Mega Career Week & Virtual Career Fairs

 

MEGA CAREER WEEK AND VIRTUAL CAREER FAIRS CRUCIAL FOR STUDENTS

By Stuart Esrock, Ph.D.

Virtual career fairs are coming up for UofL students. While there are many aspects of these events that are similar to a face-to-face career fair, there are elements that are different. To help you prepare, the University Career Center is holding a series of virtual workshops the week of September 21st.

Career fairs always provide great opportunities for students to explore the internship and job market. During a pandemic-driven, uncertain economy, the internship and job markets will be tight and highly competitive so these events are more important than ever before. You can use Mega Career Week events to give you an edge over the competition as you pursue internship and job opportunities. Here’s a preview of what we’ll be talking about during Career Week, in the form of a series of tips that will help you succeed during virtual career fairs.

  • Register for the virtual career fair ahead of time
  • Update your resume and social media profiles and be sure to upload an updated personal profile to the virtual career fair website
  • Research participating companies in advance, plan who to visit with and prepare questions
  • Practice your pitch
  • Check your technology in advance to be sure everything will be working when the virtual career fair starts
  • Pick a quiet, distraction-free location
  • Dress professionally as if you were going to be meeting in-person
  • When meeting with employers virtually, be sure to employ good non-verbal communication with attentive body language and eye contact
  • When talking to employers, take notes, get contact information to follow-up, ask about next steps and always be sure to send thank you notes the following day

Mega Career Week events include resume review on September 21, training on how to take part in virtual career fairs on September 22, career fair etiquette on September 23, networking post-career-fair on September 24, and virtual career fair trivia on September 25. More information is available on the Mega Career Week web page.