Is going to the Career Fair worth my time?

The usefulness of the fair depends on what you’re looking to accomplish. We strongly recommend you attend if you identify with any of the statements listed below (which are followed by the reasoning for the statement). We would love to see you there!

• You aren’t interested in internships or jobs yet but want to know what’s out there. (Career fairs offer a low stakes, low pressure opportunity to research and poke around without any obligation to do more.)

• You are nervous about networking or “career events” and could use some practice speaking with professionals. (You can speak with as many or as few reps as you want until you feel like you get the hang of talking about yourself and asking questions, and if you feel it goes poorly, you never have to see the person again!)

• You’re graduating and want to develop connections with individuals working at companies of interest. (This is the easiest way you’ll ever have to get “face time” with companies.)

• You want to intern anytime in the next year. (Get a business card now, email after the event to thank for their time, stash their info away for later.)

• A company you love is attending and you want to connect with its reps. (Career fairs mean ACCESS!)

• You’re interested in only a few companies attending. (There is no minimum or maximum number of companies you must talk to in order to participate.)

• You don’t want to speak to people necessarily but would find walking around to see what the whole thing is about appealing. (Just popping for research purposes is totally ok.)

• You applied (or plan to apply) to any of the companies and want to find a contact with whom to follow up/build a networking relationship. (Get those business cards!)

• You don’t have a major officially picked yet and would like to learn more about which types of skills from different majors companies are seeking. (Learning about companies and their opportunities can help you figure out which major will teach you the skills you need to get where you want to go.)

• You want to people watch/learn from watching others interact at the event. (Observing is research!)

• You love free company swag (You’ll never say no to another lip balm, pen, snack, or other clever marketing item.)