Standing out at a Job Faire can make a difference in your job hunting. Career Fairs are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a San Jose Area Job Faire in January, 10 companies as showing up, and Dice has 82 career fairs scheduled for 2010 across the States.

How do you get to the real interviews at a Job Fair? The rivalry can be significant, but you can help yourself surpass from the herd with advance preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a simple 6-step process to prepare. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:

First, research the companies that are going and pick your targets. Use the World Wide Web to check out the organizations that are there ahead of time. Go to their web sites and see if they have their openings listed. Pick a sensible number to target, and get ready to spend an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than 10 in a day, and four to six is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring organization, you want to know: key product lines, recent news, and executive names. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You should end up with a page or two of research for each company/job.

Second, if there are job openings on the web, read them to see what the hiring manager is looking for. Create a mapping of your achievements and skills to the demands of the job. Make the terminology match. If the hiring company calls customers "clients", your resume should do the same thing. The achievements should be written in the style of the hiring company.

Third, create a ‘thumbnail sales pitch’ for each potential organization/job combination. Write down a ninety second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat verbally depicting why you are a good prospect for that job. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet people at the job booth.

Fourth, modify your resume for each position. The objective on your resume should exactly match the job you’re want. The executive summary should be a written form of your “mini sales pitch” for the job. Then choose the achievements and skills that most clearly match the job requirements. Especially at a Job Fair, the purpose of your resume is a sales tool for you – to get you on-site job interviews. It should be very easy to see that you’re a match based on your resume.

Fifth, practice your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each position – bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a clearly labeled folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.

Finally, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be properly groomed. Avoid strong cologne or perfume…use any eau de cologne or fragrance meagerly, if at all.

Remember to smile, and good hunting!