YouTube career-advice video (Madeline Mann) teaching job-seekers how to stand out at career fairs. Presents a three-stage framework—pre-fair research, in-person conversation script and tactics, and post-fair follow-up—plus concrete scripts, research checklist, and a quick pre-fair trick to outcompete others. Emphasizes genuine research, tailored resumes/cover pages for target companies, and conversational questions to build rapport with recruiters.
Chapters
I've stood on the other side of the job fair table and I can tell you within the first 10 seconds whether someone's getting a call back from the person they're talking to. Most people walk up, say the same things and instantly blend into the crowd. But there is one shift that makes recruiters actually want to keep talking to you, and you'll learn it right here. I'll also give you the full framework and the exact script for what to say when you walk up. Plus a quick thing to do before the fair that 99% of your competition skips and stay to the end because I've got something special that will help you refine your elevator pitch so that you sound confident in every conversation. So a career fair is known also as a job fair and it's like a farmer's market for jobs where you're expected to go up to the tables where the companies are set up and talk to them about opportunities. No one gets a job on the spot, but if you make a good impression, it can fast track you to a job interview. A of course, given that they have an open role for your skill set. I worked in human resources for years and was on the company side of job fairs. So here's what 95% of the interactions feel like. People walk up to the table and they first ask, what does your company do? I recite the same spiel that I know like the bridge of a Taylor Swift song. Then they ask, what roles are you hiring for? Which then I respond, all kinds of roles. What roles are you looking for? At which point the person spills out the puzzle pieces of their career and expects the recruiter to assemble it. It sounds something like, well, I'm not sure I'm getting my MBA right now, so maybe something in marketing or maybe a finance role. I'm going to show you how to be better than this. If you follow even just a fraction of my strategies, you will stand out. Here are the steps to absolutely crush it at career fairs for the three stages. Pre fair, during the fair and after the fair. First Pre fair pick out the companies that you are interested in and research them. Here's how to research a company for a job fair in 10 minutes that will wow them. First clickety clack right to their careers page and see if they have an open role for you. If they don't have an open role that fits what you're looking for and they aren't one of your top companies of interest, I would still stop researching them for now. Hold up and come back to them later if you have time. But if you really like this company and really want to make the connections there, then continue with the steps. Second, know what they do and who they do it for. I try to find a quick video on them or an article where I can get the gist. Write down one reason why you want to work for that company and do not stop researching until you have this answer. It could be that you think they have a cool product or you believe in their mission, or you saw a post from an employee that talked about why it was a good work environment. Find a genuine reason that you want to work there. Third, find out how big the company is for context. Fourth, find out one recent thing that they've done. It could be a product release, a new office opening, a charity partnership, a leadership change, or a photo on LinkedIn where everyone is wearing matching T shirts for reasons that are never fully explained. Whatever it is, keep that in your pocket. So that's the quick and dirty way to research these companies and write those findings down. At career fairs if you want to impress companies, print out a page and staple it to the front of your resume that has your name and the company logo and include a custom cover letter while you're at it though, follow my cover letter formula to actually make an impact here. You can't do this for every company if there's a hundred companies there because I'm assuming you you're human and you need to sleep. So pick your favorites to go above and beyond for. I'll link a highly rated free resume workshop in the comments in case you need help with that. Part two during the fair okay, so once you get there, go to the company you are less interested in to get loosey goosey. First, don't put pressure on this one. It is your warm up. And here is the foolproof script at the job fair of what to say when you walk up to the table table strong handshake. Look them in the eyes and say hi I'm first name, last name. Then we are putting our research to use. Say I was glad to see you all are here. I'm really interested in company because reason you came up with while researching this is fantastic. Right now they don't have to recite to you exactly what they do. For the millionth time you are showing genuine interest. You're off to a great start. Hand over your resume now or whenever it feels right. I usually would ask a question question here like what do you do for the company? Or how long have you been with a company so that we aren't speaking at them but that it's more of a conversation. Then say I noticed that you have X role open. I am a Y professional with experience in Z and I say an accomplishment such as I'm about to graduate with an MBA with a focus in marketing and I optimize a local businesses services to show up as a top recommendation in AI searches or or Another example is, well, I'm a product manager with over 10 years of experience and I've built over two dozen mobile apps. I'll link my most popular resource a guide on how to answer the question tell me about yourself below because we all know it's an essential question that is asked a million times in the job search. So again, you did research so you are already saying how you would add value to the team and not having them repeat which rules are open and once you've shared your background, make it a two way conversation. Something like does that line up with what your team is looking for? Or My understanding is that this role involves blank. Is that accurate? It keeps the interaction balanced. This is a good place to also naturally mention the current event that you found in your research and that could also be in your intro if it's strong like wow, I saw this week that you all closed a funding round. Congratulations. And so weave this into the conversation to show that you did your research. Now I'm curious to hear what is your greatest challenge when going to career fair? Is it your nerves? Is it the research? Let me know in the comments. All right, so then if I'm really feeling the conversation, I'll round it out with a few questions focused on the person's experience at the company. What have you been excited about these days at the company? What kinds of people thrive at the company? If they've been there for a while, I asked them what's kept them there all these years, if they joined More recently, I asked them if the company is what they had expected. I'm giving you a lot of material here to have an organic conversation and that's what this is all about. Treat them like a human person you want to befriend. It is not fun to stand on the other side of the table and hear someone recite a pitch they created and then hand over their resume like a transaction. Apply online if that's your jam. Okay, so here is how to close out Ask do you have a card? They say no. Ask how should I follow up? If you forgot their name and didn't get a card, say remind me of your name and then write that shoes down. Part 3 After the fair, send a follow up email the next day. Keep it short such as it was so great speaking with you yesterday. Name Reattach your resume, clearly state the role you were interested in and that's it. You are reminding them who you are and making it easy for them to move you forward. I also have a free masterclass to help you become way more confident in job interviews down below since I have a feeling you might need that after you rock this job fair. You've got this wi fi high five.
