Loading…
Views
6,314
Likes
110
Comments
2
Shares
—
Duration
128.666672s
VPF 0.1291
Caption
It’s job fair season! Here is the exact script you should say when you walk up to the table at a job fair. Most people go up to the table and ask: “What does your company do? What open jobs do you have?” And so we are going to be be better than that. Before the fair, look up what the company does and see if they have any open jobs that fit your skillset. So when you walk up to the table, you say: “Hello, I’m ____, I’m interested in your company because of X reason.” Now we want it to be a two way conversation, so ask, “What do you do for the company?” or “How long have you worked at the company?” Something really for them to answer. Then say, “I was on Your careers page yesterday and I saw that you have an open role for X. Well, I’m a y professional with XYZ experience. Does that match with what you’re looking for?” Give maybe 2 sentences about your past, including important skills or accomplishments, such as: “I’ve worked on accounts that are Fortune 500 companies like X, Y, and Z.” Something that’s the really relevant to the role. Now, let’s say that there wasn’t a job open. You may say something like: “I was on your career site last night and I saw that there weren’t really any jobs that are specifically for a professional like me. I do X with experience in Y. Do you foresee hiring someone with my expertise in the next 6 months?” This should be enough for you to get the conversation going at your next career fair. Shout out to Elliot Stamos who recently said, “Madeline Mann gives the best advice when it comes to job fairs - her script works and it got me 3 interviews.” Good luck at your next job fair! PS - I’ll link a worksheet in my bio that has gotten so many success stories, it’s on how to craft your answer to “Tell me about yourself.” Which you are so likely to have to answer both in career fairs and in job interviews.
Transcript
Do you get hired from a job fair? Okay, here is the exact script you should say when you walk up to the table. Ready? Because I have been at so many job fairs as the company, and people say the same thing every time. It's usually, they go, what does your company do, and do you have any jobs open for me? And so we are going to be better than that. What we're going to do before the fair is we're going to look up what the company does, and we're going to look up if they have any open jobs. So we walk up to the table, and you go, hi, I'm Madeline. I'm really interested in your company because of X reason, right? I was really excited to see that you guys were here because of X reason. And then I go, now we want it to be a two-way conversation, so I'd ask you something like, what do you do for the company, or how long have you worked at the company? Something really like a lowball because these people who are on the other side of the table have been basically repeating what the company does, like basically repeating all the open roles all day, and so you want it to be something that is kind of like a softball question. What do you do for the company? Oh, I'm a recruiter. Oh, that's great. You know, I was on your careers page yesterday, and I saw that you have an open role for X. Well, I'm a Y professional with XYZ experience, right? I'd give maybe like two sentences about my past, probably including something like an accomplishment. Over the past six years, I've worked on accounts that are Fortune 500 companies like X, Y, and Z. Something like that, right? Something that's really relevant to the role. And then maybe let's say that if we kind of rewind, and let's say that there wasn't a job open, you might say something like, you know, I was on your career site last night, and I saw that there weren't really any jobs that are specifically for a professional like me. I do X with experience in Y. And so then, depending on which one you say, so at the end of that one, I would ask a question, right? Because again, this is a conversation. So I'd say, do you foresee hiring someone with my expertise in the next six months? Or something like that, right? Because sometimes the answer is no. Sometimes it's like, no, we don't really have that team. You know, we don't really need a UX designer, whatever it is. And then if they have an open role, you might ask the question, does that fit what you're looking for? And now you're having a conversation again. People view it as an elevator pitch, but what I just gave you was a script that is so much more back and forth. It makes the person on the other side feel good, and it makes you look really good.
Hook analysis
brand_fit: with_changes“Do you get hired from a job fair?”
Pattern
direct_question
Format
—
Topic
—
Sub-topic
job fair approach script
Content angle
a job fair is a two-way conversation, not an elevator pitch
CTA
—
Narrative structure
question -> what everyone else says wrong -> word-for-word script -> branch for 'no role open' vs 'role open'
AU transplant
yes
Transplant note
The structure moves cleanly: open with the question, name the default line everyone uses ('what does your company do, do you have any jobs open'), then hand over the exact replacement script with a softball question to make the recruiter talk, two sentences of relevant proof, and a closing question that forces a real answer ('do you foresee hiring someone with my expertise in the next six months?'). All of that works at an Australian careers expo or industry meetup. Country-specific bits to swap: 'Fortune 500 companies' becomes ASX-listed or named-sector equivalents, and the US 'careers page' habit maps fine to AU. Ark's version should also solve the harder problem the transcript ignores — what the overseas-trained candidate says about experience the recruiter doesn't recognise.
Brand fit note
Structurally close to the voice: it opens cold on a question and answers it immediately, and it delivers an actual mechanism rather than encouragement — the softball-question move is genuinely non-obvious. But the substance is generic career advice with zero Australian specificity, which the relevance test rejects outright ('if a US coach could publish the same words unchanged, it is not ours'), and there is not a single number in it, failing cost accounting. The register is also chatty and hedge-heavy ('something like that, right?', 'maybe like two sentences') against a target of 8-14 word declaratives. Rebuild it for a survival-job reader at an Australian expo, add real figures, and point the contempt at the system that never taught anyone this.