Virginia Tech career fairs

• See fair host webpages for complete information, including contact for questions.
• Career and Professional Development has no control over fairs (and webpages) hosted by other departments, offices, and organizations.
• Employers: Please contact CPD employer relations staff for advice on which fair(s) meet your needs.

• See fair host webpages for complete information, including contact for questions.
• Career and Professional Development has no control over fairs (and webpages) hosted by others.
• Employers: Please contact CPD employer relations staff for advice on which fair(s) meet your needs.

For employers with questions about a specific career fair

• There is a contact person for each fair. The fair lists include links to the fair webpage maintained by the host, where they should provide details and contact information.

For employers: advice on which VT career fairs to attend

• For advice on which VT fair(s) can best serve your recruiting needs, please contact our employer relations staff in Career and Professional Development. We are here to advise and assist you. We know your time is valuable, and that you incur expenses to participate in fairs. With so many VT-affiliated fairs, we understand that choosing among them can be confusing. We want to assist you in selecting events that will work best for your recruiting goals!

Which VT career fairs should students attend?

• At each fair, a wide variety of employers might participate, and each employer specifies their own hiring needs for majors, academic levels, and types of hires including internships, co-ops, and post-grad jobs.
• Some employers seek applicants from specific majors, and some employers seek applicants in a variety of majors and colleges.
• The employment world is not organized like universities, by majors and colleges. Many employers seek professional qualities and personal characteristics that are not exclusive to any major.
• Investigate the fair webpages to learn which employers are participating, their hiring needs, and other details of each fair.
• Be aware: the personnel representing an employer organization during a fair might not know all the hiring needs of the whole organization, especially if the reps are not from their human resources department.
• The best way to have success at a fair is to do two things:
  • First, plan in advance which employers to connect with based on your research, and have a customized introduction (Example: I’m interested in your organization because of the opportunity to work in a project team….” Never ask, “what does your company do?”).
  • Second, participate with willingness to be flexible and adaptable in connecting with employers. Be ready for the unexpected, and be personable, friendly, and a good listener.
• Unsure if you are ready to participate in a fair? Try volunteering. Being a volunteer gives you a reason and purpose to participate in a fair, and structure on how to interact. For an in-person fair, that could involve helping employers carry supplies, delivering water, etc. That will help you see the event from a different viewpoint, and demystify the event, helping you when you are ready to participate as a job-seeker. To find out about volunteering, look at each fair webpage, and/or contact the sponsor, and watch for publicity seeking student volunteers.
• More on how to prepare for a career fair.
• You are always welcome to seek advising when you are thinking about whether to attend a career fair. We encourage you to plan in advance. Demand for advising is higher when career fair dates are approaching.