Job Fairs, Career Fairs, and Career Days may be excellent tools for job seekers and career coaches to support career management goals. 

Career fairs are also tremendous opportunities for career coaches to build business and for recruiters and hiring managers to build talent pipelines.

Many communities hold career days or job fairs. Some are very large, held in arenas or fairgrounds, and host scores of employers, including the military and government. Job fairs may be technical, skill-specific, or professional. 

Job fairs are often found on college campuses. They may include recruitment for the military, specific companies recruiting for entry-level/new graduate type positions anywhere in the country, and companies local to the university soliciting new graduates in particular fields. 

Some job fairs are smaller and very specific to a discipline or need, e.g., only for nurses or newly graduated nurses, veterans, military spouses, those holding government security clearances, or those seeking jobs with a particular company. 

Some job fairs require candidates to bring detailed résumés, identification, military documentation, and transcripts, so ensure your clients are prepared. 

When I prepare a career management action plan for my clients, it includes a complete list of potential approaches to seek employment, including job fairs. Jobs fairs, especially in-person events, create opportunities for my clients to meet and greet recruiters and hiring managers, learn about specific companies, and ask questions.  The job fairs allow candidates to 

• Ask questions about job opportunities available
• Determine the requirements needed to meet minimum qualifications for different positions (skills, competencies, education, certifications)
• Learn about application procedures for specific companies or positions
• Gain information about completing exams/skill tests
• Learn how to know/be aware of when jobs are available
• Gain awareness of the best search terms for job alerts

The in-person networking events help job seekers learn about specific career opportunities available and receive on-the-spot résumé reviews; and create opportunities for follow-up conversations, the building of relationships that can be expanded to LinkedIn connections, and further opportunities for candidates to ask questions about companies and skill sets required for specific roles. 

It also puts a “name to a face” and allows candidates to shake hands and practice simple pre-interviews at the recruiters’ tables. Ensure your clients are ready to engage in short interviews and professionally share their skill sets by developing a “Tell Me About Yourself” (TMAY) response in advance. 

Navigate a Job Fair Well

I coach my clients to leverage the job fair opportunity to the best of their ability. I ask them to research the companies represented at the event and identify 5 to 10 that are related to my client’s discipline or companies for which they are most interested in obtaining employment. I coach them to draft several questions to ask recruiters, to learn more information, engage the recruiters, and impart their team-playing, positive attitude. 

I coach my clients by polishing their résumés, and developing and practicing their TMAY responses to build confidence and poise. We also discuss dressing appropriately for the job fair and the types of positions the client is targeting, and we practice obtaining contact information from the recruiters and the companies. 

I coach them to send thank you notes to recruiters who took time to speak with my client, or for recruiters with whom my client was particularly interested in a position or obtaining employment with a specific company. 

For Career Coaches: Build Your Career Coaching Visibility

As a career coach, leverage job fairs as a tool to build your business. Source local and virtual job fairs and offer to serve as a career coach or résumé reviewer at the event. Many events include speakers offering 30-minute sessions on specific topics, e.g., résumé writing, ATS, interviewing, and more. 

If you’re an expert in a discipline, e.g., an accountant, nurse, or engineer, offer to review résumés and/or provide 10-minute laser coaching sessions to attendees. Brand yourself as the subject matter expert in the discipline to the job fair organizers. 

To further build your potential client list for in-person job fairs, ask attendees to submit a résumé.  When you return to your office, spend a day or two evaluating all of the résumés you collected against a pre-developed scoring form (to make it easy for you). The evaluation form may include items like:

Clear Header / Focused Job Title/Discipline: Y / N

Education: Y / N

Passive Writing: Y / N

Accomplishments Prominent: Y / N

Results Prominent: Y / N

Too Many Job Duties: Y / N

Page Length: G / P (Good/Poor)

Formatting: G / P

Font Size: G / P

Other:

Comments: 

Email the evaluation form to the candidates along with a tip sheet for interviewing, onboarding, or LinkedIn optimization. 

This is an excellent opportunity to build a business, connect with the community for in-person job fairs or the online community for virtual job fairs, and generate new clients over time. 

Sample Job Fairs (Short List)

Work with your clients to research job fair opportunities. Look for job fairs via the local business league, military base, federal agency, local universities, alumni career centers, One-Stop, state and federal Department of Labor sites, specific key search terms, e.g., Social Worker Job Fairs, or state of ________ job fairs. 

