University Careers Fair Series: Part 2 - Preparation

In a world where there are always a thousand things to do, it is easy to overlook preparing for a careers fair in advance. I know I didn't when I was at uni. After all - what's to prepare? You just rock up and ask the same questions at each stand....  But in all honesty, if you are going to go, it is worth taking an hour or two in the weeks before you go to think about what you are going to do there. It could make a big difference to what you get out of the day.

Some things to think about:
- Who's going to be there?
- Who am I interested in?
- What do I know about them?
- What don't I know about them that would:
a) help me decide if I want to work there
b) help me figure out which programme/role would be of interest
c) make me sounds knowledgeable about the company if invited for interview
- Who is attending that I haven't heard of? Who are they? Are they someone I have overlooked?

Make a note of the physical positioning of the hall / area. If you are planning to arrive early (which you should) go to the furthest away from the door companies first as they will be quietest early on and likely to give you more attention. It also shows real interest that you are targeting them.  Last year, I met a young man at a Cambridge fair. We were on the top floor of three and the fair opened at 1:00pm. He was first at our stand at 1:01pm and was incredibly well-prepared, motivated and knowledgeable. He made a great impression on me and I made it my mission to get him an internship with us, which he did as the business found him just as impressive when they interviewed him.

For companies you are interested in, DONT ask the following questions because 1) the information is always on their website and 2) if you ask them, they are liable to lose interest in you because it is therefore clear that you haven't bothered to look before you visited them:

- Do you do internships?  (If I had a pound for everytime I was asked this at a fair, I'd be a rich woman).
- I'm studying engineering/maths/languages/marketing, what can you offer me?
- Do I have to have a 2:1 to apply?
- When is the closing date?

Find out the answers before you go if you are really interested in the company. When a graduate or intern asks a specific question. e.g. "I'm interested in your Retail Graduate Programme which starts in July next year. Can you tell me more about the three weeks training that you offer and what is involved?"

As opposed to what regularly happens - a graduate walks up, reads what written on the stand before me for key words and says "I'm interested in....your....Asset Management graduate scheme..."  There is a world of difference in the impression that graduate makes.  And believe me, recruiters remember names and faces. It's the job.

Make sure that you are attending the right fair for the companies that you are interested in. Fairs are often categorised both by industry and by profession type. e.g. somewhere like BSkyB, who offer a huge range of graduate programmes, might well be found at a fair for Media type companies. But they could equally be found at an Advertising/PR/Marketing fair, an internship fair, a technology fair or a finance fair. Don't focus exclusively on the industry fairs as the profession-type fairs might be more suitable for what you are looking for.

You should also check out your university careers office website - they often have guidance as to how best to prepare for careers fairs.

"Weak-speak"ing

Do you "weak speak" on your CV?

I've noticed a trend whereby in an effort to be completely honest about their achievements on their CV, many graduates are actually detracting from them because of the wording they are using. Use of "weak speak" language on your CV can significantly reduce its impact on a recruiter and often does not do justice to your achievements or deliverables. 

Weak speak is especially damaging when it is the first half of each of your sentences / bullets where you explain the tasks you did / responsibilities you had during your work experiences. Words or phrases to watch out for are: 

- "Assisted" - "Helped with" - "Helped out with" - "Worked with" -"Under the supervision of.." - "Supervised by"

Keep in mind that for the vast majority of your career you will probably work in teams to deliver things, and you will have a manager / supervisor / team leader. If you look at CVs from more experienced candidates, you will not see lots of "Worked in a team to…." on there.  Don’t devalue your achievements by spreading the credit for it before you've even explained what it is. Obviously I am not talking about trying to take the credit for delivering something major when you were in fact making the tea for the team, but if you were involved in delivery, then don’t down-play your involvement. If you want to call out that it was as part of a team, do it in the second half of sentence, not in the first half. The first half is the half that has the biggest impact and is the half that captures attention. 

Some examples:

Weak speak: "Worked as a summer intern in a team that looked at data output to figure out what the issues were in the system"

Stronger: "Diagnosed issues with system interfaces by examining large amounts of data for patterns and making recommendations for changes, seeking input from more experienced team members during the activity."

Weak speak: "Was a member of a team who organised a concert for 1,000 people raising £3,500 for charity." Stronger: "Organised a concert for 1,000 people in the role of Marketing Manager in a team of 5, raising £3,500 for charity."

Look to use words like developed, delivered, managed, executed, recommended, examined, devised arranged, persuaded….. These are all action verbs which have impact and suggest that you made real change.  I won't go into detail here about using action verbs as there are loads of articles already available out there. Here links to some good ones. Use thesaurus.com to find variations on a word rather than reusing the same one repeatedly.

http://www.writeexpress.com/action-verbs.html 

http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/actionverbs.htm 

http://www.cvtips.com/resumes-and-cvs/resume-action-verbs.html

"Weak speak" is also something to watch out for when you get to interview stage. Overusing phrases like "I suppose…", "I guess…", "I think…." retracts from you appearing confident and decisive.

Do an analysis of your CV to see if you use too much 'weak speak'…. Small changes could make a big difference.  

Great CV quotes...

I do my best to help grads along with their applications, but unfortunately sometimes grads do not help themselves. I cannot put a CV forward to the line that will make it look like I haven't read it. And whilst I do occasionally (only very rarely) correct a spelling on a CV, usually I don't have the time, or the CV will be in PDF so I can't change it anyway. 
Some of my favourite quotes / mis-spellings from CVs recently are listed below. I know that when you have been over it a thousand times and you are almost blind from looking at it and re-wording it again and again, that it is easy to miss simple things. That is why it is really essential to have a fresh pair of eyes on it.

"I am an experienced user of the internet"
Really? Amazing.

"CIRRICULAM VITAE" 

Oh come on!

"I have worked at Macdonal’s as a supervisor".

I'm sure you got some great experience and skills. Just a shame you can't spell it.

"Refrences available on requst" 
Does he have something against 'e's?

"I believe I will be as brilliant as the Credit Suisse people, if I have the chance to work with and learn from them. Therefore, I would contribute my all enthusiasm and energy to Credit Suisse."  

Unfortunately I was not working for Credit Suisse when I reviewed this CV...

"Persuaded Prat A Manger to sponsor us"

Nice....