CAREERS NOW 04-02-08

Do Cover Letters Belong At Job Fairs?

DEAR JOYCE: When attending job fairs and trade shows, should I present cover letters with my resume to the people who staff these events? When they are positioned in adjoining booths or side-by-side tables, should I tell each why I would be an asset to his or her company and then say the same thing within earshot to the rep in the next booth? Won't that seem insincere? Should I refer to my college internship, which was 15 years ago, when it is my most closely linked qualification for a certain type of job? - J.S.

When you're in a fishbowl, expect glad-handing, not serious employment negotiation. Your objective at a recruiting or vendor event is to be invited to a future sit-down job interview. Unless you strike instant-rapport gold with a rep, which would justify a longer visit, zip in and out of booths as you collect contacts to develop after the event. A cover letter left at the event is wasted. Save your cover letter message for a follow-up campaign.

As soon as you begin to work the exhibit room, make individual determinations which materials to leave at each booth, depending on whether the rep is a company employee or a contractor who has no inside connections. Just ask: "Are you an employee of this company?"

When the rep is a contractor, say a few pleasant words, leave a generic resume, collect literature with the company's contact information and move on. In this case, your future cover letter will note that you became interested in the company after attending the event. Address it to the line manager to whom you would report or to the human resources contact specified in the company's literature.

When the rep is an employee, address your cover letter to that person, noting that the two of you met at the event. You can leave a resume here too, or you can try something new.

ALTERNATIVE APPROACH. Implement a creative marketing blitz of company employees with a one-page advertising flyer. The flyer is a tease, designed to whet an employer's appetite to learn more about you. Devote as much as the top half of the page to an authentic profile describing your accomplishments and skills. Devote the remainder of the page to a micro-summary of your work experience that, unless you're conducting a stealth search, includes the names of past employers with dates at the end. If you're searching under the radar, keep your experience generic.

Ordinarily I'd leave out the 15-year-old internship. But when you absolutely must use this sliver of ancient experience to show any connection to the position you want, add it to your accomplishment profile. Because you're trying to grab attention in a crowded marketplace, you can highlight it in yellow.

To avoid looking insincere through overheard duplicative declarations of interest, merely ask for the rep's business card as you hand over your flyer and say: "This sheet is a quick introduction but I'd like to send you my professional resume - unless we could set up an interview time right now and I bring it with me. Can we do that? Set up an interview right now?" Admittedly, the odds are slim that a rep will book an interview date on the spot. But the fact that you ask to set a date may reinforce the rep's memory of you.

Back home, send your cover letter and resume to arrive a couple of days after the event ends, giving the reps time to clear their desks and pay attention to your candidacy.

Although job fair and trade show event reps are unlikely to have the authority to make hiring decisions, they are valuable contacts for getting inside a company you may want to join.

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