[Groxx]

I've had no end of success by simply slapping a name sticker over my coat, wearing my side-backpack/laptop-bag, both of which because I usually have limited time before class, and simply having fun.

Booth-sitters are usually bored, know less about the details of the job you might get than the people you'd be working with (they're often HR), and have dealt with many kids wearing suits and sounding important. But they are there to be the first line of defense. So be yourself, someone they could work with and maybe even like, rather than someone who sounds like everyone is trying to sound like!

And bring a resume. One page. If you can't sell yourself in half that, they won't read the rest, so make your point and make it fast.

[iuygtfrikuj]

Any booth that doesn't have real workers on ignore. There is no point in talking to MSFT HR drones at a MSFT stand - what have learned that you couldn't get from the application web page.

ps. It is worth looking for companies you have never heard of. While there is no point in listening to a speech from a MSFT HR drone - the small company that have their CTO on the stand who are making a cool technology might be worth your time.

[twymer]

In prior experience (having now been on both sides of the table) it's not about what you (the job seeker) learn it's about what they (the employer) learn.

Not that they can hope to get much information, just enough to filter your resume in a good or bad pile. Some companies collect huge piles of resumes and simply can't call them all. Seeming intelligent and interested in the company may be the only reason they call you from that resume.

[Groxx]

You may hear of un-published openings (almost every single instance, in my experience - they save some for the fairs), and you've gone past the initial HR barrier if you sell yourself well as a person. Bypassing hoops you have to jump through helps immensely.

[iuygtfrikuj]

Depends on the company - pretty much any outfit large enough to have a professional booth with HR drones is going to be by-the-book.

Another problem if you are anywhere nice is that the HR dept treat this as a holiday, so you are getting a bunch of people who are in your town to drink, stay in a nice hotel and 'bond'. Having to talk to a few smelly students isn't the highlight of the trip.

[Groxx]

True, but this one is about an on-campus / campus-organized fair:

>Atalasoft exhibited at the UMass Campus Center Career Blast Fair (say that 3x fast) yesterday, and holy smokes, do you want jobs.

Those are frequently far less "nice", and being smelly won't work anywhere. And even smaller businesses still send HR-oriented people more frequently than people they're paying to produce the core of what they sell.