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How to Succeed at Job Fairs

A step-by-step guide on how to leave a lasting impression on employers

It can be difficult for job seekers to stand out amongst other applicants when all an employer has to evaluate them on is a resume. While a resume is an important document that includes relevant information like experience and technical skills, it doesn’t showcase a person’s interpersonal skills or personality, which can only be done in a one-on-one conversation.

Job fairs offer an excellent opportunity for job seekers to meet directly with and impress employers before they even submit a resume. Employers who attend job fairs set up tables which are staffed by recruiters willing to answer questions, discuss open job roles, and accept resumes. A successful conversation with a recruiter or even with a fellow job seeker can create an important professional connection that could lead to future job opportunities.

Speaking directly with employers – and the preparation required beforehand – can feel a bit overwhelming. For that reason, JVS Toronto has created a helpful guide on how to succeed at a job fair.

 

Before the Job Fair: Get Prepared

Step 1: Read the job advert very carefully

This document or webpage will include important information, such as which employers will be attending the job fair, location, time, and details on how to register.

Step 2: Research the employers

Learn more the employers to properly assess which ones meet your career goals and to create thoughtful questions to include in your conversations with recruiters. Remember to avoid asking any questions that are answered in the job description or on the company’s website.

Step 3: Prepare your resume

Update your resume and LinkedIn profile prior to attending the job fair. (Be sure to include your LinkedIn profile’s URL in your resume.) Print multiple copies of your resume to hand out at the job fair, and even think about creating resumes tailored to the employers that interest you the most.

Step 4: Write an elevator pitch

Create a short introductory statement – about 30-60 seconds long when read out loud – that highlights your key skills, experiences, and suitability for an employer’s job openings.

Step 5: Practice makes perfect

Practice delivering your elevator pitch and answering mock interview questions to better prepare yourself for speaking with recruiters.

AI tools can be useful when preparing for a job fair, offering assistance with crafting an elevator pitch, practice interview questions, or organizing your research on employers. But remember, AI is merely a tool, and it’s your personal touch that will leave a lasting and meaningful impression on employers.

 

During the Job Fair: Make Connections

Step 1: Before you arrive

You want to appear clean and professional when meeting the recruiters. Make sure you are well-groomed, wearing professional attire, and have a comfortable pair of shoes. (Job fairs involve lots of standing and walking.) The copies of your resume and employer questions should be stored neatly inside a folder or portfolio.

Step 2: Arriving at the job fair and approaching employers

Arriving early to beat the long lines and speak with recruiters at the beginning of the fair, which is when they’ll have the most energy. Approach recruiters with confidence by smiling, making eye contact, giving a firm handshake, and introducing yourself clearly (the elevator pitch).

Step 3: Speaking with recruiters

Use this opportunity to learn more about the recruiter’s employer, showcase your experience and skills, and create important professional connections that could help in your job search.

Here are a few helpful tips to keep in mind when speaking with recruiters:

  • Keep your mobile phone on ‘silent.’
  • Maintain eye contact during your conversation.
  • Don’t talk about salary or benefits as this is merely an introductory conversation.
  • See if they’re open to connecting on LinkedIn
  • Have a LinkedIn QR code handy to easily share your profile.
  • Ask the thoughtful questions you prepared in advance.
  • Keep the conversation short and to the point.

If the conversation is going well, but the recruiter has a line-up of people waiting to speak with them, ask if they’d like to continue your chat over a brief, 15–30-minute phone or video call. Once you’ve finished speaking with a recruiter, take notes on job names, job titles, and any other important details from your conversation.

Step 4: Network with your fellow job seekers

Meet your peers and learn from their experiences. While they may not be employers, networking with the other people at the job fair could lead to unexpected career opportunities.

 

After the Job Fair: Follow Up

Step 1: Apply promptly

If you discussed a specific job role with a recruiter, make sure to submit your application as soon as possible.

Step 2: Send follow-up emails

Reach out to the recruiters you spoke with to express your gratitude for their time and continued interest in any open job roles. Keep the email short and reference your conversation from the job fair.

Step 3: Follow-up on LinkedIn

Send connection requests to the recruiters and job seekers with whom you spoke. When you send the connection request, include a brief message that references your conversation at the job fair.

Step 4: Reflect on your experience

Look back on the conversations you had with the recruiters, thinking about what went well and what you could improve on.

All of these follow-up activities should be completed within 24-48 hours after the job fair while the conversations you had with the recruiters and other job seekers are still fresh in their minds.

