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What Is a Career Fair? Tips, Questions, and Follow-Up
A career fair is an afternoon of short talks with recruiters. How to prepare, what to bring, what to ask at each booth, and how to follow up after.
A career fair is an event where employers set up booths or tables in one room and students or job seekers walk up to talk with their recruiters, usually for three to five minutes each. Colleges hold them every fall and spring to fill internships and entry-level jobs, and the point of going is not to get hired on the spot but to get remembered by the right people before you apply.
That second part is harder than it sounds. You will talk to eight or ten recruiters in an afternoon, and each of them will talk to dozens of students. Whether any of that turns into an interview usually comes down to one thing: whether your follow-up can name something specific from your conversation. That depends on a single line you write down between booths, before the next conversation pushes the last one out.
Career fair vs. job fair
The two names get used loosely, but they usually mean different events.
| Career fair | Job fair | |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | A college, a department, or a professional association | A city, a school district, a staffing agency, or one large employer |
| Who goes | Students and recent graduates | Anyone looking for work |
| What’s on offer | Internships, co-ops, and entry-level roles, often months out | Open roles now, often hourly or shift work |
| What happens after | You apply online, then hope to hear back | Sometimes an interview or offer that day |
Most of this guide is about career fairs, where the hiring happens weeks later and the conversation is a way in rather than the interview itself. The booth-by-booth advice works at a job fair too.
When career fairs happen
Fall is the big season. Most colleges run their main fair in September, when companies are recruiting for the next summer’s internships and full-time roles that start after graduation. A second, smaller round runs in late January and February to fill whatever is still open.
If you missed the fall fair, the spring one is worth going to. There are fewer employers, but the ones who come still have openings, and the lines are shorter.
Why a career fair is harder than it looks
From your side of the table, a career fair is a handful of conversations. From the recruiter’s side, it is a blur. At three to five minutes a conversation, a recruiter working a four-hour fair talks to somewhere between 50 and 80 students, and more when the line is long. Many of them are wearing the same blazer and saying the same thing about being passionate about the industry.
That asymmetry changes what the conversation is for. You are not trying to impress someone in three minutes. You are trying to give them one thing to remember you by, and then make sure you remember it too, so your follow-up can hand it back to them. “Thanks for your time at the fair” could have come from any of the 60. “Thanks for explaining how the routing team is moving its forecasting to Python” could only have come from you.
How to prepare for a career fair
Pick six to eight employers and put them in order
Get the list of employers from your career center a week ahead, usually through Handshake or the fair’s own page. Pick six to eight you actually want to talk to, plus one or two you don’t care much about. Visit those first, as warm-ups, so your best conversations happen once you’ve stopped sounding nervous.
Find one specific thing about each
For each employer on your list, find one thing you could ask about that isn’t on the front page of their website: a team they are growing, a project in the news, a role on their careers page. This is what turns “So, what does your company do?” into a question about their team, and it’s the difference recruiters notice.
Practice a 30-second introduction
You will say some version of the same thing at every booth: who you are, what you’re studying or doing, one specific example, and what you’re looking for. How to write an elevator pitch covers the four beats and has a career fair example. End it with a question so the recruiter starts talking.
What to bring to a career fair
- Résumés. About twice as many copies as employers on your list, in a folder so they don’t bend.
- A pen and something to write on, or your phone with a notes app open. You’ll need it between every booth.
- A short list of your target employers, with the booth numbers and your one specific thing for each.
- Clothes one step more formal than the jobs you want. Business casual is safe at most campus fairs; a suit for finance and consulting.
- Water, and a snack for the line. Fairs run long and the popular booths have queues.
At the booth: three and a half minutes
A good booth conversation has a shape, and most of it should be the recruiter talking.
Walk up, introduce yourself with a handshake and your 30 seconds, and ask your question. Then listen. What they say about their team, what they’re hiring for, and when applications open is the material for everything that comes after.
Before you leave, ask two things: what the next step is, and how to reach them. Get their name, and a card if they have one. If they say “just apply online,” that’s normal. Do it, but you can still mention them by name in your application or your follow-up.
Career fair questions to ask
Good questions are about the team and the work, and they’re specific enough that the answer tells you something:
- “What does a first-year analyst on your team actually spend their week doing?”
- “I read you’re opening an office in Denver. Is the internship tied to that team?”
- “What separates the interns who get return offers from the ones who don’t?”
- “What’s the hardest part of the role that people don’t expect?”
- “When do applications open, and is there anything I should do before then?”
- “Is there someone on the team you’d suggest I talk to?”
Questions to skip: anything the company’s homepage answers, salary and time off (save these for an offer), and “Are you hiring?” They are. That’s why they’re at the fair.
