Connect in-person with area employers on March 29th

Get out from behind your computer and meet area employers face-to-face. Where? At the 3rd Annual Career Bazaar & Hiring Fair presented by the Urban League. Benita Ugoline, Career Marketplace director, urges job seekers to take a more proactive approach to their searches and attend. “This is an incredible opportunity to actually talk with employers face-to-face, find out what their hiring needs are, and to present your skills and experience based on the employer’s needs. Networking doesn’t get any better than at a job fair, because employers attend for only one reason…to find potential employees.”

Ugoline says, “Spending most of your time applying online prolongs a job search. The best way to job hunt was, is, and always will be networking. A job fair presents multiple opportunities to do so with those who have real hiring power—employers. Employers expect to and are eager to network with job seekers at job fairs. It’s the perfect environment to connect.” (See article below on “How to work the room at a job fair.”)

Which employers will be there?

More than 40 employers are expected to have representatives at the Career Bazaar & Hiring Fair. Most will be service industry companies looking for degreed professionals, recent college graduates (or the soon-to-graduate), or experienced operations and administrative workers with high school diplomas. Early registrants include Eli Lilly, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Enterprise-Rent-A-Car, Time Warner Cable, and Carter Broadcast Group (KPRS-FM and KPRT-AM).

What types of jobs will be available?

Most employers will have office-based positions; some will have field positions. Areas of need will be very broad: sales, accounting/finance, information technology, purchasing, management, marketing, security, human resources, and more. Actual openings will include job titles such as:

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How to work a job fair

Never been to a job fair and don’t know how to network with employers? Or maybe you’ve attended job fairs before and come away disappointed? We can help.

The key to success in working a job fair is selling yourself. That doesn’t mean coming on like gangbusters. It means establishing rapport by finding out what an employer’s real needs are, and then quickly matching your abilities to those needs. It’s tough to do this in an unstructured, free style setting like a job fair, or if you have any fears about talking to employers outside of a formal interview.

So how do you find out what an employer needs? By asking good questions. If you ask enough targeted questions, you find yourself with enough information to match your skills and experience to their needs, thereby selling yourself. It’s a soft sell—influencing as opposed to persuading.

What kinds of questions can you ask? Start with some basic ones and work up to bolder questions. Here are some ideas:
• What current openings do you have?
• What skills and experience are required? [Best to reference a specific job: What skills and experience are required for the business analyst position?]
• What are the minimum requirements to be considered for this job?
• What kind of personal qualities or characteristics do you need to fit in at the company or into this job?
• May I leave my resume with you for review and then follow up to see if there’s an opening I might be qualified for? [Use if they don’t have an opening in your field or employer doesn’t want to talk about specific jobs.]
• What is the company’s culture like?
• Can you describe your application, screening and hiring process?
• How can I pursue this position with your company? [Or, given my skills and experience, how can I pursue a position with your company?]
• May I have your business card and follow up with you? [This is especially important if they employer tells you to apply online.]

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