Job fairs are a powerful tool in a job search, offering job seekers a great opportunity to learn about the jobs available in their community. Not every conversation will lead to a job, but every connection made strengthens their professional network.

Click here to access JVS Toronto’s events calendar to see upcoming job fairs.

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Impress Employers with Your “Growth Mindset” in Job Interviews

Growth Mindset cc Paula Piccard https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulapiccard/43058632290

Every year, LinkedIn digs through its vast data set to identify the skills most in-demand from employers. For job seekers, it is crucial to be aware of and understand these in-demand skills, as they can be key talking points in job interviews. This year, alongside predictable abilities such as teamwork and communication, LinkedIn highlighted ‘adaptability’ as “the top skill of the moment.” In today’s fast-moving job market, workers are required to learn new skills and participate positively and enthusiastically in a fast-changing work environment. This mindset, often called a ‘growth mindset,’ is a crucial tool for success in the current job market. Understanding and embracing adaptability can make you feel more prepared and confident in your job search.

The concept of a growth mindset was popularized by psychologist Carol Dweck, who describes it as a person’s capacity to embrace change and actively pursue learning and improvement. Rather than viewing abilities as fixed, a growth mindset involves believing new skills can be developed through dedication and effort.

When I first heard the term’ growth mindset ‘, it seemed like just another corporate buzzword. But, as I delved deeper into its meaning and read about its practical applications, I came to realize that a growth mindset is something we all embody at different stages of our lives–we’ve all faced challenges and failures–it’s our ability to overcome these and learn from them that truly represents this mindset.

Think about the challenges you have faced in the last five years. Most everyone I speak to about their career in that time faced significant challenges in how they did their job, whether they held a job, or how they thought about their careers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people shared with me that they surprised themselves with their ability to ‘pivot’ and adapt to a quickly changing set of conditions. This adaptability, a key aspect of the growth mindset, made them more resilient and flexible. For some people, it was simply the ability to work from home and realize that they were surprisingly more competent self-managers than they thought they would be. Some people were forced to rethink their careers entirely and develop a whole new set of values about what matters to them about their work and what they can do. Some discovered the joys of work-life balance; others found that not only could they learn to use new technologies but that they actually could enjoy them. One of my clients shared with me the surprising discovery that she valued teamwork and missed it when it was gone, even though she had complained about having to deal with her team for years prior.

What does this have to do with a growth mindset? Your ability to talk about some of the challenges (even failures) you have faced and identify how they were growth opportunities can indicate to an employer that you can bring that same mindset to your work.

 

Why is a Growth Mindset Important?

Adaptability, optimism, and confidence in your ability to learn–the essence of a growth mindset–are abilities that employers strongly value. They value these skills because they indicate resiliency and openness to learning new things, which is essential in a fast-paced and ever-evolving work environment. A growth mindset refers not only to the individual employee but also to how they regard the company and the role they can play in making it grow through greater adaptability and resiliency.

 

How to Talk About Your Growth Mindset in an Interview.

1. Share specific examples 

In job interviews, the best way to illustrate your skills and attitudes is through concrete examples. Think about times when you faced challenges or setbacks and how you overcame them. Be willing to discuss failures and demonstrate to employers that you can handle them. Use the SAR (Situation, Action, Result) method to tell a coherent and straightforward story.

For instance, a candidate can talk about a time when they took on a new challenge: 

Situation: “In my last job, I was asked to lead a project in a new technology area that I was unfamiliar with.”

Action: I dedicated extra time to learning about the technology, sought mentorship from an experienced colleague in the field, and attended relevant workshops.”

Result: “As a result, not only did the project succeed, but I also became the go-to person for others seeking advice on this technology.”

This example demonstrates resiliency, a commitment to learning, and optimism about your ability to embrace challenges and learn from them.

2. Discuss your commitment to lifelong learning.

A passion for lifelong learning can manifest in various ways, including seeking feedback from peers and supervisors, taking courses, and reading books.

Again, use the SAR method:

Situation: “Part of my job involves presenting professional development workshops to staff. I try to get feedback on every presentation I give–I believe that there is always something I can do to make my work better“

Action: “After each presentation, I send out a brief anonymous survey to ensure that staff are comfortable giving me honest feedback. I ask whether they enjoyed the presentation and whether anything could have been done better.”

Result:  “I have improved my presentations over time, including taking a course in presentation techniques, a result of which I can show a measurable increase in staff satisfaction.” 

This example demonstrates initiative, flexibility, and a commitment to improving performance.

