Etiquette After a Career Event

By Marian Li, Toppel Peer Advisor

Job fairs and Meet-Ups provide you with an opportunity to make face-to-face contact with many employers. At some fairs, you also have the opportunity to interview for open positions. Our Toppel Career Center brings over 100 employers and graduate schools every semester to give us students as many opportunities to get our foot in the door with our future potential employees.

A lot of the concerns students have usually concern the preparation prior to the actual career event but a lot of times, students tend to forget to tie up loose ends that really can make a difference in their career goals. So after the event, give yourself a pat on the back, but you’re not done JUST yet!

Stay organized – During the event, employers have a ton of handouts so keep track of business cards and promotional items! The backs of cards are an easy place to write a few notes of your conversations with recruiters while the memory is still fresh in your mind. Review your notes and process what you learned about the different organizations. Some students benefit from creating an Excel sheet to keep their job search organized.

Follow up – Within a week of the event, write thank you notes/emails to recruiters from companies that are of particular interest to you. Hand written notes are a classy touch if you’ve invested in stationary. Regardless of the medium, express your interest in learning more about the company and possible positions. If recruiters ask for you to send a resume or other information, do so as soon as possible. Follow up on leads by calling the recruiter if you haven’t heard from them within two weeks.

Evaluate your experience and plan for the next step – What was positive? Negative? Did your research help you? What questions were difficult to answer? What would you change for future career events? Were you able to articulate your career goals well? How was your elevator pitch received? Take advantage of Toppel’s many handouts and workshops for interviewing or even resumes! The more feedback, the better you’ll get at this.

After EXPO

By Maura Gergerich, Toppel Peer Advisor

Many of you attended our Career fair last week to find jobs/internships or network with employers. You’re probably now ready to sit back and relax and let the job offers appear in front of you. Unfortunately, you’re not done yet, but the work still to be done is probably not quite as stressful for you than talking to dozens of companies in one day. Here’s how to get started:

1.Get organized

You want to try to sort out everything that happened at Expo. Make lists of the recruiters that you talked to. Include any business cards you may have received. Spreadsheets are a great organizational tool for this kind of thing. Also, make sure to take notes on conversations you may have had if you didn’t do this earlier. This will be important for when you reach out to the employers so you are able to jog their memories as to who you are and where you met because they more than likely talked to tons of students. 

2. Make sure your LinkedIn is up to date

Linkedin is a fundamental stop for companies that want to research future employees. In your busy life however, you might not always remember to update it regularly. Once it’s up to date and ready  to go, Linkedin is an easy way to connect with recruiters and employers you may have spoken to or been referred to. 

3. Follow up with employers

Definitely reach out to the contacts you have made. You can send an email, message on LinkedIn or a phone call. The mode is less important than the action itself. This should be done 1-2 days after the career fair so you can make as memorable of an impression as possible. Also, don’t be super casual about it. Know what positions you could potentially be hired for at this company and make sure you tie in your skills to this specific position and let them know what sets this company apart to you.

4. Continue practicing your interview skills

You want to make sure you don’t mess up your opportunities if you are given an interview by a company. The more practiced you are, the less nervous you will be. Think up answers to traditional interview questions or schedule a practice interview at Toppel. 

5. Reflect on your experience

This is an important step for determining what to do for the next career fair you attend. Ask yourself what you did well and what you could improve upon. Did you network well? Did you take the right steps to prepare? All of this information will help you be even better the next time you interact with an employer.