Career Fairs can be scary, exciting, ravishing, rambunctious, dysfunctional, teeth-grinding all at the same time. It is a crucial time that can set up your career for decades to come. It is a showcase, almost like a trade show, where you present everything you have learned over the 4 years you have attended college. Some people are going to be prepared going in like, Walker Texas Ranger, ready for anything that recruiters throw at them. Others are going in like hot cakes and hopefully can sell themselves like hot cakes. They will come unprepared and hope for the best. But in all honesty, being prepared or unprepared for a career fair, is not a bad thing. There are benefits to both.

When you come prepared to a career fair, you already have a game plan. You know what employers came to the showcase, you know what they are looking for, and you know how to maneuver yourself into a job interview. This is all great and everything, but there is such a thing as being overly prepared. Most people who become prepared are usually coming in with a structured approach. They already know what they are going to say to an employer, and how to say it. This can be a bad thing.

I am a spontaneous individual and focusing on the right thing to say to a person, is not my forte. I like to say what comes to my mind, not what was premeditated. Being overly prepared can cause you to step over words trying to remember the structured questions you had in mind, and can elevate the pressure of you having a conversation with the recruiter. In some cases, it is best to not come in overly prepared and leave some wiggle room for the thoughts to flow between you and the recruiter. This, in turn, could cause an organic conversation develop and soon you would have landed an interview in no time.

You can also come to the career fair unprepared. Like I said before, I am a spontaneous person and sometimes I like going in, guns blazing. I like to see what I can come up in my mind to finesse the situation into a grand one. It gives me confidence knowing I can accomplish this. But I will never come into a career fair unprepared. There is also such a thing as being overly unprepared.

You have to come to a career fair with a basic knowledge of what is expected. You have to dress professional, bring resumes and present proper etiquette. If you do not possess these things, you have a problem. I know I said before that being spontaneous is fun, but with spontaneity comes anticipation. You have to anticipate what the recruiter may ask you. And you have to respond with a diligent answer.

These are things that an unprepared(somewhat prepared), person would do. If you come in with no suit, no resumes, and no etiquette, there's no chance for you.

Now I, myself like to be flashy, so I like to wear red because I look good in red. But sometimes it can be offset because the aura it gives off takes away from me the person. And with that being said, I have to scale back my dress style, but not too much. I can still wear a red tie or a redshirt. But in the end, I will still look good.

And it is imperative that you take heave to this advice because it could land your next big break, in whatever you want to do. But no thank you's are needed. All I would want to know is did you come prepared or unprepared?