MORE ADVICE ON WINNING AT JOB FAIRS
* Calendar of upcoming journalism conventions and job fairs.
* Top things to do — and not do — at a job fair.
* Beating the job fair jitters.

By JOE GRIMM

Dozens of journalism job fairs and college career days have revealed a few of the strategies that make some job candidates stand out from all the rest. Put these to work to have your best possible showing.

Have realistic expectations. Few people will walk away from a day of interviews with a job. The world doesn’t work that way. Smart people will be satisfied with a few promising leads, a professional or two who shows a willingness to help and some useful information from one of the workshops. If you leave with that much, you have spent your time well. When you talk to a dozen recruiters in a day, expect a few to be duds. Don’t let them get into your head or in your way.

Be prepared. Have ample copies of your resume and work samples. While job fair organizers might be distributing copies of participants’ resumes, it pays to have your own copy in hand — just in case. Journalists don’t need to  bring bulky portfolios. Bring tightly edited, concise photocopied packages on paper of disk that you can leave with recruiters. Expensive trappings don’t count; quality work does.

Do your homework. If you plan to interview with a particular company, learn what you can about it. Know where it is, its audience, reach and position in its market. Check it out on the Web. Be ready to ask some informed questions. Some recruiters like to ask, “What can you tell me about my company?” (My god! Shouldn’t they already know something about it? They do, of course, what they want to know is whether you’ve done any homework. Show them.)

Dress to impress: You don’t have to have an expensive suit to look professional, but you

should show the recruiter that you’re aware of what people are wearing in offices these days. For women, I suggest a business suit or a dress or skirt of a conservative length. Most of your peers will be wearing closed-toe shoes and nylons. For men, office attire. Most of your peers will be wearing suits or jackets. Concerned that the dress code in corporate America will squash your identity? Let’s hope that your identity has more to it than a style of dress. But if you feel strongly that an earring (or several), or a mode of dress is an important part of who you are, then stick with it. Understand, though, that this might cost you a job with certain places — places where you might not really want to work, anyway. Ethnic clothing or hairstyles, or clothing worn for religious reasons is appropriate in most metro newsrooms, but editors may evaluate your look in the light of what they perceive to be standards in the community. Tight, revealing or out-and-out sloppy clothing is not ever going to make the right kind of statement.

Be outgoing. Talk to recruiters and other job-seekers whenever you have the chance. You can do a lot of good work at meals, breaks and workshops. If you arrive with friends, split up. You can talk later, but don’t use time you could spend networking by hanging out with each other. (On a couple of occasions, I have had friends or lovers sit down at the job-fair table to interview together. Never do this.) As a recruiter, I never sit with my friends at a job fair meal. I look for tables where there are good people I need to know better or people I simply dont yet know.

Wear your name tag wherever you’re likely to encounter others from the job fair. You may feel conspicuous wearing a name tag. That’s good. You want to be conspicuous.

Be assertive. If you want to talk to a particular recruiter but are not scheduled to, find that person at a spare early moment and set up a meeting.

Be open-minded. You never really considered working at a small operation? Well, you should. That’s where most people work and where nearly everyone starts. Besides, small newsrooms can be huge fun and great places to learn.

Look for the person behind the recruiter. If you’re an artist, ask the recruiter how artists get hired. Should you send your material directly to the graphics editor? Who is that person? Try to get into a conversation that cracks through superficiality.

Follow up. The people who get the most out of a job fair are the ones who follow up with a letter or phone call. Job-seekers who think that the work stops when the job fair stops are the ones who have the most trouble getting their careers started. Oscar Miller, who recruited for the Philadelphia Inquirer, said that after the first day of a job fair he would note the best people he talked to. He would make it a special point to see them again on the second day, just to reinforce the connection. That immediate followup is a good strategy for job-seekers, too.