Reviewing comments submitted through the contact page, we received a question whose answer will undoubtedly benefit many. As the list of employers attending the job fair grows the hearts of those conducting quiet job searches sink a little. Who wants to go to a job fair to look for a new job if their current employer will be there?

I was curious to know if you would know if (company name) is going to represent at the Job Fair in April at the Mohegan Sun? I'd love to go, but that'd be a little strange. (And may affect my job). Thanks so much!

Even though we know that going to the job fair ethically shouldn't affect your job, the truth is that there are recruiters who will be sure to tell managers at the company they are there to represent, who they saw. It can cause awkward feelings to have a supervisor ask "Why were you there?".

If you feel you are unable to attend the job fair for that reason, the next best thing to interfacing with recruiters at the event is to visit the page that lists all of the employers registered to attend, it's updated every Friday until the event. Click on each company to visit their website. Most companies these days have comprehensive websites that will allow you to research jobs, company culture and benefits, and even apply for posted opportunities right there, or an email address to send resumes to (don't forget the cover letter!). Apply as instructed and then also search the company on LinkedIn to see who works there that you can connect and network with to ask the types of questions you would have asked at the job fair.

Also, be sure to sign up for a job seeker account on WorkNEPA, the official job board for northeast PA, since 2004.  It relaunched the beginning of this year with cutting edge technology and many new features, has tons of resources for registered job seekers and now has over 20,000 jobs exclusively in NEPA posted. Many of the jobs are direct posted by employers and others are aggregated from Indeed.com, Beyond.com and LinkUP.com.  You can receive jobs alerts that match your criteria by email or text message and have posted jobs fed right to your Facebook  and Twitter updates.

Last but not least, remember to register with PA CareerLink where many employers post their jobs and job seekers can find out about the free workshops they offer on resume writing, interview skills and other other vital job search topics. They also have a job club at each location where unemployed job seekers can meet on a regular basis to discuss their experiences and learn from others.

Karla Porter, Director of Workforce Development & HR, Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber

Do you have questions about the NEPA Job Fair, job search technique, appropriate dress for an interview, resume questions, personal branding or careers? Expert advice is right here, courtesy of job fair partner WorkNEPA. What's your question?

Ask your­self how many peo­ple you know who failed at a job, either left vol­un­tar­ily or were ter­mi­nated, because of their degree, expe­ri­ence or back­ground? In all like­li­hood, most of them failed because of inad­e­quate inter­per­sonal skills, an inabil­ity to com­mu­ni­cate, or because they just didn’t fit in with the cul­ture. In other words, like any rela­tion­ship gone awry, it wasn’t a good match. If you received a call from a recruiter about a job you applied to, your résumé was com­pelling enough to be selected from the masses. You included key­words from the job post­ing, had good gram­mar, your expe­ri­ence was suf­fi­cient and you look like a poten­tial “match”.

If I only had a penny for every time an appli­cant told me, “It sounds just like me!”

The truth is, the “duties” of a job are only a piece of it. Envi­ron­men­tal, team and orga­ni­za­tional fit are the rest. Most com­pa­nies aren’t that good at con­vey­ing cul­tural fit in the job post­ing. Many didn’t drive the cul­ture that has taken hold so under­stand­ing and con­vey­ing it to some­one exter­nally would be difficult.

Com­pa­nies that take the ini­tia­tive to pro­file tenured top per­form­ers make an invest­ment in their employer brand by ana­lyz­ing the cul­ture and work­force for trends and tar­get­ing recruit­ing and hir­ing prac­tices based on the results. They enjoy low turnover and high employee and cus­tomer satisfaction.

Another truth is, man­agers have var­ied lev­els of com­pe­tency in inter­view­ing. Since most com­pa­nies don’t go through the employee pro­file and com­pe­tency iden­ti­fi­ca­tion process, man­agers are left to do the best they can by hir­ing from the gut. One ques­tion can­di­dates can ask at an inter­view is if the com­pany has iden­ti­fied the per­son­al­ity traits of the most suc­cess­ful employ­ees. Even if the com­pany hasn’t imple­mented psy­cho­me­t­ric test­ing, at the very least the man­ager will tell you the traits they feel are impor­tant and you can dis­cuss them and assess whether you feel they are a match.

Under­stand­ing your own com­pe­ten­cies, to include your emo­tional intel­li­gence, hav­ing ques­tions pre­pared for the inter­view that deal with this topic and being hon­est with your­self about employer expec­ta­tions and orga­ni­za­tional fit, will help you assess whether a job and com­pany are a match for you.

Karla Porter, Director of Workforce Development & HR, Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber

Walking in the door of a job fair can be life changing. Of course, you could choose to simply show up and weave in and out of the maze of employer booths like a spectator. If that's the strategy you use, you’ll most likely leave thinking it was, “OK but nothing special and just proves there are no good opportunities around here.”

