This is based on the Job Fairs thread in General by Scratch
Heres a script I have used once in a while that you could improvise to your needs: (and people feel free to suggest changes to it as it is a learning experience for me everytime).
Afer the formalities of “Hi, My name is Scratch”.. … are over
Assuming you know the firm or can read thier marketing pamphlets before you talk to the recruiter and get some info about the firm (but works, with some alterations, even if you dont know anything about them). Since most times these are HR people you dont get detailed questions, but expect questions in all realms of the field.
I am a graduating CS student, with X years of experience in <bring in any information here that could be related to the firm, such as projects,papers, work etc> … I am currently completing a thesis in … . I have been very impressed by your firms… blah blah blah… I am interested in positions in this field. Where would someone with my background fit within your firm
<the idea here is not to get the “NO we dont do that” and resume database words>…
<You should be able to take the conversation further from here by tying some of your work with what the person talks about. ask some industry questions, e.g. MS - where do they feel the next big jump in technology would occur and how they are positioning themselves to take advantage of that etc.>
<You are trying to get a business card or some connection in the firm, because at the job fair its generally just a yes or no thing most often. Most recruiters put the resumes simply into two files! You want to jump that and get in touch with them personally afterwards where they are not getting a 1000 resumes. I often end with these two>
HR recruiter or someone from another department: Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. The information you provided was very helpful. I would be very interested in getting in touch with someone who is working in <job position/area of research> to get a perspective of the day to day job. Would you mind if I get in touch with you to be connected with someone in that position?
Technical Person: I enjoyed talking to you and learning about the opportunities at… I am very interested in . Do you have a business card or contact info that I may contact you at if I have any further questions about the <firm/job position/ etc>
With the contact information follow up within a day or two at the most. You can ask specific questions or ask for a contact or anything. Try and tie it in with the talk you had at the job fair so that they can remember who you were.
Other options to finding a job:
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The girl that you tutored may be just did not recognize you. I dont think it would be impolite to say, “you look very familiar, did you take blah blah blah last semester”. And go from there. So if you have an acquaintance, use it to your benefit.
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Alumni - especially from your department. find them through your alumni database and use them as contacts to get info about the firm. Even schedule a 15-30 min talk on the phone if you are upto it to talk about the firm, their positions at it and what they enjoy.
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Use your profs. They have a very good contact list, know who is doing what and where, how interested they are in hiring people and so on.
ALWAYS ALWAYS follow up with a thank you note after an interview, talk or anything else. It shows you respect the 30 mins the person took in thier busy day to talk to you. I once got to talk to a VP of a Fortune 5 firm for about an hour simply because I had followed up with a speaker at the firm after his talk, about an interest of mine, and he asked the me to email him later on in the week. When I did he got me in touch with the VP and requested he schedule some time for me. I was truely amazed as a student that things such as that could happen!
For Job Fairs, since you get a tonne of things/booklets etc and you also have to pass your exams, I go home after the fair and take out the 5-10 firms that I am really interested in, put down some notes about the people I spoke with and try and follow up with them within the two days.
Does this always work? obviously not, since I am jobless :-p, but it does get you contacts in the firm who can look out for you very often and let you know if things happen (and of course if the economy is bad its hard to hire people!). Think of it more of as a networking thing rather then a job search. these same people will most likely be there when you do have a job and may become valuable resources of information and jobs later on in your life.
Also, and I have to say this is a very desi thing, we do a lot of bitching and are lazy about following up with people or contacts and expect them to be excited about us. The excuse: there is no job offer at the end. True but how often would you as an employee of a firm want to be contacted just if there were a job offer at the end. Would you hire a person who did that? Some of my best contacts are those that have not ended even in an interview but I know that they would be willing to help me out if the economy improved.
That been said, I have had all the experiences Scratch has had but I would always put a positive spin to it I think.
I am sure there are several others who are in the workforce who have their views on how to make inroads into firms. Please share so that we may all learn.
