Speaker 1: Hi, everyone. It's Andy LaCivita, founder of Milewalk and the Milewalk Academy and award-winning author of The Hiring Prophecies. Here with this week's episode of Tips for Work and Life, we're going to talk about job fairs. For all you college students or professionals that visit these job fairs filled with loads of companies and loads of people trying to get in some time with them, I've got one for you today, and more specifically, how I would spend my five minutes that you're likely only to get when you go visit one of those booths. Before I dive into how I would spend my five minutes, I want to talk about what exactly not to do, because I think it's the biggest mistake that people make when they go to these things. About a month or so ago, I did a blog post titled, The Number One Reason Why You Do Not Get Hired. I would take a look at that video and that post, because it's the same reason why you don't get called back after a job fair. It has to do with the individual or the job seeker spending an awful lot of time trying to get out everything there is to know about them or what they think are their highlights or what they think are their best attributes or most hireable skills. It's a big mistake. You might spend a lot of time talking about things that, while great about yourself and you're fantastic at, the employer doesn't care. The employer doesn't need to know that the employer's looking for something else. What I would do to make sure that you can spend those few minutes where you're getting to tell them about yourself is I would figure out exactly what they need to know and what they want to hear. What I would do is I would go up to the person who was working the booth or whoever was taking the resumes or feeling the insight from the job seekers and I would say, �Hi, my name's Andy LaCivita. I'd love to share a little bit about myself and learn about your company. Before I do that, could you tell me what you're looking for in an entry level candidate? Or could you tell me what the most important skills are in whatever position it is that you are looking to attain?� Then give them a minute or two to share with you, �Well, we're looking for somebody with this kind of background or these kind of skills or these kind of traits, detail oriented, great communication skills, engineering students, whatever it might be.� Collect that insight right there. They'll give it to you in a minute or two and then when you have your couple of minutes to share yourself with them, just highlight how you match what they're looking for. Now what you're doing is you're giving them exactly what they need to understand about you and more importantly, you're planting some breadcrumbs in their mind that are going to make you memorable. Boy, that John Smith, he seemed to match exactly what we needed. We need to call him back. What most of them do right then as soon as you leave is they put a little star or a one or a two or a five or a ten on your resume because they're talking to so many people they can't possibly remember everybody, but in that instant, they'll put a gold star on yours and you'll likely get a call back. I hope that helps. That's how I would spend my five minutes. Just to recap, introduce yourself, be bright, be positive, say, �So that I could best share my experiences with you to help you know whether I'm a good fit,� can you describe what you're looking for in your entry level candidates or whatever position it is and then spend your couple or three minutes describing how you match that. All right, until next week, have a good one. If you're watching this anywhere other than my YouTube channel or my blog, hop over to the Tips for Working Life. I've got loads of great information for college students, professionals of all kinds, job seekers, needing people who need help writing their resume. It's all out there, so visit Tips for Working Life. Let me know what you're thinking. Let me know if this helps. Until next week, have a great one.