How to plan a careers fair: a step-by-step guide

Careers fairs are an especially meaningful activity for our community. They are a key way to involve virtually every community stakeholder as parents make up the largest group of guest speakers and students at every grade level are keen to learn more about the world of work.

My counselling colleagues and I are very proud of our careers fairs and would highly recommend that other schools use similar formats.

Planning a careers fair: a step-by-step guide

Step 1: Set a date in the calendar that allows all grade levels to be involved.

Step 2: Reserve the necessary community spaces. In our school, we share spaces with other divisions, so these reserved spaces are essential.

Step 3: Create a detailed schedule of the day, which allows for each student to attend three different career sessions. Our schedule generally looks something like this:

8:15-8:40am: Students in advisory classes, to ensure that they understand the day’s schedule and are prepared with appropriate questions.

8:45-9:15am: Keynote session. This is generally an inspirational speaker, either addressing a key topic in the world of work (for example, artificial intelligence (AI) and the workplace), or a topic along the lines of “taking the risk to follow your dreams”.

9:30-9:55am: Morning break/transition time

9:55-10:45am: First career session

10:45-11:05am: Break/transition time

11:05-11:55am: Second session

Afternoon: The afternoon activities generally involve a school-wide barbecue, followed by time in advisory for a combination of reflective activities, university application work or career interest inventories, depending upon student grade level.

Step 4: Send an invitation to the parent community to participate as speakers. Let them know that each speaker will be asked to begin with an introduction that includes information about the nature of their work (for example, daily activities and key skills), their career path, their educational and career training, aspects of the job that they appreciate as well as those they do not enjoy as much, and any additional information or advice they wish to share. Each session also includes time for questions and answers.

Step 5: Survey students to see what careers they are keen to learn more about.

Step 6: Reach out to individuals outside the school community in key career fields to ensure that there are sufficient speakers for every area of interest.

Step 7: Once speakers are confirmed, have students complete a survey where they rank their top three choices of speakers. For particularly popular career fields, we ask if our guest can present at both sessions.

Afternoon activities: some additional information

Gratitude cards: whole-school activity

In our community, we emphasise gratitude as a factor in wellness, so we have school-branded thank-you cards that are used in a wide variety of situations. All students are encouraged to write thank-you cards to speakers.

Career/personality inventories: for grades 9 and 10 (years 10 and 11)

Before making the careers fair part of our programming, we found that students often did not find value in career and interest inventories. However, placing them in the context of this day has helped the students to find more meaning in the process.

Personal reflection: for grade 11 (year 12)

We try to ensure that our entire university and career advising programme is focused on a foundation of self-knowledge and personal fulfilment, as well as informed decision-making.

Grade 11 students are at an especially important point when it comes to thinking about future career paths. So, after the careers fair, we guide them through a written activity that provides them with the opportunity to reflect privately and individually, before they then attend larger reflective sessions with people who attended the same career sessions as them.

University-application work: for grade 12 (year 13)

By placing the careers fair in the first semester, we allow our grade 12 students to use the information they learned when they wrote their personal statements. We therefore provide grade 12 students with time to work on those applications with the new insights created by the fair.

Worth the effort

The careers fair is such an expansive undertaking that we do it on a biennial cycle – but it is an event that is looked forward to by nearly every student in the community.

Parents who participate as speakers are often parents who are not able to attend other events in our community as a result of busy work schedules, so having the opportunity to participate in such a key way is often very meaningful for them as well.

If I can provide additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.