Your goal at the job fair is to get noticed, make a great impression, and get your name of the list of candidates that will be interviewed. If you follow these strategies will you definitely be ahead of the game.

Arrive early. Review the list of companies and identify your top choices. Work your list by going to the companies that you are most interested in first. Go for quality not quantity

Develop a great 20 second elevator speech. Introduce yourself to the recruiter by quickly summarizing your objectives and qualifications.

Think of a good reason to go back a second time! Return to booths of interest to make the impression stick.

If the booth is really busy, ask the recruiter for a specific time that you can come back for an actual interview.

Mark your resume. Give resumes to everyone you talk to be sure to make a note on your resume to help the interviewer remember you.

Ask about the next step. You won’t necessarily get hired on the spot, but your goal is to set up an interview.

Talk to other candidates at the job fair. Ask them what companies they’ve spoken too. You may meet someone who can provide you with some helpful information.

Always collect business cards from recruiters. Use the e-mail addresses to send a thank you and follow-up notes.

Stay late, sometimes the last contact is the best contact.

Be prepared with a set of questions to keep the dialogue going.

This is a blueprint for job fair success. Be prepared. Follow these strategies and you are well on your way to securing the position that you desire.

Finding a job when you are a teen is very difficult. One of the best strategies in my opinion is to attend as many job fairs as you can. So to answer the question I posed in the article headline, Yes, job fairs are a great place to find jobs for teens. There a variety of job fairs, so make sure you are attending the right ones so you are not wasting your time. As a teen, you will want to attend the more generalized job fairs, these will usually have traditional teen jobs like, retail, restaurant and customer service jobs.

Here are some tips to make the most out of your job fair experience:

Preparation is the most important thing. You should prepare the night before and make sure you have plenty of resumes printed on good paper. It is also a good idea to practice answering some basiv interview questions. A piece of advice I give to my clients is have a friend or parent do a role play with you. Another tip I suggest is to videotape yourself. You will be amazed at much you will learn aftter you watch your self on tape.

Dress for success. Make sure you are presenting yourself professionally. I recommend a suit for men, and a pant suit for women. If you dress to impress you will already be way one step ahead of the competition that did not. I am sure you have heard the impression, you never get a second chance to make a first impression, this is especially true when you are job hunting. Employers will make a judgement on you based on how you look. I must admit, I am guilty of this as well when I hire people.

Make as many connections as possible. Make sure you talk to every company that you are interested in. Try to make a lasting impression. These companies will interview hundreds of applicants, it is important that you stand out at the end of the day. Another tip is to get as many business cards as you can and call or email them to follow up. What I have found from my own experience is that usually the person who follows up and is aggressive in pursuing the job will be the person who gets the job.