I was asked to attend the career fair at my alma mater last Friday to represent our Merchandising Department and scout potential candidates. To my surprise, there were a lot of clueless students who did not approach our staff appropriately, could not articulate their strengths lucidly, and simply did not spend enough time perfecting their resumes. For those of you particularly interested in fashion, marketing, PR, social media, it’s especially important to stand out in that first instance because in an ultra competitive industry, these first few things basically determine if you’ve made the cut – a slight mishap can quickly move you out of line.
While I’m no HR VP, I have successfully changed career paths 3 times in my 4 years of working from finance to supply chain and now into retail fashion. So I can say, with confidence, what you should focus on to strike a memorable first impression. The nice thing is, these skills can easily be transferred to other aspects of your life…
Note 1 – Resume Writing
My #1 rule is to always stray from generalizing – I always feel like it’s a dangerous territory because thousands of others will be generalizing. Also, unless you’ve had 5 years of real work experience, keep your resume to 1 page. If you want to work in fashion, no one cares that you’ve waited tables at 6 different restaurants, bartended at a night club, and babysat over the summer. Anything from highschool – trash, it’s too irrelevant to be relevant.
Recruiter’s Perspective: Do not ask me for resume advice.
Lesson: Be specific, make it results and action focused, and keep it relevant.
Note 2 – First Impressions
Two things: 1. Your resume, 2. The employer. Simple as that. But it seems like a no-brainer right? Apparently not as I cannot tell you how many students approached our booth and did not have physical copies of their resumes and had no clue who/what our company was.
Recruiter’s Perspective: Automatically, this person is not prepared and doesn’t care so we’re not interested. No, you’re not getting my e-mail.
Lesson: No matter how excellent of a candidate you may be, if you don’t have your resume and you’ve no clue what business the employer is in, you’re out. This is a simple concept that cannot be stressed enough. Do some research (5 min is all it takes) or fake it til you make it.
Note 3 – Yourself
You need to able to reel off your elevator pitch quickly and professionally – what are your strengths, your weaknesses? What you can you bring to the company? What have you done to back everything you’ve just said? If you don’t excel at impromptu speaking, write it out and practice it over and over (I’m a huge proponent of this and do it constantly before interviews/meetings). Your pitch needs to tell the employer who you are, what you’re good at/can offer, and what you want to do. It’s ok if you’re not sure what you want to do (you’re like what 22?), but you need to be able to show that you’re driven and willing to figure it out.
Recruiter’s Perspective: You’re basically measured by being compared to other candidates. If someone comes along and excels at this, you’re screwed. Don’t come up and say, “So yeah, I’m looking to see what you guys offer”.
Lesson: Remember, emphasize what you can offer the employer…frankly, they’re not that concerned about what they can offer you – they know their salaries are competitive, growth is viable, etc. Tailor your message to be the best of the pack and edit edit edit. Also, it’s ok to ask for an e-mail to follow up.
Questions/comments? I’d love to hear them!