Federal Government: The Federal Government is still hiring. The federal government lists job fairs for federal agencies and non-federal opportunities. On usajobs.gov – scroll down to the section called “Explore the latest job fairs and events” to view the list of job fair/solicitation opportunities. https://www.usajobs.gov/event/

Opportunities include:

• VA Federal Application Webinar – hosted by the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer and focused on Veterans, National Guard and reserves, and Military spouses.
• Indian Health Service (HSI), Sanitation Facilities Construction Virtual Career Fair – job opportunities include Civil/Environmental Engineer positions in many locations. Open to the public. 
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Career Day, in-person at their headquarters office. It focused on patent examiner positions and building a federal résumé, navigating USAJOBS, and learning about hiring paths. Open to the public and free. 
• Résumé Workshop by the Justice, Bureau of Prisons/Federal Prison System. They are seeking applications for a dentist, physician, physician assistant, correctional officer, chaplain, psychologist, nurse, and others.  
• Bureau of Prisons, Youth Career & Resource Fair for those between the ages of 15 and 25. 
• Northeast In-Person Federal Résumé Workshop at  Federal Correctional Complex. They are seeking qualified Correctional Officers. Gain hands-on experience writing a federal résumé and applying for federal positions. Ask questions to experts. They are hiring at 8+ locations on the East Coast. 
• Federal Bureau of Prisons, San Joaquin Delta College Public Safety Career Fair, San Joaquin Delta College – they are holding multiple live job fair events across 2 months. 

Specialty Events

Security Clearance: Those with government security clearances are in high demand by federal contractors like Microsoft, CACI, Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Amazon, Booze Allen Hamilton, and many others. These job fairs are virtual and in-person, covering a wide range of topics from “Polygraph Only” to “Nationwide, including all levels,” “Intelligence Summit,” “Engineering-focused,” “Cybersecurity,” and much more. Check out clearancejobs.com and look for career fairs for the long list of opportunities (https://news.clearancejobs.com/career-fairs/). 

Health Care: For a variety of health care positions/opportunities: https://www.healthecareers.com/career-fair-schedule

Single Company Open Houses: Research specific company open houses/job fair events.

Women for Hire Events: https://jobs.womenforhire.com/

The typical approach to job fairs can often feel like an overwhelming activity – with dozens or even hundreds of other job seekers lined up to speak with a limited number of recruiters and opportunities. Everyone has a resume, pretty much the same elevator pitch, and they all dress for success.  In such a highly competitive environment, how can you help your job seeking clients to stand out?  How can they attend the job fairs to ensure that they are noticed, remembered, and eventually, offered job opportunities?

The key, as always, lies in adopting unique and different strategies – tactics that aren’t just about being noticed, but about influencing opportunities.  Below are some of my lesser-known approaches that your clients can employ to make job fairs a good use of their time – to achieve worthy outcomes.

Treat It Like a Marketing Campaign, Not a Job Hunt

Most job candidates attend a fair hoping for interviews or leads. But what if they approached it like a marketing campaign, where they proactively researched their prospects, created tailored value-pitches (not elevator speeches), and followed up relentlessly – but professionally?  

This all begins with, 1) Pre-event Research where job seekers identify the companies that will attend, understand their missions, recent news, culture, and current openings.  Then, 2) Create Custom One-Pagers: Instead of a generic resume, develop a one-page document tailored to each company being targeted.  Include a brief bio, relevant skills, achievements, and even a small section on “How I Can Add Value to [Company Name].”  Finally, 3) I suggest job candidates Bring a Portfolio or Business Cards to job fairs. Create a sleek card with your name, LinkedIn QR code, and a brief tagline. For example: “Maria Chen | Turning Data into Successful Business Strategies.”

Create a Personal Pitch Video (And QR Code It)

Instead of handing out resumes alone, job seekers can offer a scannable QR code that links to a 30–60 second video introduction. This could be on YouTube, Vimeo, or a LinkedIn profile.  This demonstrates that the job candidate is tech-savvy and proactive, where the video lets one’s personality, communication skills, and confidence shine in a way a paper document can’t.  This allows recruiters to watch it again later – reinforcing the job seeker’s first impression… and value.  Job seekers need to keep the pitch concise and structured to include 1) Who they are, 2) What they’re skilled at and results they can deliver, 3) What they’re passionate about and why they’re interested in the company.

Reverse the Roles: Ask Insightful, Business-Centric Questions

Most candidates ask surface-level questions like “What positions are you hiring for?” Instead, flip the script.  Ask, “What’s a challenge your team has faced in the last 6 months?”  Or, “What skills are most lacking in your current team?” Or, “How is your organization adapting to techno-info onslaught?”  These questions show the candidate is thinking like an insider, not an outsider begging for a job. The quality of questions a job candidate asks, are just as important as the answers they provide to recruiter questions. 

