Career development · Student guide
Career Fair Tips: Before You Queue at the Famous Stand
Career fair season is underway at universities and business schools.
The usual pattern? Long queues at the four or five employers everyone knows, while other potentially excellent employers stand at quiet booths.
Recruiters meet hundreds of students. The ones who stand out aren't necessarily those with the most polished elevator pitch. They're the ones who can explain why they're interested in that particular employer and what they could bring to the job.
With fewer entry-level opportunities available, it's tempting to approach every stand ready to say yes to anything.
I'd do the opposite.
Your Career Fair Preparation Guide
Before you join the longest queue, take a moment to think about what you want from your first job and what you can bring to it.
Career Fair Preparation Guide
Before you queue at the famous stand, learn how to choose employers that fit you, set your priorities, and ask recruiters better questions.
Swipe to explore all 8 slides, or use the arrows to navigate.
Explore the Career Fair Guide →Eight slides covering employer fit, Ready, Willing and Able, a consulting firm example, and three practical questions to ask recruiters.
Download the Free Career Fair Preparation Guide (PDF)
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How to prepare for a career fair
Before attending, get clear on three things:
Ready
What effort and sacrifices are you prepared to make? Long hours, travel, relocation, pressure?
Willing
What kind of workplace would you actually enjoy? Collaborative or independent? Structured or entrepreneurial?
Able
What are your natural strengths, and where could they make the biggest difference?
These three dimensions matter just as much as the qualifications on your CV.
Which employers should you visit?
Take a management consulting firm as an example.
If you enjoy solving ambiguous problems, working in teams and dealing with demanding schedules, consulting may be worth investigating.
But if you value predictable hours, dislike frequent travel or prefer working independently, you should ask yourself whether the attraction is the work or simply the employer's reputation.
Neither answer is right or wrong. What matters is knowing the difference.
For a more detailed comparison, see my Investment Banking vs Management Consulting tool .
Three questions to ask recruiters at a career fair
Rather than asking only about vacancies and application procedures, try these:
- Ready: What does a normal working week look like for someone in their first year?
- Willing: How was the last important decision in your team made?
- Able: What distinguishes employees who get promoted after two years from those who don't?
The answers can tell you more about your potential fit than another company presentation.
Make fewer, better career fair conversations
I'd rather visit five well-chosen employers and have meaningful conversations than collect twenty business cards from companies I barely understand.
The accompanying eight-slide guide walks through this approach, including a consulting firm example and practical questions to ask at each stand.
Before the fair
Want to understand your own career fit?
Try Career GPS, my free assessment. It takes about ten minutes and helps you explore your Ready, Willing and Able profile, potential career fits and attainable seniority.
Knowing what you want, what you're prepared to give and what you're naturally good at is a better starting point than joining the longest queue.
Try the Free Career Fit Assessment →
A free assessment that takes about ten minutes.