Fellow Apes,
I have been looking around for different tips that would help me stand out to recruiters during careers/open days and maximise my chances of being invited for an interview or some other form of communication after the event. How do you seal the deal with HR? :) all jokes aside of course...
When everyone tries to stand out, no one really does. All the kids trying to look smart and witty usually just merge into a homogeneous blob. From my experience, the best way to "stand out" in career/networking events is to just be pleasant, likable and ask some good questions. Afterwards, you can ask for their business cards and contact them later for an informational interview.
These events are the worst. I stopped going because my success rate was higher through targeted networking, but you can occasionally meet someone cool.
Biggest tips: 1. Don’t swarm anyone, if you see a guy standing alone go say hey. 2. If it’s an alumni, ask about their time at your school and what they were involved in during college. Have normal conversations and questions that aren’t just “so what do you do?” If you really like the company/group research some of their deals and ask about them. 3. If you can have 3 casual conversations and get their business cards you are doing great. Go home and email them 2-3 days later thanking them for coming and try to set up an informational interview/coffee. 4. If all else fails use this as an opportunity to improve your “tell me about yourself” answer, work on your handshake, steal good questions for the future from other attendees, and overall become comfortable in the awkward environment... this is underrated but your first impression does mean a lot in a real interview.
This is great advice. I will say it's worth going just to meet someone who you have already been networking online and there's always the off chance that you meet someone who you connect with well (happened to me once with a VP from a BB - he helped out a lot with getting an offer).
Making it casual is important. You have to think about what kind of questions the person you're talking to wants - if they're getting crushed at work they won't want to talk about work (the asking about what they did at school is a great question)
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Just so you know OP, I've literally never seen a person just alone without kids mobbing him. Other kids will see no one talking to him and go up to him. If the people at the career fair are dumb enough to not notice an employee just standing there while every other employee is mobbed, they'll be too dumb to even interview.
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Slightly re-written version of what I posted to a similar qn in the PE forum a few days ago:
I've repped for my firm at these events for a number of years, both for a top BB bank and a PE MF. A few tips: - Do your basic homework on what the different groups/divisions do. No need to show off about it (you'll probably mis-step if you try to say too much anyway) - but it's difficult when the person I am talking to has no idea what the difference between IBD and S&T are... - Don't hog time. Don't be that person who hangs around the same person for ages asking question after question. It's annoying. Say your piece, ask a few questions, listen, and then leave and move on to the next person. - Ask for cards so you can follow up. Mention something when you speak so that they remember who you are (names are difficult when there are 50 people to speak to). E.g. if I get an email like: "Hi xxx, thanks for taking the time etc. You may not remember me specifically but I'm a studying xxx, we discussed A, B, C, etc" - I'm a lot more likely to remember who you are and them have a view on whether to refer you internally or not be if you just sign off with your name - If you’ve done an internship before it have other prior experience, have 1 or 2 deals that you can talk about. No-one is expecting you to have done very much as an intern, but we do expect you to have a keen interest in what your current team is doing, and be able to talk about what you think about your deals (regardless of whether your job on those deals was just printing...). Everyone totally understands it when you say "I can't mention the name as it's a live deal" - but you can still speak on a no-names / more general basis - We're not going to grill you at a networking event (at least, I've never done this...) but will ask general open ended questions in a group setting ("So, what are you guys all studying?Enjoy it? Why are you interested in banking?"). You'll have to drop in what you can into responses to these type of questions, but keep it short (particularly in a group setting). If it's 5 on 1, I don't want a 5 minute speech from each person in response to "What’s your previous experience like?". 30 seconds is fine. - Have a short, succinct pitch for why you want to work in IB. No more than 30 seconds. You may or may not be able to drop this into conversation (and don't force it if that's clearly not where the conversation is going), but worth having - Come prepared with questions. The less generic, the better. If you can ask questions specific to the division/bank, so much the better. Don't be a smartass though - ask genuine questions rather than just statements of your knowledge with "do you agree?" tacked on the end - Don't neglect talking to HR. They actually will remember you after 30 seconds (somehow) and they are very good at forming quick opinions on people.
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