Position Yourself as an Asset – Not a Job Seeker

All employers are looking for people who can contribute. If job candidates shift their thinking from being just “another sheep in the herd,” to being a valuable talent that can contribute, they gain a competitive advantage.  So, job seekers must attend job fairs prepared with intelligence on the companies they are interested in to best communicate, “This is how can I best contribute.”  Knowledge is power. 

A Job Fair as a Soft Networking Event, Not Just an Interview Opportunity

Many attendees think they’re there to get hired that day. While that’s possible, job fairs are more about starting relationships.  I had my job candidate clients network horizontally. This means they connected with other job seekers, not just recruiters, to share leads and/or refer jobs to each other (during and after the job fair).  My clients also networked with company reps, even if they were not hiring for positions my clients wanted.  Perhaps they might refer them internally or share valuable insights.  Bottom line: The objective is to “connect meaningfully” rather than trying to make “hard sales pitches.” 

Offer to Help at the Booth (If Appropriate)

Of course, this won’t apply in all cases, but if a job candidate is speaking with a startup or smaller company and they hit it off, they can offer to help with booth logistics for an hour. It’s unconventional but shows initiative and creates more interaction time.  Even just helping them clean up a spill or carry a box can be a memorable touch. The key here is that job candidates can show initiative and humility—not just need.

Bring a Leave-Behind That Isn’t a Resume

In addition to resumes, I suggest candidates bring something else. It could be a mini ‘case study’ portfolio, a reference (testimonial) portfolio, or a short collection of one’s career stats and achievements.  Or, why not a branded item like a USB stick with one’s digital portfolio?  (an investment in one’s future).  This is genuinely effective because recruiters get hundreds of look-alike resumes.  Non-gimmicky leave-behinds are rare, memorable, and effective.

Arrive with an Agenda and a Target List

Most job seekers wander uncomfortably from booth to booth like a fish out of water.  The key is to coach job seekers NOT to be in that category.  Here are three steps to achieve this:

1. Set a goal: “I want to have meaningful conversations with at least 5 recruiters in the food and beverage space.”
2. Make a list of top targets based on company presence and job roles.
3. Prioritize the booths that will be most popular with the longest wait times.  Then, get their earlier than anyone else when recruiters are fresher and more focused.

Go After the Companies With Shorter Lines

On the other hand, job candidates should not always chase the booths with the long lines. The lesser-known or newer companies might offer better access and more meaningful conversations.  Then, once the longer lines shorten, armed with powerful leave-behinds and other strategies noted in this article, recruiters will be more appreciative and engaged.  Even if recruiters are tired at the end of the day, if the conversations and tools presented are different and valuable to the recruiters… job candidates will be remembered in a positive light.  

Follow Up Like a Pro

The job fair isn’t the finish line. It’s the beginning of a relationship with recruiters and other job-seeker-friends you made at the fair (horizontal networking).  Few attendees actually follow up – and even fewer do it well. Below are four tips for job seekers. This positions them as thoughtful, proactive, and engaging.

• Follow up within 24 – 48 hours with a personalized thank-you email or message on LinkedIn.  (I also suggest a US mail thank you message).
• Reference a specific part of your conversation: “I appreciated your insights on your company’s shift toward AI-powered solutions…”
• Reattach your resume and link to your portfolio or pitch video.
• Reinforce your desire to work for the company, how you can contribute to the company, and why you want to work for the company. 

Document the Experience and Post It Online

Recruiters may check a job candidate’s LinkedIn after meeting them. What if the job candidate’s profile featured a brief reflection post like:

“Had a great time at the Boston Tech Career Fair today. Spoke with reps from HubSpot, Drift, and a few exciting startups. Loved learning about their approach to data analytics and innovation. Excited to explore next steps!”

Tag the companies if appropriate. It increases a job seeker’s visibility and shows they’re  engaged in their professional growth.

Be Organized

I suggest job candidates bring a small notebook or use an app like Notion, Trello, or Airtable to track: 1) Companies they met, 2) Who they spoke to, 3) What was discussed, and 4) When they’ll follow up.  This level of organization is rare – and it gives job candidates the edge when following up.

Attend Workshops and Seminars (If Offered)

Job fairs often include side sessions / workshops on various topics like resume prep, panel discussions, or industry talks. Most people skip these.  Insist your clients do not.  These sessions create more ‘exposure.’  They can serve as informal networking opportunities.  Attendance demonstrates initiative.  And one just might connect with someone who can eventually lead them into the Promise Land.

Bring Positive Energy and Curiosity

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, job candidates must not only be prepared logistically, but they must also show up with a sense of curiosity.  Job candidates must be genuinely interested in others. Enthusiasm, authenticity, and curiosity are rare qualities in high-stress environments. It produces positive energy – good karma – good vibrations… whatever you want to call it, because a good, self-confident  attitude makes job candidates… magnetic.