Technology, student preferences, and employer needs are constantly changing, but for the most part, career fairs continue to follow the same general format and structure. While effective as a means to introduce candidates and employers, both audiences often struggle to make the most of these events and leverage the connections into meaningful next steps.

Transform Career Fairs with Micro-Internships

By integrating Micro-Internships, Career Services professionals can revolutionize career fairs in three impactful ways:

1. Enhance Employer Involvement in Career Services Activities: Micro-Internships offer employers skills-first opportunities to engage with students beyond the traditional career fair, resulting in more impactful and sustained participation in professional development.
2. Deepen Relationships with Existing Employer Partners: By providing continuous talent assessment opportunities, Micro-Internships foster deeper connections between students and employers, strengthening existing partnerships.
3. Engage Employers Who Aren’t Recruiting on Campus: Micro-Internships attract new employers by offering a low-commitment, high-reward way to preview and engage with talent at your institution.

Integrating Micro-Internships can transform your career fairs, making them more dynamic and beneficial for both students and employers.

Benefits of Micro-Internships Combined with Career Fairs

Build Interest in Advance of the Career Fair

By posting Micro-Internship opportunities before the career fair, employers can create awareness and generate interest among students, ensuring a targeted and interested audience. Employers might even consider posting a Campus Ambassador Micro-Internship, which involves selecting one of your students to help promote the event and drive awareness of their company to targeted student groups. Bonus: this can also be a great way to re-engage former interns who are still completing their degree!

Talent Preview and Expanded Reach

By offering Micro-Internships in advance of career fairs, employers can identify target talent that they may want to individually invite to visit their table at the event. Micro-Internships also allow employers to identify talent that may not be able to make it to the career fair (busy populations like first-generation students, nontraditional students, and student-athletes), but who are still high-quality candidates that should be included in post-fair candidate engagement efforts. 

Identify Potential in First and Second Year Students 

Most schools encourage their first and second-year students to attend career fairs, but not all employers know what to do with these connections since these students are often not ready for traditional internships. This is where Micro-Internships can help! Projects completed during Micro-Internships serve as tangible evidence of students' abilities, as well as their potential when completing short, straightforward projects. 

More Meaningful Career Fair Conversations

At the event, employers can highlight Micro-Internship opportunities, emphasizing their value as a gateway to understanding the company's culture and roles. Employers may even consider offering “Sneak Peek” Micro-Internships: projects similar to those completed during a summer internship as a way for students to better understand the skills required for various roles. This is especially valuable for students still exploring their options who may not feel ready to apply to a traditional, longer-term internship. This strategy also allows employers to observe candidates' skills and work ethic in real-world scenarios, providing a better assessment than traditional resumes and interviews. 

Relationship-Building and Job Auditioning After the Fair

Post-event, employers can follow up with interested candidates, nurturing relationships and converting interest into internships or full-time roles through Micro-Internships. The on-demand nature of project-based learning allows students to stay connected with employers after the career fair but before applying to full-time opportunities.

Unlike brief career fair interactions, these Micro-Internships facilitate substantial relationships, fostering mentorship and long-term employment prospects. Beyond meeting the recruiting team at the career fair, Micro-Internships connect students directly with hiring managers and existing team members as needed to complete the project. 

These projects are also an effective and efficient way for your employers to make informed decisions about longer-term offers. For higher volume roles and manager-in-training programs, Micro-Internships can also be incorporated as a screening or assessment stage. Employers may ask a Micro-Intern to do a research and presentation project that asks candidates to learn more about your industry or customers, and enables their team to evaluate communication, critical thinking, and professionalism before extending a full-time offer.

Conclusion

Integrating Micro-Internships into career fairs creates a powerful synergy. Career fairs initiate connections, and Micro-Internships are an immediate, accessible, and practical option for taking those connections to the next level. Encouraging your employers to incorporate these paid, professional, projects into their career fair strategy not only enhances the value of career fairs for employers, but also equips students with the skills and connections needed to succeed in today’s competitive job market.

How to Get Started

Share the Strategy

Send these ideas and more to your employer network by inviting them download our resource for recruiting teams “How to Supercharge Your Career Fair with Micro-Internships”

You can also Share on LinkedIn, use this email template, or spread the word in your next newsletter, career fair Invitation, or reminder to registered career fair employers with this blurb: 

[PARTNER] is excited to highlight how combining Micro-Internships with your career fairs can lead to greater success. You can make your career fair participation more impactful by offering short-term, professional, paid work experiences through Parker Dewey. Micro-Internships allow our students to demonstrate their skills, consider various career paths, and build professional networks while providing you with a cost-effective way to evaluate potential talent. 

Download Parker Dewey’s eBook “How to Supercharge Career Fairs with Micro-Internships.” 

Incorporate Micro-Internships into your Career Fair Sponsorship and Employer Partner Packages

Add appeal to your existing career fair sponsorship or partnership packages by incorporating Micro-Internships. By including the costs of a few Micro-Internships in your existing fair packages, you give employers access to this valuable recruiting tool, and help them understand how Micro-Internships can increase the value of attending your event. Alternatively, this can also be a great way to entice companies who don’t attend career fairs, but want to recruit from your institution, to consider taking advantage of your partnership packages. The best part? You’re creating guaranteed, paid, experiences for your students, with 90% of the allocated Micro-Internship costs going directly into your students’ pockets!

With either option, you determine how much of the cost is allocated to paid project experiences with your students.

$1,000 Sponsorship Example

• • $777.78 to School
  • $222.22 to fund a 10-hour Micro-Internship for one of your students

To learn more about this option, check out our Sponsorship Program Toolkit.

Connect with the Parker Dewey Partnerships Team

Whether you want to brainstorm new ideas or just talk through the ones above, our partnerships team is excited to help! Email schools@parkerdewey.com with questions, or schedule a meeting at https://www.parkerdewey.com/meetings/danielle-rueger-miroewski/partnerships-team.