College students going to the career fair. Here's my unsolicited career fair advice.

College students going to the career fair. Here's my unsolicited career fair advice. At my last job, I used to recruit at career fairs. And then additionally, I'm a recent grad. I graduated college a year ago, and career fairs were my jam. I absolutely love them. I used them to get four to five first round interviews, and then I also landed my full time job right after college. So here's my unsolicited advice. First, ditch the elevator pitch. I absolutely hated it, not only as a recruiter, but as a student. It's awkward to walk up and be like, hi, my name is. And then go into a 30 second pitch. As a recruiter, my brain turned off. As a student, I got tired of talking, and I got tired of them not listening. So I did four things instead. when I walked up and I would introduce myself and they'd introduce themselves, they're gonna stare at you blankly and expect you to start talking, so you better come up with something quick. So the first thing that I would do is I would ask them the rule at the company. Um, am I talking to an H.R. Recruiter, or am I talking to someone actually in the role that I wanna be in? And that will dictate the rest of your conversation. So I ask them their role. The second thing. Questions create conversation. So what you're gonna do next is you're just gonna Start asking them questions, whether that's about the company, about their specific role. Don't ask them what their company does. You should know that information when you go up to them. Do a little research while you're in line. Um, but ask them questions. And then you can kind of sprinkle in your elevator pitch as you're conversing back. So maybe you ask them a question about their role and maybe some of their day to day responsibilities. And then they say, oh, I build budgets. And then you say, oh, I'm actually a treasurer in X, Y, Z Club. I've been doing that for like a year and a half. I really enjoy that aspect of it. I think that that could be really helpful at this company. So two, you're gonna ask questions to create conversation. And then three, honestly, probably my favourite one of the four, at the very end of the conversation, right before we wrap up, I would always give them my resume. I would do it at the end because if you give it to them at the beginning, they're reading your resume more than they're listening to you talk. But you're gonna ask them when you give them your resume, you're gonna say, if I were to get an interview, what on my resume do you recommend that I talk about during my interview? This is two things. One, it makes them critically look at your resume, so they actually have to read it instead of skimming, which as a recruiter, I used to do all the time, but they'll actually read it. And then two, they're gonna give you, like, a cheat code for the interview so you know what they're looking for and what experiences are relevant, even if you think that they're not. So that's the third thing. Is ask them if I give or when you give your resume, what they would. What they would recommend you highlight in the interview. And then lastly, the last thing I would do is I would ask them, how can I follow up with you? You don't want the conversation to end just because the career fair is over after 24 hours. I would say is when you need to send them a follow up email or a LinkedIn message being like, hey, I applied. And then something personal about the conversation, which should be easy because you've been asking them questions and learning all about them and then looking forward to connecting more about this opportunity. And that's it. And honestly, I swear by those things. I know it will help you at the career fair. It's so much better than just, like, awkwardly going up and just feel like, hi.