How to Write a Great Follow-up Email after a Career Fair

A career fair can be a great way to make connections and maybe even find your next job.

You probably did a lot of preparation ahead of time, working on your resume and your online profile.

However, you can’t sit back and relax once the fair is over.

You need to follow up with an email to the people you connected with and want to remain in touch with.

This article will help you write that email.

 

Preparing to write your follow-up email after a career fair

During the career fair itself, you should take some notes on the specifics of your conversations.

This will help you remember anything you discussed that you want to make reference to in your email.

It will also simply be a good reminder of the conversation.

With this information, you can personalize the email and provide concrete details that will help the recipient remember who you are.

The other thing you should do is research the companies that you are planning to write to.

You probably did some research beforehand as well, but you should brush up on that to refresh your memory and see what may be relevant after talking with a representative at the fair.

 

When to send your follow-up email after a career fair

You should send your follow-up email within 48 hours.

Sooner is better than later.

The person you’re writing to will probably receive a flood of emails.

If you are in an earlier batch, they may be more likely to remember you.

 

Choosing a subject line for your follow-up email after a career fair

Your subject line should make the purpose of your email clear.

It should be something specific and straightforward.

Something like “[Name of Career Fair] [Date] Follow-Up” or “Enjoyed meeting you at [Name of Career Fair]” would work.

 

What to put in a follow-up email after a career fair

This type of email is a fairly straightforward thank-you note, but there are a few things you should keep in mind as you compose it.

• Keep it short. Remember that the recruiter is busy.
• Do include something personal so they remember you.
• Use a formal greeting, and be professional throughout.
• Reinforce the type of job that you are interested in.
• Thank the recruiter again for their time.
• Include contact information. You can do this as a signature block at the end of the email and also if you attach a resume.
• Once you have written the email, wait a few hours. Then proofread it at least once to make sure there are no errors.

The purpose of this email is to make sure that the recruiter keeps you in mind when opportunities arise.

Therefore, it is important that you remind them who you are in a positive way and not because you were overly casual or otherwise unprofessional in your follow-up email!

Although you may write to your friends with openings such as “Hey,” you should begin this as you would a formal letter.

You should begin with “Dear” and then follow with their name.

Use “Mr.” or “Ms.” and their last name unless they asked you to call them by their first name.

It is always best to err on the side of being more formal.

If they sign off using their first name when they respond to you, you can address them in this way going forward.

In your introductory paragraph, you should thank them for their time or the opportunity to meet them and say the name of the place where you met.

This is where you can also include a personal detail to jog their memory.

That might be something in common that you shared: “It was so funny to meet someone else who had an orange cat named Bosco.”

Or, it might be a more professional detail as long as it is memorable and isn’t something that could be said by most of the people that they met:

“I really enjoyed the opportunity to discuss my thesis on big data analytics and smart health care.”

You should then reinforce your interest in working with their company.

You might introduce this with a phrase like “as per our conversation.”

For example, you might say “As per our conversation, I will be graduating in May with my degree in finance and am interested in working with a company like yours.”

You may want to attach a copy of your resume even if they already have one, and if so, you should say you are attaching it.

You may want to read about whether you should staple your resume for a job fair and a few other tips for presenting the resume in person.

You can then thank them again.

If you discussed a specific position with them, it may be appropriate to say that you are going to follow up with them by phone call.

However, if you did not talk about a specific position they are filling soon and that you are interested in, it is best to leave this open-ended.

You can see examples of both types of emails below.

In total, your email should not be more than about three paragraphs, and those paragraphs should have no more than three or four sentences each.

Sign off with “Sincerely,” or you can use yours truly in business correspondence or another appropriate formal word or phrase.

Include your contact information in your signature block.

 

Example 1 of a follow-up email after a career fair

What you put in the email will vary based on the specifics around your meeting with the recruiter.

The example below is for one where you made a general sort of contact with the recruiter.

In this email, your purpose is just to keep yourself near the front of the contact’s mind, so you will not be assertive about following up as you will see in example two.

 

Example 2 of a follow-up email after a career fair

This is the type of follow-up email you would write if you talked more explicitly about a particular position at the company.

In this situation, it would not be inappropriate to say that you are going to follow up if you discussed applying for the job with the person you are writing to.

 

Frequently Asked Questions about writing a follow-up email after a career fair

 

How soon can you expect to hear back from your contact after writing a follow-up email after a career fair?

Don’t worry if you don’t hear something right away. It may be weeks or months before any positions are filled.

You’ve done what you can in the meantime, which is making sure they have all the relevant information about you and know that you are interested.

The follow-up email helps to reinforce that interest as well as to demonstrate your familiarity with professional norms and courtesy.

If you discussed a specific position with the recruiter that they plan to fill at an earlier date, you might want to follow up with a very brief email after about a week.

 

Are there other ways to connect with recruiters while you’re waiting to hear back?

You can also add the recruiter on LinkedIn.

This gives you a low-pressure to way to interact with them professionally and helps to keep you at the front of their mind.