Thread: How to be Successful at a Job Fair

Are you looking for a teaching job? Whether you're a new teacher or an experienced veteran, the recruiting season for teachers has already started. Some of the larger school districts are hosting job fairs. Other districts are participating in regional or statewide job fairs. Last month I attended a job fair in Portland, Oregon that attracted recruiters from as far away as Hawaii and Texas.

Job fairs are a convenient way for employers to meet and interview large groups of applicants. They're also a good way for teachers to get a job - but they can also be very stressful and competitive.

Every job fair I've been to has been filled with teeming crowds of teacher applicants who are all eagerly looking for jobs. The lines in front of many booths can be quite long. At an international job fair in New Orleans I once saw seventy people standing in line to interview for one position that was open at an American school in Scotland. At a recent job fair in Austin, I saw lines of 30-40 people standing in front of various booths.

During the course of my career I have attended four job fairs and have successfully found a job at all four of them.

To be successful at a job fair there are a few things you should do.

1) Bring a professional portfolio to the job fair. The portfolio should include your resume, photographs of various activities you've done, and photographs of bulletin boards or special projects. It should include letters of recommendation and letters from parents and students. If you send newsletters home, include a copy of a newsletter. Include copies of various creative lessons and activities.

2) Bring multiple copies of your resume.

3) If possible - put together a brochure about yourself. At the last two job fairs I've attended, I've put together a brochure using pictures from 17 years of teaching. I cut and pasted captions and ran off colored copies at Kinkos. The brochures have helped me to "stand out." They're colorful, they're professional, and with my picture on the front they also help recruiters to remember who I was - long after I left the booth.

4) Some job fairs will give advance information about who will be attending a fair. If you are lucky enough to get this information, do your homework. Survey the schools that are hiring. Look at the available positions. Prioritize which schools you are most interested in so that when the job fair begins, you know which booth to head for.

5) When the job fair begins, survey the lines in front of each booth. Do you really want to spend 40 minutes standing in line? Look for the booths that have short lines and re-evaluate whether or not you could teach at these schools.

6) When you sign up for an interview, make sure you're at the interview a few minutes early. If you have not already done so, offer the recruiter your resume and brochure.

7) Use your portfolio during your interview. If the recruiter asks you how you build a welcoming climate in your classroom, whip out the portfolio and show the recruiter pictures of your classroom. When the recruiter asks how you communicate with parents, show the recruiter a sample of a newsletter you've sent home.

8) If you wind up accepting a job, MAKE SURE you cancel all of your other appointments before leaving the job fair. Cancelling an appointment is professionally courteous. It also keeps you from burning bridges since you never know when you might run into that particular recruiter again.

9) In terms of personal comfort - you may want to bring a sandwich with you. Some job fairs have booths where you can buy something to eat - but other fairs don't. Leaving a job fair to get something to eat could be a waste of valuable time - so bringing something to eat could be a big time saver.

10) You should also bring something to read. Unless you're extremely lucky, you will probably have job interviews scheduled throughout the day. A 9 AM interview may be followed by a 1 PM interview. How will you fill the time between interviews? I usually pass the time reading in a quiet corner of the job fair.

Following these tips will not guarantee that you'll be successful - but they should improve your chances of success.

The trick to getting a job at a job fair is to stand out as a teacher applicant.

Dress professionally. Integrate the use of a portfolio into your interview. Create a brochure to demonstrate your creativity and to highlight your accomplishments - and have a plan regarding which schools or districts you would like to have interviews with.

Best wishes,

David