Career Fairs – Page 3 – Penn & Beyond

CS Radio Episode 10: “Live From Nursing Career Day”

We’re back! Our Thanksgiving hiatus ended up being extended by a week – we hope you didn’t miss us too much! This week, we’re very excited to bring you live to Nursing Career Day 2015. Mylène and Michael interview several employers at the event about what they look for in candidates from Penn and they speak with Senior Associate Director Sharon Fleshman from Career Services about what makes Nursing Career Day unique.

Plus we review the few remaining programs on the Career Services schedule this week. We’ll be back again next week for our last episode of the semester with suggestions on how to use your winter break for your job search!

Enjoy!

CS Radio Episode 007: Career Fair Prep

Radio. CS Radio.

Welcome to Episode 007! J. Michael and A. Mylène are shaken, but not stirred as they cover career fair preparation in advance of Thursday’s International Opportunities Fair. College assistant Alyssa Perkins-Chatterton stops by to talk about the work that goes into organizing a career fair, as well as to share some of the feedback she receives every year from the employers who attend. If you plan on coming to the fair this week, this is a must listen episode!

All that, plus the usual rundown of Career Services events and Michael taking every opportunity he has to mention James Bond. Enjoy!

Sounding smart = being smart

Dr. Joseph Barber

The stepping stone approach to networking means that while the first people you meet who are relevant to your career interests might not be the best people for you to communicate with, they will probably have a much better idea of who you should be talking to (at least compared to you!). Take career fairs, for example. You might find yourself talking to a recruiter representing an organization that you are really interested in who turns out to have no information about the types of positions you want that match your experience. They might be there talking about sales positions, while you might be there looking for R&D positions. Rather than seeing this as connection fail, see it as a great opportunity to take a business card and follow up after the fair to see if that recruiter can point you in the right direction to someone more relevant to the career path you want to follow.

“Would it be OK if I reach out to you after the fair to see if you can point me towards someone at your organization who could answer some of the questions I have. It would be fantastic if you could share some of your institutional knowledge, and would definitely be of great help to me.”

There is another benefit to the stepping stone approach, and that is that if you follow the trail you will sound smarter and smarter as you progress. So, let’s say you are interested in careers in science communication. Through a close friend of yours, you set up an information interview with someone (contact#1) who works at a medical communications company. Before you meet you read up all you can about the field of medical communications, you jot down some of the questions you have, and you practice talking about yourself, and why you are potentially interested in this field. Here are some good informational interviewing questions you might use:

“I know that your position title is XXX, and I have been reading up about your role, but I would love to hear more about what you do on a day-to-day basis”

“Can you tell me a little about your career path and how it led you here?”

“What skills would you say are most valuable in your role, and which one do you rely on the most?”

“This position sounds really interesting, and from what I have heard, people really enjoy the process of translating complex science to the different audiences you mentioned. What are some of the most challenging aspects of your role?”

These questions give you insights into the position that are hard to find on a website. What’s more, you get to hear the language contact#1 uses to describe their role – language that you might one day need to use to describe your experiences if you apply for these types of positions. You also get to hear what skills are most valuable. These should be the skills you focus on in your application materials and in the answers to interview questions you might be asked. The “challenges” question can be a useful one, as you’ll see below. You don’t want to spend too much time focusing on negative experiences, because the more your contact talks about negative experiences, the greater the chance that they begin to associate the negative feelings they are having talking about these negative experiences with you in their mind. Challenges don’t have to be negative, though, and so this is certainly a much better way to phrase the question than asking: “what don’t you like about your job”!

The very final question you should ask can be a variation of this one:

“This has been a very helpful meeting, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me. I was particularly interested in hearing about the XXX position you mentioned. Do you know anyone in this role that I might reach out to for more information on this?”

The answer is usually “yes”. You can ask contact#1 if they could introduce you, or if you could use their name when you reach out to their suggested contact. Using this approach you should be able to reach out and set up a time to meet with the new contact (contact#2). In this meeting, one of the questions you might ask is something like:

“I know that some of the challenges you face in roles similar to yours are X, Y and Z [information you are parroting back from your previous informational interview], are these the same challenges that you face in your role?”

As contact#2 is listening to you, they are thinking to themselves “Oh my…, this person knows what they are talking about, they have done their homework here”. That’s not a bad thing to have circulating in their brain while you are talking. Of course, when you eventually ask contact#2 for the names of people they think you should talk to in order to gain additional insight into something they mentioned, you can take the information shared by contact#1 and contact#2 and integrate this into your questions for contact#3, who will also think to themselves that you sound awfully smart. And you know what…, you don’t just sound smarter at this point, you are smarter!

Standing Out in a Crowded Job Search

By Sharon Fleshman

The city of Philadelphia made much preparation for Pope Francis’ recent visit, anticipating big crowds along Ben Franklin Parkway. Crowded spaces can be energetic yet overwhelming at the same time. Likewise, the job search can feel the same way. Whether you attend a conference in your field, a career fair or an employer information session, there are ways to leave a positive and memorable impression that can potentially open the door to career opportunities.

Do your homework. Be sure to research employers of interest that will attend career fairs or host information sessions. Look at the list of speakers or panelists who will attend conferences and read up on their careers. Consider how your interests and skills align with the mission, values and work of the employers or professionals who appeal to you the most. This will pave the way for more engaging dialogue with those who can offer insight for the job search.

