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Standing out at a Job Fair can make a difference in your search. Career Fairs are starting to pick up, and Dice is running some nice ones, called Targeted Job Fairs. At a Silicon Valley Career Faire in January, 10 companies as showing up, and a major job search company has 82 career fairs scheduled for 2010 across the States.

How do you get to the real interviews at a Job Faire? The rivalry can be substantial, but you can help yourself surpass from the herd with advance preparation. At AA-Careers, we have a simplified six-step process to get ready. Plan to go? Here’s how to prepare:

First, investigate the organizations that are going and pick your targets. Use the World Wide Web to research the organizations that are there ahead of time. Go to their websites and see if they have their jobs listed. Pick a small number to target, and get ready to spend up to an hour researching each one. It’s hard to do more than eight in a day, and four or five is a much more reasonable target. For each hiring company, you want to know: recent news, key product lines, and exectuve names. Try to see if you know anyone at the target companies. You will end up with with a page or two of research for each company/job.

Second, if there are job openings on the web, read them to see what the organization is looking for. Create a mapping of your achievements and skills to the requirements of the job. Make the nomenclature match. If the hiring company calls customers "clients", your resume should do the same thing. The accomplishments should be written in the style of the hiring company.

Third, create a ‘thumbnail sales pitch’ for each potential company/position combination. Write down a ninety second ‘thumbnail’ that you can repeat out loud depicting why you are a key prospect for that position. You’ll use this in your resume and when you meet the company at the job stall.

Fourth, modify your resume for each job type. The objective on your resume should exactly match the position you’re targeting. The executive summary should be a written form of your “mini sales pitch” for the job. Then choose the achievements and skills that most clearly match the job description. Especially at a Career Faire, the purpose of your resume is a sales tool for you – to get you on-site job interviews. It should be simple to see that you’re a match based on your resume.

Fifth, dress and prepare as if you’re doing on-site interviews. Dress nicely and be well groomed. Don’t over do-it (this isn’t a date!) and don’t underdress (no jeans or t-shirts, no matter how much you paid for them). Avoid strong cologne or perfume.

Finally, rehearse your ‘mini-sales-pitch’. Collect your research and the resume for each spot - bring a couple of copies for each – and put each in a distinctly marked folder. Keep them in a light briefcase or folio.

Remember to smile, and good hunting!