Students walking into Pitt’s fall job fair in early October had better come prepared.

“You… Students walking into Pitt’s fall job fair in early October had better come prepared.

“You don’t have a lot of time [talking to a recruiter] at a job fair. You have 45 seconds to 1 and a half minutes,” said Marvin Roth, Pitt’s director of Career Services.

Recruiters from almost 150 companies and organizations will fill three rooms in the William Pitt Union for the fall 2006 job fair on Oct. 4 and 5. The rooms are the Assembly Room, the Ballroom and the Kurtzman Room.

The first day focuses on jobs in business, human services and nonprofit organizations, while the second day focuses on jobs in engineering, science and technology.

This year, Career Services has been forced to create a waiting list for recruiters who want to participate in the engineering day because a large number of recruiters have signed up to come.

Nancy Cifrulak, Pitt’s Career Services and special events and marketing coordinator, said that organizations look for well-rounded candidates with leadership skills and grades.

“Engineering firms are looking for a wonderful QPA,” Cifrulak said.

So how can a student prepare for a job fair?

Cifrulak suggested using a three-pronged approach: research the companies, update the resume and acquire the appropriate attire and hygiene.

On the day of the fair, students can get assistance from career consultants at the coaching table who are there to help students with their resumes and provide on-the-spot mock interviews.

A final way to prepare is to walk around the fair, scope out companies’ locations and listen to people talking to get an idea of what’s going on.

To do some research before the fair, go to Pitt’s Career Services Web site at www.careers.pitt.edu, then click “Fall Job Fair” to view the current list of organizations registered for the fair and their Web sites. Students can visit the Web sites of companies of interest to learn more about them and create some questions to ask the recruiter.

Students can also use an external information service like Standard and Poor’s.

“They [employers] want you to ask questions about them. That shows you are interested in them, not just them in you. By asking questions it shows you did the research, that’s their means of knowing you researched them beforehand,” Cifrulak said.

Cifrulak said underclassmen could benefit from coming to this fair because recruiters like it when students who are not graduating take the initiative to learn.

Juniors can come to make valuable contacts for their job searches next year, while learning what companies like to see in a candidate and acclimating to the environment, she added.

Seniors stand to benefit most of all by making contacts, getting their names out there and, ideally, lining up some interviews.

Things to avoid include showing up in inappropriate attire like jeans, sneakers and a T-shirt, or carrying a backpack. Avoid having an attitude — recruiters have plenty of candidates competing for the jobs they have to offer. Attitude could encourage them to select someone else, Cifrulak said.

Cifrulak said that the fall job fair traditionally has more companies attending than the spring fair. Recruiters who come in the fall are recruiting for both December and May graduates.

Maureen Barcic, Pitt’s director of cooperative education, said that the School of Engineering will host a job fair on Friday for students who are in or would like to be in the cooperative education program. About 65 companies have registered to attend. Undergraduate students interested or enrolled in cooperative education can attend the fair to find co-op positions.

The program’s students are usually made up of engineering, computer science and chemistry students. Co-op students alternate a semester of classes with a semester of work for both credit and pay for an employer related to the student’s field of study.