Foodservice employers who do all their homework will excel at college career fairs - Opinion - Brief Article

College career fairs can be lucrative events for both college participants and employer representatives. To optimize the chances for success, both parties need to focus on some basic principles for success. This article offers some advice about how you, as an employer representative, can maximize the impact of your organization at a college career fair.

Bring the right information. Some organizations bring to fairs information that treats students as "tourists" rather than potential employees. Students want to know what positions you have available and what it's like to work for your organization.

Who are you? What is your mission? What are the entry-level experiences and what can someone expect in terms of career paths? What does the overall compensation package look like in addition to the basic wage offered?

Most college fair organizers will need that kind of information from you well in advance of the fair. It's important to get your material to organizers in a timely manner, particularly in light of their need to inform student and alumni populations about your organization and its opportunities before the event.

The more "real" the employment picture you create for students, the better.

Send the best representatives. If you are selling your image, who is best qualified to present it? As college students make their way past your booth, do your representatives have a desire to engage the students or wait passively for the students to start the conversation?

Whether you like it or not, students are impressed by organizations that reach out to them. You need to check your organizational ego at the door and expect to sell your company to the students as much as they need to sell you on their qualifications.

At The Culinary Institute of America, we instruct students to do their homework before fairs, and we try to get some basic information about you in their hands beforehand. But don't expect all students to be 100-percent knowledgeable about you. A recruiter once stated, "Students don't know who we are!" That may be true, but they should know what your organization is about when you leave. And you need to expect differing levels of knowledge and expertise on the part of participants.

Prospective employees at a fair will range from 18-year-olds on up to alumni who are experienced professionals looking for new opportunities. It's up to your representative to "sell" your organization effectively to everyone who stops by your booth. If possible, include one or more graduates of the school who are now employed by your organization on the team at the fair. That can help students relate to what you have to offer.

Make contact with students. Again, students are impressed by your interest in them. They are the ones who are beginning the journey and have myriad questions. Your "Hello! How are you?" greeting is very welcome. An attractive tabletop display will help attract attention, as will a highly visible sign that indicates the positions you are particularly interested in filling. To handle the high volume at peak attendance, have a large enough team to keep your table staffed and be able to carry out three basic functions: greeting, handing out and providing information and interviewing. We have found that interviews occur both formally and informally on fair days even if a full day of interviews are scheduled for the following day.

Speaking of interview signups, it's best to let students decide if they wish to sign up for a formal interview. An overly aggressive approach to signing up students usually ends with a poor interview or a "no show."

Finally, plan to stay for the entire time allotted for fairs. Some students may not have flexibility in their schedules and will need to see you at the end of the day. So try to remain for the full period that was advertised to the student population.

Develop a relationship with the school. Colleges truly appreciate the money, time and effort that employers expend to visit campuses. It is such a great opportunity for their students.

Our experience has shown that it takes more than one visit to create a viable presence on a campus. The most successful recruiters have persisted over the years and reaped the benefits of steady hiring for their cooperative education, externship, internship or full-time job openings. A significant part of that is getting to know the players at the college, like career services staff members, faculty and other appropriate administrators.

All of those factors -- information, representation, student contact and developing relationships -- play vital roles in attracting and hiring the very best students for your organization. If all goes well, everybody leaves the fair happy. You have some talented new employees, the students look forward to the opportunity to work at an established organization and the college helps its students gain valuable experience or, even better, embark on exciting new careers. It doesn't get any better than that!

Ray Wells is director of career services at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group