“I went to the Spring Career Fair, now what?”

It was great seeing so many of you at the Spring 2017 Career Fair! This was our largest fair to date, with over 700 students attending, and we hope that you had a positive experience. For some of you, it might be clear what your next steps are, and not so much for others. Either way is completely okay! Hopefully these scenarios and suggestions can help.

* Met with great companies, but they don’t have positions of interest: In this scenario, you have the advantage of having connected with some recruiters, and this is the first step of the relationship building process. One suggestion is to message the recruiter periodically (maybe start with once a semester) and keep him or her informed with your updates and what you are interested in pursuing; the updates will help keep your name and story top of mind for when opportunities of interest do open up within the company. Another suggestion is to use the insights that you gathered from the conversations to help you gain more clarity around what attributes you are looking for in a company and then you can articulate that in conversations with other companies as part of your reason for why you want to work with them. 

* Met with great companies, and they have positions of interest, but you don’t qualify for them: In this scenario, you have connected with recruiters, which is important. The next step would be to do some introspective reflection and assess why you don’t qualify for the positions of interest. Is it because the position requires a certain class year? GPA? Other experience? Have no fear, you are not the first person to encounter these obstacles, nor will you be the last. If you weren’t able to address these perceived barriers in your initial conversation, we would encourage you to follow-up with the recruiter and share with them your value proposition for why you are a great candidate for the position, even if you don’t check off all the boxes they are looking for in an ideal candidate. This scenario is all about selling your story, hustling hard (see post "It's ALL about Hustle"), and applying anyway. Feel free to schedule an appointment with a Career Counselor to help you develop and sell your story.

* Didn’t see any companies of interest: We thank you for coming to the Career Fair anyway and hope that you were able to have some good conversations even if they didn’t pique your interest. Although this scenario can be frustrating, it can also help you gain some more clarity around what it is that you are looking for in a company; sometimes the best way to figure out what you want is by knowing what you don’t want. We recommend that you schedule an appointment with at Career Counselor to debrief on your Career Fair experience and what your strategy should be moving forward.

We at the Career Center are here to help you throughout your different scenarios, so don’t hesitate to come in for our drop-in hours (between 10-11am and 2-4pm every day the university is open) or schedule an appointment with a counselor. 

Happy Spring!

Ava Danville, MBA

Assistant Director

The Career Center, Hofstra University

P.s. As a reminder, if you have not yet sent follow-up thank you emails to any recruiters you spoke with, we recommend that you do that as soon as possible and include some information about your conversation to refresh their memory.