.

Navigating a Careers Fair

A good careers fair combines the best of a general careers fair and a specialist fair by having a wide-range of employers that are leaders in their field in attendance. A good careers fair should run a CV clinic to gain helpful tips for improvement and offer the opportunity to practice your interview skills. In addition, there should be plenty of choice in careers. If you’re not looking to commit to a graduate scheme, entry level roles or internships should be available as options.

Making The Leap always ensures that they recruit the best in fields such as finance (EY and PwC), journalism (The Telegraph), technology (Google) and more to attend their careers fairs. Once you have identified a career interest, you will be offered unlimited support in preparation for all stages of the application process. With the sole goal of helping you build the career of your dreams, Making The Leap is always ready to help and their careers fairs are unmissable.

How to prepare for an on-the-spot interview.

When attending a careers fair, chances are this is your opportunity to make a good first impression with company representatives before applying for a role. How you act and what you say in this brief interaction will be crucial, but it is also your chance to impress.

Know your CV from back to front

First things first, know your CV off by heart and be able to summarise it for the employer. Let them know about the educational or working history that means you meet the criteria for the role.

Prepare your elevator pitch

When first meeting someone, you have about seven seconds to make a good impression. The person you are meeting could be your future employer. Before approaching an employer, think about how you want to be remembered – as someone who is confident or someone who fades into the background? What makes you stand out from the crowd? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Knowing yourself and what makes you an ideal candidate for a role will help you come across as confident and make you a fixture in the employers’ memory.

How to impress employers

Read about them

People like to know you’ve done your research. Before approaching an employer, take the time to do a little research. Learn everything you can about them and find out the company’s core values. What was it about the company that interested you over their competitors? How is the company looking to progress in the future, and how could you help to achieve their goals?

Ask about company culture

When looking to join a company, it is important to find out what the company is like behind closed doors. What does the company do to encourage employee loyalty? How is the company tackling important issues, such as diversity? If they have a graduate program, what is their retention rate? Asking such questions will not only give you an insight into the company but also impress the employers with your ingenuity.

Entering the job market can be nerve wracking but securing that dream job will make it worthwhile. Head into each interview prepared with your best foot forward and be ready to wow everyone.

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