3. Highlight your adaptability in handling change.

Employers are looking for candidates who don’t only adapt but thrive when there are opportunities for change. Share instances where you successfully adjusted to new circumstances or learned new skills on the fly:

Situation: “During the pandemic, my employer instituted a new database that required staff to capture our work with clients in detail. My initial response was to be somewhat overwhelmed at figuring this out myself and start capturing every customer’s contact details.”

Action: ” I reached out to some colleagues, and we set up a group discussion online to figure out how to make this work. We used video conferencing technology to try it out together and figure out strategies that worked. We met a couple of times afterward to review our progress and iron out issues we encountered.”

Result: ” After using it for a while, I became quite proficient. I realized that it is a highly effective tool to track customer contacts. It has significantly improved and made my work more efficient.”

4. Discuss your own goals and learning plans.

Expressing your eagerness to continue growing can further emphasize your growth mindset. Employers value employees who are committed to learning new information and gaining new skills. To indicate your interest in this, talk about your interest in lifelong learning.

Talk about areas where you want to develop and outline your learning plan: “I’m excited about the opportunity to deepen my knowledge in [specific area related to the job]. I’ve already started taking online courses and attending industry webinars to stay ahead of the curve.”.. “By continually pursuing new learning opportunities, I aim to bring innovative solutions and fresh perspectives to the team.”

 

Tips for better interviewing:

Be genuine: Authenticity is critical–be honest about your experiences and how you’ve approached learning and development. Consider even sharing failures or struggles you’ve had and how you’ve overcome them 

Be specific: Using SAR enables you to share specific examples to describe your growth mindset clearly.

Practice: Prepare and rehearse how you’ll discuss your growth mindset so you can present it confidently during interviews.

By effectively communicating your growth mindset, you’ll show potential employers you’re capable and committed to continuous improvement and success. Embrace these strategies, and you’ll be well on your way to making a memorable impression and standing out as an asset to potential employers.

 

 

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Remote Work Skills: Do You Have What Employers Need?

Woman working remotely in her home

You might worry that you’ve wasted 2020 by *merely* surviving a pandemic instead of learning a new skill in your supposed free time, but turns out that — without even thinking about it — you’ve acquired a whole repertoire of unexpected new skills that might come in handy for your next job. (Not that surviving a pandemic isn’t an admirable achievement on its own, of course.)

Think about it: whether you’ve been working remotely from home, or just using your computer to stay in touch with family and friends using video and social media, buying stuff online and so much more, you’ve mastered a whole new set of remote work skills in which an increasingly large number of employers are going to be interested.

Working from home brings a whole new set of challenges that most workers (and employers) never considered as we transitioned from the workplace to home in March 2020. In addition to the ongoing insecurity employers continue to face regarding the viability of working in the office in the short to medium term, they are also increasingly aware that there are clear ongoing benefits to remote work. This means that more remote opportunities will be offered, and job seekers should expect to be challenged by employers to convince them of their ability to successfully work remotely.

Assess Your Remote Work Skills

Working remotely requires a balance between both soft (personal) skills, and hard (knowledge and technical) skills. Employers are going to look for both, though they know full well that hard skills can be learnt, whereas soft skills are harder to teach.

Think through what employers would like a remote worker to be able to do. The best way to assess what employers expect is through job postings. If you use the keyword “remote” in your online job search, you’ll find something like this (adapted from an actual posting):

Remote – Phone Sales Representative

Are you a great phone sales person who is self-motivated, goal oriented and loves to work independently? We are only looking for talented and motivated Sales Representatives to join our booming Sales Team.

The job:

  • Enthusiastically present and promote our services to potential clients
  • Assess the requirements of potential clients and provide them with a solution that best fits their business needs
  • Develop creative sales strategies for potential clients and initiate agreement discussions
  • Participate in virtual sales meetings and remote training
  • Be organized and enter all relevant information and communications into our database
  • Perform all other related tasks based on the needs of the organization

Requirements and qualifications:

  • Windows computer/laptop with headset, webcam, minimum Processor Type i5, Four core/AMD A8 Quad Core, 16GB RAM, high speed internet, 30mbps download, 15mbps upload,
  • Phone sales experience, familiar with B2B sales
  • Perfect command of the English language
  • Strong sales focus and loves a great challenge
  • Demonstrates a competitive drive and a desire to succeed
  • Assertive, persuasive, and self-starter personality
  • Strong phone presence and conversational skills
  • Self-motivated to exceed all quotas and goals
  • Ability to handle stressful situations professionally and appropriately

Reading through posts such as this, certain generic skills can be noted:

Technology skills:

  • Able to operate and manage communication technology and related software
  • Enthusiastic and capable learner of new skills; able to master new tools with ease

Personal skills:

  • Self-motivated / self-starter
  • Goal oriented
  • Confident, enjoys a challenge
  • Works well independently
  • Organized and reliable
  • Skilled time manager – punctual, able to prioritize
  • Able to follow instructions, and respond quickly to requests
  • Independent, cool headed problem solver
  • Strong interpersonal skills (online these include maintaining eye contact, projecting your voice, speaking clearly)
  • Strong phone presence and conversational skills
  • Strong language skills
  • Flexible and adaptable
  • Able to handle stressful situations professionally and appropriately

Review these skills and add the ones that best describe you to your resume, cover letters and LinkedIn.

