Internship & Job Fair 2024 FAQs

Visit the Handshake Help Center for employer support. 

Register on the CCI Internship & Job Fair site provided by Handshake, an experienced provider of virtual fairs. If you have any problems, contact CCI's Kendall Beebe at kwbeebe@vt.edu.

Contact CCI's Kendall Beebe at kwbeebe@vt.edu. She will send a new calendar hold.

From the overview page, click on the Available Sessions tab to review and sign up for sessions. For details on this process, refer to Signing Up for & Managing Virtual Fair Sessions.

To sign up for Group or one-on-one sessions, you might be prompted to update your profile privacy settings. We recommend using Community to make the most of your Handshake experience, as this will allow you to participate in all fair sessions and engage with other students/alumni.

• For more information on profile privacy, refer to Profile Privacy Options in Handshake.
• Review which employers are attending the fair (follow employers with whom you want to check in).
• For more information on following an employer, refer to Following an Employer in Handshake.

We encourage you to sign up for sessions prior to the fair. You'll be able to sign up for sessions at any point, even during the fair (as long as the session hasn't ended).

This will be the first impression you make on a potential employer. Make it a good one.  

• Check your résumé for accuracy, grammar, spelling, and typos. Be sure your contact information (email, phone number) is accurate. You can use this free online job search resource to spruce up your résumé or visit your institution's career center for helpful tips and tricks.
• Check your camera and headphones/earbuds to ensure they’ll work the day of the event.
• Look around the part of the room that will be on camera. Is it clean or cluttered? Do you have potentially embarrassing posters on the walls? Is laundry tossed across a chair? Be sure anything that could distract someone is not visible on camera.
• If you’re interested in specific companies, read their websites and take notes.

Dress up a little. We encourage participants to wear business formal clothing.

Even if you’re targeting companies with casual offices (e.g. start-up or tech), wear a professional outfit. This tells potential employers that you’re serious about the organization and the possibility of working there.

Other advice:

• Have your résumé ready to upload. 
• Be sure your camera is on.
• Participate in discussions and have questions prepared.
• Have a pen and paper ready to take notes about organizations and people who catch your interest. You might want to reach out to them during breakout sessions.
• Keep a bottle of water handy to stay hydrated.
• Close the door to the room you’re in to prevent pets or people from appearing on camera.

Yes, we encourage it. Submit questions to CCI's Kendall Beebe at kwbeebe@vt.edu.

In the past, students have asked:

• What do you look for in a candidate?
• What do you want to see on a résumé?
• I’m a freshman. What skills should I develop to be attractive to your industry?
• What types of projects do interns work on at your organization?
• What are your hiring timelines for internship and/or full-time positions?

Once the fair has wrapped up, you can follow-up with employers in Handshake immediately after your session via the pop-up that appears automatically.

• If the session has multiple hosts, click the Send a message button to the right of the hosts name you'd like to continue a conversation with. 
• If the session has one host, the text box will load immediately.
•  Type your message within the text box, then click the Send button in the lower-left corner to continue the conversation.

Not sure what to say? We suggest to:

• Follow up on something you found interesting or helpful from the event. 
• Show your enthusiasm for a role, this company, or the industry. 
• Ask questions about the company.

You can follow up with recruiters later by:

• Following their company profile (receive notifications of employer activity at your school)
• Messaging other students or alumni that have worked for the employer or a publicly listed point of contact for the company
• Responding to an employer message
• Applying for an active job
• Participating in an interview schedule
• Attending an event

To review who you've attended sessions with, navigate back to the fair in Handshake with the direct link to the fair or browse using the Date filter on the Events overview page, then selecting "Past year".

Click on the Your schedule tab for a list of past sessions you signed up for. The session host's name, job title, and company will display.

Click the Send a message button, to the right of the host's information, to send a follow-up message. 

To learn more, visit the Handshake Help Center.

Check out the Handshake blog post for more tips on how to stand out in a virtual fair.