How to ace an international development career fair

The key to a successful career fair experience is in your preparation, presentation, networking, and follow-up. Here are some tips to help you land that dream job from your next career fair. Do your research - Before the fair, make sure you research all of the attending organizations so you know basic facts about each of them. Find out where they work, their current projects and core areas of expertise. - Recruiters don’t enjoy going over basic information that you could have gathered from their website. Don’t ask, “What does your organization do?” Instead, use this time to tell recruiters what you do. - Take advantage of the Devex organization directory, which features more than 10,000 leading development organizations. Devex Career Account holders can view stats on staff size, organizational type, project history and a full listing of current and past employment opportunities. - Have a two-minute elevator speech ready. You only have a couple of minutes to impress a recruiter so take advantage of this time to make your pitch as to how your skills and experience will help further the goals of the organization. - Know the vacancies that an organization has posted and have questions prepared for each organization ahead of time. - Determine which organizations you are most interested in and make sure to visit those first during the fair. Be professional and wear proper business attire - First impressions are very important. Make sure you are dressed in business attire suitable for the office you hope to work in soon. - Maintain a high degree of professionalism at all times. - Focus your conversations on your skills and experience and maintain a positive attitude. Describing your recent layoff and unlucky streak in finding employment may gain you sympathy, but will not impress a recruiter. Bring business cards and several copies of your resume - Recruiters will often ask that you submit your CV electronically, but it’s still always smart to have copies on hand to quickly demonstrate your skills and experience. - Make sure you update your CV and only include the most relevant information. Use a concise and simple format: Recruiters will look at your resume for only a few seconds and you want to make those seconds count. - Check for mistakes. Recruiters will easily pass on CVs with grammatical and spelling mistakes. - Devex members can access a variety of career services on our website, including advice on writing a resume and preparing nonprofit CVs. Set realistic expectations - It is rare for job seekers to be hired on the spot at a job fair. The event is a great place to put names to faces and give a face to your name to start building those relationships that are crucial to a successful job search. - Stay positive and don’t expect an interview on the spot — these are often scheduled much later, after the event. - Even if some of your target organizations do not have suitable openings at the time, use the opportunity to start building relationships so that when an opportunity does arise, you are the first person they think of. - Continue your job search on devex.com and elsewhere, and come to our next event, where your dream job just might be waiting for you. Network with other job seekers at the fair - You never know who you might meet that can help you meet your career goals. - Share resources, ideas and best practices. - Be sure to stay for the networking reception to meet other professionals and network with the recruiters in a more casual setting. Make sure to follow up with contacts you made - Send thank you emails or letters to recruiters who you had good conversations with and include an electronic copy of your CV for their easy reference. - Recruiters will meet many candidates at the fair. Try to include a note about a specific conversation you had or anything else of note to help them remember you. - Some organizations take months to follow up with job seekers — don’t get discouraged if you don’t hear back right away. Only apply to jobs that you are qualified for - Only apply to jobs that you are qualified for, have an interest in, and that match your experience and goals. Kristina Beall contributed to this report.