Ask thoughtful questions and take good notes. Good preparation will allow you to pose questions that make it clear that you have a genuine interest in a given company or profession. Jot down key takeaways from presentations at information sessions or conferences. If you have chats with recruiters or presenters that are particularly engaging, write highlights from the conversation on the back of their business cards.

Follow up with key contacts. Timely follow-up is a crucial next step after attending career-related events and your notes from your conversations will help you craft tailored correspondence. Start your follow-up emails by thanking the contact for taking the time to speak with you at the event. Mention highlights from what you discussed and indicate that your interest in the employer or profession was affirmed by the conversation. For recruiting events such as career fairs and information sessions, you can also note specific positions to which you have applied (or will apply). For professional development events such as conferences, you can ask additional questions that came to mind after the event or request an informational interview with the contact.

If you would like further assistance with preparation and follow-up for career events, feel free to connect with one of your career advisors at Career Services.

What graduate students/postdocs need to do at career fairs

Dr. Joseph Barber

It is time to revisit a post I wrote about making use of career fairs even when (and especially when) you are not actively looking for a job right now. We are about to enter the peak Career Fair season at Penn, and now is a good time to start thinking about how to make the most of these great opportunities. After all, these employers are coming to campus for the sole reason to talk with students and postdocs like you! If you have never attended a career fair before, then now is a great time to do so. Just showing up can be the beginning of the professional journey that helps you to achieve your career goals – or at least that helps you to figure out what your goals are. If you are nervous about career fairs, then set up an appointment with an advisor at Career Services and we can provide great suggestions and advice.

Six things you can do at career fairs even if you aren’t actively looking for a job

1) Hand people your well-formatted, mistake-free, Career Services’ critiqued resume. OK, if you are not looking for a job, this is one that you might be able to skip. But…, what happens if you are chatting with employers (see below), and someone asks about your experience, and then says, “do you have a resume I can take away with me?”. As you don’t want to miss this opportunity to network, which is the better answer:

“Errr…., no, but I can write my name and email on this napkin”
“Yes, this reflects my experience to date, and obviously I am going to be gaining more experience over the next few months/years. If I were interested in this type of opportunity, can you see any areas where additional experience might help me in this career field?”
“What’s a resume?”

2) Network. People with effective networks build them continuously over time, and may not seek anything from their contacts for many months or years. They spend their time developing and maintaining their network so that when they do need help, the network is already there for them, and the people within the network know and trust them. The best time to network from a career perspective is when you are not actively looking for a job. You have more time, and you come across as less desperate. If you work hard to help people remember you by staying in contact, then you increase the likelihood that they’ll be thinking of you when future job opportunities arise. So, take time at career fairs to share your information with people in different career fields, think of creative ways to maintain contact with them over time to establish an effective relationship, and ask the most important question of all to gain access to their network: “Do you anyone you think I should talk with to find out more information?“

3) Think about Plan B. You may have your heart set on one type of job, or working at one specific organization, and it is important that you work hard to achieve what you want. However, it never hurts to have a back-up plan, your career Plan B. If you are a graduate student, then you may be planning on following the tenure track, and seeking only academic teaching or research positions. The academic job market is hard to predict, and will always be changeable, but it will always be highly competitive, and there will always be someone who does not get the job they interviewed for. We hope that person is not you, and we’ll work hard with you to help you be the successful one, but it never hurts to be thinking about Plan B. If you need to switch tracks at a future date, will you have enough transferable skills and experiences to make you a competitive candidate in a completely different career field? At the career fair you can ask recruiters what they are looking for in resumes for the types of jobs they have available now. They might be able to help identify the kind of experiences you can gain in the present, and over the next few months/years, that might make you competitive for other types of jobs in the future.

4) Tell people about yourself. The question “tell me about yourself” will come up whenever you meet new people (whether spoken or inferred), but can also be asked during phone and in-person interviews. You need to have an interesting, succinct, and confident answer. You are the expert in the subject of you, and so it is the one topic that you should have no hesitation talking about. Career fairs are a great place to practice talking about yourself, as you need to summarize who you are, what skills you have, where you want to be going in the future, and how the person you are talking with might be able to help, all within about 30-60 seconds. When you are networking, people need to know what your network goals are so that they know how they can help you. For example, are you looking for information, opportunities, or future contacts?

5) Talk about your research. Graduate students have two types of tricky questions to answer in terms of what they have been doing with themselves. When telling people about yourself, you will of course mention the research you do, but research is not the only topic you should talk about. The “tell me about yourself” answer needs to be slightly broader (e.g., what brought you to Penn, what are some of the key skills you have, how have your experiences changed the way you think about aspects of the world, and how do you see yourself using your knowledge and skills in the future). When talking more specifically about your research, you will need to summarize what you do in a way that makes your subject understandable to a range of different people with differing degrees of expertise in your specific area. Can you tailor a summary about your research on ancient Aramaic texts or Tribble genes to experts in the field and to HR representatives? Can you make your research interesting and relevant to them? Again, career fairs are a great way to practice talking about your research, and it does take practice.

6) See how it is done. You don’t want your first career fair to be the one where you need to find a job. You want to work out all of your career fair nerves beforehand. Even if you don’t talk to any employers (and you really should – they won’t bite), you can still watch how your peers handle themselves at career fairs? You can see how they are dressed, and whether they are keeping their right hand free to shake hands with people they meet, without having to juggle paperwork and drinks (and that means thinking about which shoulder to hang your bag on, so it doesn’t slip off when extending your hand). Small things can sometimes count when you are trying to make a good first impression. You can listen to the types of questions they ask, and you can learn to emulate or avoid the good or bad approaches they use.