That’s the big mistake most people make, they treat a job fair as a spectator sport.

Here’s how to work the job fair! Like any important engagement you attend, it’s important to be organized and prepared. Are you tracking your job search? Do you have a list of companies you have submitted applications/resumes to, the submission date, follow-up date, contact person and documentation of conversations with company representatives? If not, consider at least creating a spreadsheet to track your job search activity. You can also check out Jibber Jobber  a free career management tool from Jason Alba. The Jibber Jobber blog also contains many fantastic resources for your job search.

The employer page of this website contains a list of all employers who will be at the job fair. Click on the employer name to go directly to their website. On the employer website find the careers page (most have them). Look for jobs that interest you. Before you apply, be sure to check out the rest of the website too. The application process can be lengthy and often involves online assessments. Before you invest a significant amount of time, research the company mission, values, culture and philosophy. Look to see how the company recognizes and rewards its employees. This will help you identify if it’s a company you would like to work for, or not.

Applying for a job at a company you do not know anything about or respect, one that doesn’t have an open position that’s interesting to you or within your scope of education or experience – is not constructive use of your time and likely an exercise in futility, not to mention it’s self-defeating. Why invite unnecessary and unwanted “no” into your life by applying to openings you “know” are not for you?

Once you have applied to the job (yes, by all means apply before you go to the job fair!), go to LinkedIn and do a company search. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account create one, it’s free. When you search the company you’ll see the company’s employees who have LinkedIn accounts too. Use your social networking skills to identify people within the organization who can give you information on the position and company that can help you. You could even send a message to the recruiter letting her know you’re looking forward to meeting her when you stop by company booth at the job fair.

Then, click on social networking links on the company’s site or do Google searches to see if they use social networking. Become a fan, follow and interact with the company representatives and employees. Be professional, curious and social. This will put your name on the tips of their tongues! When you introduce yourself at the job fair you will already have established a professional rapport.

Follow this process for every employer you’re interested in meeting at the job fair and track it with whatever method you have chosen. Make notes about what you liked on each company’s website and the jobs you applied to. Note also, which social networks you joined and how you have interacted and with whom.

Reserve a few hours (at least) a few days before the job fair to review all the companies you applied to. All your company research and notes will come in handy now…….

Create company profiles by copying and pasting important information about the companies you applied to that will be at the job fair (from your spreadsheet, database or whatever system you used) in a separate document for each. It could be a Word document or any other. Be sure to put the company name and contact info at the top in nice bold letters for easy reading.

Prepare targeted resumes and cover letters for each company. Once you have done this, create individual company packets by putting the profiles you created with the targeted cover letters and resumes clipped to them, in alphabetical order by company name, for easy locating. The best bet is to put them in a presentation or portfolio binder so the sheets won’t fall out while you’re walking down the job fair aisle - that could be very embarrassing.

The big day! You wake up early, or go to work, do whatever you have to… but the job fair is on your mind. You dress professionally for a job interview. A suit is appropriate. That’s it……… A suit.

Not jeans, not nightclub attire, not beachwear, or shorts or athletic wear……. a suit.

Really? Yes…..

Why? You are there for a serious event that could change your employment status, your career, the well-being of your family and your income among other important things, too numerous to mention. If you don’t make a good impression forget the interview…

Can I wear flip flops or sneakers? No, don’t be ridiculous.

You will receive a map of numbered employer booths when you arrive at the job fair. Take a moment to sit at one of the tables available to fill out job applications (some businesses still offer paper ones!) and write the booth number of the employers you want to visit on the top of the corresponding company profiles you created.

Use your map to navigate to the employers you are prepared to meet. Before approaching each booth review the company profile you prepared so it is fresh in your mind and you can speak intelligently to the company representative.

Approach the representative with a smile and handshake. Let her know you have conducted extensive research on the company and its opportunities and you prepared a cover letter and resume especially just for her as an introduction to your talent and skills. Hand her the resume and thank her for taking the time to meet with you. Try to create a brief dialog using the knowledge you gleaned from your research. Take cues from her on when it’s time to move on. Unless she leads the conversation down an in depth path and moves it to a more private area, do not overstay your welcome. Realize that thousands of candidates attend the job fair and many will want to meet with her. Ask for a business card before you move on, clip it to the employer profile and repeat the same process at each employer booth.

The sure fire quickest way to fail to make an impression is to approach the booth and ask, “So, whaddaya do?” Approaching the employer’s booth knowledgeable about the company and types of jobs they offer will give you a “candidate advantage”.

Go home, relax a bit from being overwhelmed and then get to work writing thank you emails to every company representative you collected a business card from.

Ahhhhh…… mission accomplished!

Posted by Karla Porter, Director of Workforce Development & Human Resources, Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber. You can read more on job search and the world of employment and new media at her blog.