Virtual career fairs provide the opportunity to meet several potential employers in an online setting, expand your network, and learn about positions you may want to apply for. The main advantage of attending a virtual career fair is the accessibility it offers, because attendees can live anywhere in the world and still participate. To help you best prepare for the upcoming virtual UMGC 2020 Spring Career Fair on March 12, follow these five steps below.
Prepare Your Resume
When you go to register for the virtual career fair, you’ll have the option of submitting your resume. Recruiters will have access to resumes prior to the career fair and may decide they wish to speak with you during and after the event, so it’s important to spend some time revising and fine tuning your resume before you upload it. Before you submit your resume, you can get feedback using the complimentary resume tools on CareerQuest. VMock will give you instant feedback on your resume, and if you want to go further, Resunate is a great tool to customize your resume for a specific job posting.
Register for the Virtual Career Fair
Once your resume it ready to upload, it’s time to register for the virtual UMGC 2020 Spring Career Fair. After registering and uploading your resume, create a profile and view the list of employers attending the event.
Identify Companies and Research
Before the career fair, make a list of the employers you are interested in speaking with and, next to each one, include the reasons why you want to work for that company. From there, visit the website of each organization on your list. Get a sense of each company’s culture, check out open positions, decide which positions are of interest to you, and determine why you would be a good fit. Collecting this information prior to the career fair will help you prepare for conversations with recruiters.
Prepare an Introduction
You will introduce yourself many times during the career fair, so it’s vital to have your elevator pitch ready to go. An elevator pitch is a 30-60 second recap of who you are and what you do, and you do not need to include your entire work history or career objectives in your pitch. Watch The Elevator Pitch for more tips on how to craft your introduction.
Attend a Prep Session
To help you prepare even further for the virtual UMGC 2020 Spring Career Fair, I want to invite you to attend UMGC Career Services’ upcoming prep webinar on March 9, 2020 at 7 p.m. EDT. Register here.
As always, keep in mind that UMGC Career Services is available to help you plan and achieve career success. Set up an appointment with a UMGC Career Advising Specialist.
Rhoda Smackum is a career advising specialist for Career Services and Alumni Relations at University of Maryland Global Campus. She has approximately 28,000 hours of work experience in the field of career development. Ms. Smackum enjoys working collaboratively, in partnership with students and alumni to identify career issues, match values with career choices and obtain meaningful work. She holds a Master of Arts degree from Bowie State University and a Bachelor of General Studies degree from the University of Maryland College Park. She is a Certified Master of Career Services (CMCS) and an Associate Certified Career Coach.
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