The last career fair I went to almost gave me a seizure. There so many blinking lights, moving parts and give aways I started to get worried about the future of these things. I got to meet the Pink Panther, Pillsbury Doughboy and the Bee from HoneyNut Cheerios. When did career fairs become theme parks? I joke around with colleagues that we are only a year or two away from dunk tanks and ferris wheels at these things.

Here are 6 Tips for Maximizing Your Career Fair Investment:

Pre-work - A famous author once told me that if he had to do it all over again, he would not write a book to put it on the shelves and hope someone bought it. He treated his first book this way. He spent all this time and money to write it, get it published and get it in book stores across the country and then waited for the sales. Unfortunately those sales never came.  His advice was great. Do not publish a book and hope people read it. Publish a book and let the world know it is coming out so they are waiting at the bookstore that day.

I give this advice to all of you that attend these carnivals. Do not go to a Career Fair and hope people come to your booth. Make sure the audience you are looking at knows you are coming and are waiting for you there. There are tons of cost effective ways to reach out to a wide audience and have them waiting at the door for you. You do not want to hire someone because they liked your sign or give aways- trust me!

Internal Champions- Every career fair has a list of people you should know ahead of time. These individuals can help you with everything from booth placement, resume books, introductions and other networking that will make your time productive.  

Know your audience- If you are going to give gifts away at your booth make sure it is something that will be on the fridge or in the dorm room for the next few months. This is the best way to make your name (or more importantly opportunity) stick in the candidates head. Example: If you are recruiting at a University Career Fair you may want to give out a deck of cards with your logo on front and a line about your opportunity. ABC Company: 50 Best Places to Work and Top 10 in Marketing Training Programs

{sidebar id=1}Dynamic individuals- Sales BlueChips discusses the importance of having dynamic individuals at your booth. They tend to tell a better story, keep audiences engaged longer and differentiate your booth. I once had an author of a sales book sit at my booth to autograph copies. Line wrapped around the corner with not just candidates; but Professors and you guessed it- internal champions.

The power of the appetizer – Do not go to dinner with the people from your company. Take candidates and internal champions out. This always pays for itself 10 fold. Advertise it before and during the event that you are taking the “top 10 candidates” for appetizers after the event. Have a hot spot already picked out.  

Follow up - I have watched many recruiters and managers think they had locked candidates down only to lose them to another company. Remember this: A good candidate will make every company feel special and that they are the “one”. They leave the Career Fair having just met with 50 plus companies. You need to start your sales campaign and make sure the top candidate attends the appetizer event, gets a note a couple days later, follow up call from a current employee that holds the position they are interviewing for and a personal phone call from you with no agenda- just a “it was great to meet you call”