Make sure employers know that you have the skills they need

If you want to stand out from other candidates, it’s not enough to simply list skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile — you are going to have to be able to show your remote work abilities. These behaviours can be demonstrated through how you conduct your job search and what you talk about in interviews, as well as what references say about you.

Whether you have worked remotely or not, try to prepare thoughtful answers to questions about how you will handle the challenges of working remotely. Think through various scenarios that might arise, and how you would handle various situations. Whether you have worked remotely or not, try to prepare thoughtful answers.

Of course, it is always best to be able to draw from experience to answer interview questions, but otherwise think though how you would handle various situations. Remember that your virtual job search might be a source of examples.

Here are some of the scenarios you might get asked about:

  • Teaching yourself new software — Video conferencing software – Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, GoToMeeting, and scheduling, using a shareable calendar such as Outlook or Google Calendar
  • Organizational methods — systems for managing time, meeting deadlines and prioritizing, using tools, task tracking methods, lists, colour coding, spreadsheets
  • Staying focused and motivated — describe your personal challenges for keeping motivated and how you work to overcome them, such as balancing independent work with collaboration, teamwork and accountability, structuring your time
  • Handling challenges – independent problem solving vs consultative work; think through how you have/would handle teamwork challenges across distance, for example
  • Adaptability and managing changing demands – your philosophy, methods and experiences in working with colleagues and managers on their schedules with their preferred tools

Think through how you’d talk about these situations. Draw on examples where you have done this, if possible.

Demonstrate your skills by how you handle the remote hiring process

You will be evaluated based on how you conduct yourself in the remote interviewing process, so make sure you are prepared, following through, reliable and punctual, and that you have mastered the video interview and other tools.

We posted this blog about Acing the Video Interview in 2018 (we were ahead of the game, apparently!). It includes tips on ensuring you maximize the opportunity to be interviewed remotely:

Prepare your interview space:

  • Set up your interview space; the room should be tidy, well-lit and quiet
  • Position your computer so that doesn’t face a window; that way, there will be no reflections on the screen
  • Make sure that the room is silent; no crying babies, barking dogs or loud traffic

Make sure your computer (hardware and software) works:

  • Long before the interview, test your computer, camera and microphone with a friend
  • Bring the microphone near and test that the speakers are on
  • Test for sound; can you hear the person and can they hear you?
  • Set up the camera, make sure it works, and that you are not too close or too far
  • Set up the video so you can make eye contact. When you are being interviewed on video, you will want to look at the face of the interviewer, which isn’t necessarily where the webcam is positioned. Tip: to ensure that you are looking at the interviewer, resize and move the window with the person’s video image up or as close to your webcam as possible.

Plan what you are going to wear:

  • Prepare an outfit as you would for an in-person interview – simple and professional
  • Neat and clean (unwrinkled) clothes
  • No busy patterns (e.g. stripes) – they don’t always look good on video
  • Bright or dramatic colours also can become even brighter on screen (including black); grey, blue and pastels look best
  • Avoid sparkly dangly jewelry – it’s distracting and can make noise

Bottom line

Remote work has taken a huge leap forward in the last year, and we can expect employers to continue to want to employ staff who can manage such changes well beyond the pandemic. Make sure you are able to tell employers and demonstrate to them that you have these valuable skills and are available to adapt to change in a nimble and competent way.

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Answering the Salary Question in a Job Interview

blond businessman holding one small piggy bank and one much larger piggy bank

Addressing the salary question isn’t easy for a job seeker. If the salary you ask for is too high, the employer might choose a more affordable candidate. If it’s too low, you might be selling yourself short or be seen as less qualified or valuable.

So, what is a job seeker to do?

Before tackling this question, it helps to do some research.

How much do you really need to earn?

Take a careful look at your budget and identify the minimum that you can afford to earn. Of course, you will try to do better than the minimum, but there are reasons to take a job that are not financial, such as an opportunity to start a new career, fill a gap on your resume, or perhaps the job is an opportunity to start at a company you really want to work for.

