Orange County Career Fair Annouced

Diverse Careers, Inc. is pleased to announce the upcoming Orange County Career Fair. It will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in Santa Ana on August 26th, from 10 am to 2 pm.

The career fair is free to job seekers. Come dressed professionally with copies of your résumé on hand.

We invite employers to register- you can email info@diversecareers.com for more information, or just use the registration form.

Several news outlets, including Yahoo, Reuters, and Google have the full press release listed for the fair. You can find the release here or join the event page on Diverse Careers' Faceboook page.

Job Seekers- 6 Steps to Make a Career Fair Great

In today's digital age, it's pretty common for job seekers to submit a resume online and allow themselves to be screened solely by the online submission process. When you make the choice to attend a career fair, you get the chance to take your job hunt a little farther than the online search- you can personally hand your resume to a recruiter, rather than hope it will get through the online submission. For this reason, it's important to maximize the little amount of time you get to spend with a representative at a career fair. You may only have a few minutes to make an impression on a potential employer, and you want to make sure you really shine.

With the right attitude, anything is possible. Here's a few tips to make a great impression at a career fair.

1. Dress professionally. Whether you wear a suit, a skirt, or a tie, make sure it's professional looking, neat, and clean- and make sure to iron whatever you wear. Ladies, avoid anything too short or revealing; men, avoid jeans or sneakers. You want to give the impression that you care about your image and that you can present yourself in a professional manner, both of which are qualities that employers look for.

2. Make positive eye contact. Showing a potential employer that you are confident is important, and you can do this by maintaining eye contact. While you don't need to stare the representative down, you should definitely make sure you look the person in the eye while talking to them. Looking at the ceiling or the ground tends to make you seem nervous or shifty, and can make you seem unapproachable or unwilling to talk. Employers want to see you have confidence in yourself and confidence speaking to people you are unfamiliar with- after all, when you start a new career, you won't be familiar with everyone, and you're going to need to be confident talking to new people.

3. Smile. Similar to making eye contact, smiling is a great way to show a recruiter that you are approachable and friendly. Smiling will put both you and the person you are speaking to at ease- it relaxes the muscles in your face and can prevent you from looking worried or nervous, which in turn will trick your mind into feeling less nervous.

4. Talk to everyone. When you attend a career fair, chances are that you might not see the ideal company you're looking to work for there. Sometimes companies can't make the scheduled date or the selection just isn't what you hoped it would be. Don't give up! Though you may be dismayed at the number of companies in attendance, many companies will be at a career fair recruiting for multiple positions and departments- and that position just might be the one you were hoping for. If you don't talk to representatives, there's a good chance you'll miss out on all the opportunities they are offering. Bring a stack of resumes and make sure you shake hands with everyone that you can. Who knows, even if they aren't recruiting your ideal job at the fair you're attending, they might keep your resume on file and keep you in mind when they open up new positions. Stay positive and make a good impression.

5. Grab business cards. When you submit a resume online, often the submission process leaves you in the dark about who you're directly submitting it to- you may know the company or the department you sent it to, but sometimes it's difficult to find a person to talk to to check the status of your application. As mentioned before, the great thing about career fairs is the ability to get face to face with recruiters and representatives. You'll be able to shake hands and take names. Make sure you make the most out of that connection- grab their business card and follow up after the career fair. Talk to the people you meet at the fair and ask them for the names of the hiring managers in the departments you're looking for a position in.

6. Stay positive. Even if you don't find what you're looking for, the important thing is not to get down on yourself. There's an ideal job for you out there, you just might need to keep looking. Try not to get discouraged, and try to keep your attitude upbeat, especially when you're talking to recruiters and representatives. As previously mentioned, even if they're not hiring in your field, if they like you and the impression you made, they will keep you in mind for the future.

So get out there, job seekers, and put your best foot forward. With some resumes, a smile, and a positive attitude, there's no telling what kind of connection you'll make at a career fair. Dress nice, talk to everyone, and be sure to follow up- you never know who you'll impress.

Employers- 3 reasons to try a Career Fair

As the Orange County Career Fair approaches, I'd like to take a moment to point out three great reasons to register for a career fair.

1. It's cost effective.
As the host of the career fair, we do the advertising for you, so there's less need to host ads on multiple online outlets. It's our job to get job seekers out to career fairs, and so far, our advertising methods have been successful (our last career fair had over 1,500 attendees).

2. It saves time. At a career fair, you can see a lot of potential candidates at once- and face to face, for that matter, something that's often taken for granted in the digital age we live in. Job seekers will come through the career fair all day, and you'll have an opportunity to shake hands and give them a few minutes of your time, as opposed to a traditional interview, in which you would need to spend around 20-30 minutes with an interviewee after first browsing through resumes to handpick candidates. Furthermore, it's a good opportunity to see soft skills (for example, confidence level and verbal skills) that you can't see on a resume. It's possible for a recruiter to get an idea of a potential employee's personality in a few minutes, rather than sitting through an entire interview with someone who may not be right for the position.

3. It's a good public relations opportunity. A large amount of job seekers come out to career fairs, giving your company an opportunity to get its name out in the community and really shine in a public spectrum. You can meet potential employees while promoting your company as you relay information on what your company does to anyone who's interested. Plus, it puts a good face on your company, and allows potential employees to meet people who already work for the company and see the type of people they might be working with.

Overall, career fairs are great for both job seekers and employers. It's cost effective for all involved, it's a great opportunity to meet people face to face, and both parties can put their best face forward and get their name out there.
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