Career Fair Tips For Your Upcoming Review

SCAD Career fair Banner courtesy of Savannah College of Art and Design

So you have an interview for career fair? Whether it’s a one-on-one interview or a group review, Here are some tips and advice that could help you feel more prepared for the day! 

1. Make sure you have everything ready 15 minutes prior to the session. This will ensure that if any issues were to occur you’d be able to combat them before the interview starts.

Make sure you have more than one way to show your portfolio in case issues occur, whether on your side or the interviewers side. You should have your website/portfolio at the ready for them to see, but sometimes the internet isn’t as reliable as you want and can cause issues. 

2. Have a PDF portfolio ready! Just in case you have issues a backup virtually in hand will save you in a pinch.

Make sure you compress the file as well. This will not lower the resolution of your images, but it will make it easier to access and faster to download! This is great in case of internet issues and loading times, your interviewer will be able to hold onto this PDF and look at it at a later time if they want to. 

3. What should you put in your PDF portfolio? We recommend having no more than 10 slides.

You want your best work in there of course, but it’s always a rule to have a show stopper at the front, middle and end. You want to start and finish strong, so you can impress the company that you’re meeting with! You want to have your branding present and memorable when you introduce yourself as well as when you are concluding the presentation of your work. Make sure somewhere on every slide there is your information so the company can contact you at a later date!

4. Should you have process work in your PDF portfolio? 100% Yes!

Take a piece you’re proud of and show the process of how you got it to completion. Talk about your process in your interview as well! It helps show your workflow and how you get from point A to point B. When you have a process piece though, don’t let it take up too many slides in your PDF. Two slides with a few images should get your thoughts across just fine.

5. Should you be concerned about your background? Yes! As a reminder make sure the room you are conducting the interview is clean and tidy!

Try your best to have a blank wall background. Don’t sit behind a window or a place where you may face or images might cause glare. A good tip is if you have some of your work printed, it’s nice to have it nicely hung up behind you. Then the interviewer can see your work even before you start the review! 

6. Dress for the part!

You don’t have to go over the top fancy, but have a nice simple shirt/blouse to show you’re interested in the position/internship for the interview. Depending on where you are, they will only see your top half, so don’t stress over dress pants/bottoms. Though we wouldn’t recommend full pajama bottoms or sweats just in case you do have to stand up on camera to close a door or grab a pen. And of course have your camera on and show your face!

Good luck to you on your interview!