  • Use this tool to help you figure out how much you need to earn per hour, month, and year.

How much can you expect?

Do you know how much employers are willing to pay you, given your particular skills and experience, and their given salary structure? It isn’t easy to figure out the going rate for a specific job. There are many variables to consider, including:

  • The average salary for your profession
  • Your experience and skill level
  • Where you fit into the salary range in your field: entry-level, average or senior?
  • How do salaries in your city compare to other locations?

Resources are available online to help calculate your potential salary, but be cautious; it doesn’t always give an accurate estimate of how much you might be able to be paid, considering your unique skills, experience and circumstances:

The current job market is also the best source of salary information:

  • Check with people you know; ask them about the salary range in their company for similar roles
  • Speak to recruiters and hiring managers
  • Check job postings; sign up for job alerts with sites such as Indeed.ca — many jobs will include salary expectations.

At the interview:

Salary negotiations do not need to be adversarial or aggressive. If you are clear about how much you need and have a sense of what is being paid in the market, then you are in a good position to ask for what is realistic.

Some salary negotiation tips:

  1. Wait for the appropriate time to discuss salary; it is better to impress the employer first with your skills and dazzling personality, and try hold out until later in the hiring process when the employer is more invested in your candidacy
  2. If salary has not come up yet, and you are ready to discuss it, ask the employer when they plan to discuss salary (instead of asking “how much do you pay?”)
  3. Resist throwing out the first number – ask the employer for the salary range they pay
  4. Take your time deciding, consider the possibility of playing hardball and saying no. Just make sure you can afford to do so.

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Answering Unexpected Interview Questions: Lessons from a CEO

Diverse people with creative inspiration speech bubbles

We sometimes forget that even the highest-ranking executives have gone through job interviews. Recently, CNBC posted an interesting article with the provocative title, 15 years ago, Google’s CEO had a brilliant response to a tricky interview question – and it helped him get hired, which offered insights into the questions that leading companies such as Google sometimes ask and what they hope to hear from candidates.

At an interview for a Vice President position at Google, Sundar Pichai was asked an unexpected question which he could not answer; his response provides a useful strategy for job seekers: early on in the interview process, Pichai was asked about his thoughts on a Google product that was launched earlier that day. A little confused, he answered honestly that he hadn’t yet seen it yet. Undeterred, he proceeded through multiple interviews where he was repeatedly asked that question, and continued to explain that he had not seen it yet. Eventually, at the fourth interview, the interviewer took the opportunity to demonstrate the product, which allowed Pichai — at the fifth interview — to finally share his viewpoint of the product.

Not only was Pichai hired for that position, but he went on to become Google’s CEO.

So, what did he do that was so effective?

The article goes on to highlight the impact of Pichai’s decision to be honest and direct when faced with a question about a product about which he had no knowledge. This approach kept him as a contender throughout the lengthy interview process.

Pichai’s honesty and directness in answering this seemingly impossible question was the key to his success. He remained focused and continued calmly during the interview. The article describes this as “intellectual humility” — the value of honesty and curiosity in an interview, rather than pretending to be knowledgeable and perfectly skilled. Job seekers sometimes underestimate employers’ interest in character and soft skills, such as the ability to handle an unexpected question with grace.

Employers know that employees can learn a new skill or gain new knowledge, such as the recently launched Google product in Pichai’s case, whereas honesty, willingness to learn and humility cannot be learned. 

Laszlo Bock, former Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google is quoted in the article saying that,

“Successful, bright people rarely experience failure, and so they don’t learn how to learn from that failure. They instead commit the fundamental attribution error, which is if something good happens, it’s because I’m a genius. If something bad happens, it’s because someone’s an idiot or I didn’t get the resources or the market moved.” 

Job seekers need to remember that during an interview, there’s no need to rush into answering every question quickly. When presented with a difficult question, take a moment to consider your reply. Ask a clarifying question that may show a willingness to learn or thoughtful analysis. Keep in mind that getting to the interview stage means the employer has read your resume and decided that you have a lot to offer. In addition to demonstrating your skills and knowledge, an interview also provides the opportunity to show personal integrity, honesty and confidence. Respectful, curious and genuine employees make much better colleagues and contribute to a positive company culture.

To impress interviewers, not only should you prepare your knowledge of the job, the company, and of yourself, make sure to rehearse honest and clear responses to questions. This will allow employers to get know you as a thoughtful, critically self-aware candidate, who is open to new learning — which are highly valued characteristics.

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