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Standing out at a Career Fair can make a difference in your job search. Career Faires are starting to pick up, and a major job search company is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a San Jose Area Career Faire in early 2010, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 job faires scheduled for 2010 across the US.

How do you get to the real interviews at a Job Fair? The contention can be significant, but you can help yourself surpass from the bunch with early planning. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified 6-step process to get ready. Planning to go? Here’s how to prepare:

First, investigate the organizations that are going and pick your objectives. Use the World Wide Web to check out the companies that are there ahead of time. Go to their internet sites and see if they have their openings posted. Pick a sensible number to go after, and get ready to spend up to an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 9 in a day, and five or six is a much more reasonable target. For each company, you want to know: key product lines, recent news, and executive names. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You’ll end up with a page or two of research for each company/job.

Second, if there are job postings on the web, read them to see what the hiring department is looking for. Create a mapping of your accomplishments and skills to the requirements of the job. Make the terminology match. If the hiring organization calls customers "clients", your resume should do the same thing. The accomplishments should be written in the style of the hiring company.

Third, create a ‘mini sales pitch’ for each potential organization/position combination. Write down a 60 second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally describing why you are a good candidate for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet people at the job stall.

Fourth, modify your resume for each opportunity. The objective on your resume should exactly match the job you’re want. The executive summary should be a written form of your “mini sales pitch” for the job. Then choose the accomplishments and skills that most clearly match the job prerequisites. Especially at a Career Fair, the purpose of your resume is a sales tool for you – to get you on-site job interviews. It should be simple to see that you’re a match based on your resume.

Fifth, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be fittingly groomed. Don’t overdress (this isn’t a date!) and don’t underdress (no jeans or t-shirts, no matter how much you paid for them). Avoid strong cologne or perfume.

Finally, rehearse your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each spot - bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a intelligibly marked folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.

Remember to smile, and good hunting!