Between booths: one line before the next line
This is the step almost every career fair guide leaves out, and it’s the one that decides the fair. By your sixth booth, the second and the fourth have merged into one conversation with a person whose name you can’t recall. That’s not a memory problem. It’s what happens when you have eight similar conversations in two hours.
The fix takes 30 seconds. Step away from the booth, and before you join the next line, write one line about the conversation you just had: who you talked to, what they told you, and what you said you’d do. Standing in the next queue is a fine place to do it.
Priya, Halden Logistics, campus recruiter. Routing team is moving its forecasting to Python. Intern apps open Dec 1. Said to send my capstone.
That’s it. You don’t need full sentences. The test of a good line is whether you could write a follow-up email from it alone, a week later, without remembering anything else. What to write down after a coffee chat works the same way, and so does the one line per person habit at any other event.
How to follow up after a career fair
Send a short email within 24 hours, while the recruiter can still place you. Write a separate one to each person; never send the same note to several recruiters with the names swapped.
The email has three jobs, and your line covers all of them:
- Remind them who you are, with the specific thing you talked about, not just the fair’s name.
- Do what you said you would: attach the résumé or project, answer the question you couldn’t answer at the booth.
- Name the next step: when you’ll apply, or that you have applied.
Here’s the whole email built from that one line:
Subject: Halden internship, following up from the Tuesday career fair
Hi Priya,
Thanks for taking the time to talk at the career fair yesterday, and for explaining how the routing team is moving its forecasting to Python. That’s the kind of work I’d like to do.
I’ve attached my capstone on demand forecasting, as you suggested. I’ll apply when internship applications open on December 1.
Best, Jordan Lee
Then do the application, and if a date was mentioned, put it in your calendar. A short note when you apply (“I applied today for the routing analytics internship we talked about at the fair”) is the second touch, and it lands much better from someone the recruiter already places. If you get an interview, how to follow up after a job interview covers the next round.
Virtual career fairs
A virtual career fair moves the same thing online. Instead of walking up to a booth, you register for time slots: group sessions where a recruiter presents to a room and takes questions in chat, and short one-on-one video calls you book ahead, usually 10 to 15 minutes.
Most of the advice above carries over. The difference is that the conversations are scheduled and more alike, so the one specific thing matters even more. Use the gap between sessions the same way you’d use the line between booths, and write your line before the next call starts. A group session where you ask one sharp question in chat counts as a conversation too, and it’s worth a follow-up.
Where Intriq fits
Intriq is built for the line between booths. Say or type it on your phone as you walk to the next table, something like “Priya at Halden, routing team moving forecasting to Python, apps open December 1, send my capstone,” and Intriq files it on Priya’s profile and can remind you to follow up the next morning. When you sit down to write eight emails that evening, each one starts from what that recruiter actually told you.
It keeps working after the fair. When applications open in December, or you meet the same recruiter at the spring fair, her profile still has what she said in September. Intriq runs on iPhone and in any browser, and your notes are private to you. For more on keeping track of recruiters, professors, and alumni through school, see the best personal CRM for students.
Key takeaway: A career fair is an afternoon of three-to-five-minute conversations with recruiters who will each meet dozens of students. Prepare one specific question for each employer, let the recruiter do most of the talking, write one line about each conversation before you join the next queue, and send a follow-up within 24 hours that hands that specific thing back to them.
FAQ
What is a career fair?
An event where employers set up booths and students or job seekers talk with their recruiters, usually for a few minutes each. Colleges hold them in the fall and spring to recruit for internships and entry-level jobs.
What is the difference between a career fair and a job fair?
A career fair is usually run by a college for its students and fills internships and entry-level roles that start months later. A job fair is usually open to anyone and fills roles that are open now, sometimes with interviews or offers on the day.
What should I bring to a career fair?
Copies of your résumé, about twice as many as the employers on your list, a pen or your phone for notes, a list of the employers you want to see with one specific question for each, and water for the lines.
What questions should I ask at a career fair?
Ask about the team and the work, not the company basics: what a first-year person on the team does, what separates the interns who get return offers, when applications open, and who else you should talk to.
How do you follow up after a career fair?
Email each recruiter you talked to within 24 hours. Mention the specific thing you discussed, attach anything you promised, and say when you’ll apply. Then apply, and send a short note when you do.
What should I wear to a career fair?
One step more formal than the jobs you want. Business casual works at most campus fairs; wear a suit for finance, consulting, and law.
Are virtual career fairs worth it?
Yes, especially for employers that don’t come to your campus. The sessions are shorter and more alike than in-person conversations, so prepare a specific question and write down what each recruiter tells you before the next session starts.