Abbey Saddler

Talent Executive

Zack Slovina

James Sullinger

Senior Account Executive

Katherine Ortiz

Jen Antill

Senior Talent Executive

Maria LaTour

Marketing Manager

Susie Isphording

Strategic Talent Executive

Ryan Van Echo

Chief Operating Officer

Ryan Smith

Managing Director

Olivia Skaates

Strategic Account Executive, Emerging Markets

Morgan Toney

Account Coordinator

Lauren McCuen

People Operations Coordinator

Kyle Benton

Managing Director, South

Angela Wayner

Strategic Account Executive

Ariel Smith

Deborah Andrews

Director of People Operations

Deborah Day

Tony Haislar

Alan Kutasy

CEO + Founder

Rob Moyer

President + Co-Founder

Whether you're in school and seeking your first job in the real world or looking to embark on a new career path, attending a career or job fair is a smart step for marketing yourself to potential employers. On top of the unavoidable anxiety that comes with job seeking, how can you stand out among other attendees and make a memorable first impression with potential employers? Follow these 5 tips to make the most of your next career fair.

Before going into a career fair, it’s incredibly beneficial to know what companies you plan to connect with to optimize your time (after all, you’re likely attending to get face time with company reps). Once you determine which companies you’d like to network with, review their websites to understand what they do, their core values, community involvement, and any social media channels to understand their culture. Ultimately, can you see yourself working with this company? 

After researching the companies, you can craft a more tailored and personal introduction. This is the perfect opportunity to: 

Hi, I’m John Smith, and I’m currently interning as a social media marketing intern at ABC Marketing here in Columbus. I noticed that your team recently completed a massive project with a healthcare client and increased organic traffic by 20% YoY by implementing the right mix of media, awareness building, and acquisition. One of my passions is connecting data to creative content and testing out messaging based on desired target audiences to drive conversions. I’d love to hear more about your team’s project and what you do at ABC!

Approaching the company booths with intention and understanding who they are and what they do will help set you apart from other attendees – it’s a win-win! 

While it may feel “out of date,” bringing hard copies of your resume to a career fair shows your interest, drive, and professionalism. Make sure your resume is up to date 

Don’t have a printer at home? No sweat. Your local library is an excellent resource for more than just books, and they can help you print copies for less than $0.50 per copy. We recommend researching how many company booths you’d like to visit (see #1 above), then double that number for how many copies to bring with you.  

This is simply an answer you give to the most asked “So… tell me about yourself?” question. This is your chance to show off who you are and your accomplishments in 30-seconds or less. Our Talent Executive, 

 or, in this case, as an intro to a potential employer. 

Like after a job interview, follow up with the individuals at the company booths you networked with and are interested in pursuing a career. While at the career fair, jot down notes such as big takeaways from your time with the organizations. This will help keep you organized once you leave the career fair. 

We recommend adding the individuals you networked with on 

 and sending them a quick note about your time with them. This will help you stand out among all the attendees they talked with and leave a great impression! If you discussed a specific role with the company, you can use this as an opportunity to ask about next steps. 

Along with networking with the companies, take advantage of other benefits of attending a career fair. For example, the organizers may offer attendees professional headshots or a resume review station. 

Who doesn’t want a free professional headshot to update their LinkedIn or Handshake profiles when job seeking? 

This information will be included on the career fair’s webpage if it’s being offered. 

These ad-hoc opportunities can help build your professionalism and help you understand how you can best stand out among the crowd! 

 with you to the career fair! This is what shines through when you meet people (aka potential employers), and the above will help build that key confidence. These tips will undoubtedly set you up for personal and professional success when preparing to attend a career fair – you got this! 

So, you’re getting ready to attend a career fair 

Company culture is critical.  Prior to starting Agility Partners, I viewed company culture as an afterthought, something I heard about, but never something I valued. In a previous life, I spent time working with local, family-owned staffing firms and fortune 150 staffing firms across the country.   

The differences in their cultures were drastic! 

The top five benefits of building a great culture are obvious: 

 to build a great culture.  I’d be lying if I thought we, at Agility Partners, had mastered this but below are my thoughts on 

 we are building our culture and why Agility Partners was recently named one of the best places to work in Columbus. 

Understand that Failing is OK – Fostering Innovation

If you’re never failed, chances are you’re not innovating. Failure is inevitable when you’re fostering a culture of innovation, and that’s part of the challenge, but also the opportunity.  Leading with the mindset that it’s okay to fail allows new ideas to surface and ultimately fosters what you want: innovation.  

Get Comfortable with being Uncomfortable

Often, I’ve seen small and large companies alike struggle with difficult conversations. Opportunities for improvement at an individual and team level go unmentioned because of the fear of upsetting someone. This is a stifling mindset that must change, it’s never personal, it’s simply business.  We’re all here to win! 

Don’t Be Afraid to Act and Act Quickly

Whether it’s moving forward with a new idea, an innovative technology, OR moving on from an employee/vendor partner that is disrupting your business, it’s extremely important to act and act quickly. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of “business as usual” but that’s not what got you here and that’s not what will get you to the next level. Continue to innovate by promoting new ideas, ridding yourself of cancer, and rewarding excellence. 

Learn from the Past and Plan for the Future

Change is never easy, but to be excellent you must continue to develop and improve. With this comes constant change. Learn from your past mistakes, plan for future mistakes, and focus solely with one concept in mind.  Get. Better. Every. Day. 

Building a culture of excellence

First of all, congratulations! You should be proud of your accomplishment, and ability to adapt during your last semester. 

It was just two years ago when I had the same mixed emotions of excitement and fear thinking about what was to come next. 

Certainly, you are entering the job market at an extraordinary time and things look a little different than they once did. The good news is that there are companies still hiring, some that even have increased capacity due to the nature of their business. 

While talking to a handful of recent graduates within the last couple of weeks, I started to hear consistencies in the process being used to “search” for their first full-time job. 

I wanted to take the time to provide you with a quick 10 tips for a more productive job search. 

If you are a recent graduate and have questions or would like to set up 10-15 minutes to chat about your current process, or just need additional help, I’d love to chat! 

Send over a connect request via LinkedIn or shoot an email to ariel.smith@agilitypartners.io 

To the May 2020 graduates

I started the day today at CIO Tomorrow listening to a presentation by Mark Kvamme, a venture capitalist and the founder of Drive Capital in Columbus, Ohio. For those not familiar with Mark’s background, he was a worldwide product manager at Apple at 23, started his own business, took it public, and sold it all before joining Sequoia Capital as a general partner. 

Long story short, Mark has watched technology evolve from the days of the personal computer to our current state. Mark spoke specifically about disruption in business, the power of technology (specifically automation), and what business leaders need to do to prepare and adopt it. His message was clear: adapt or get run over. 

As I listened to Mark speak, I felt several different emotions: excitement, apprehension, and even a bit of uncertainty. Others had an emotional response as well. I looked around the room and noticed quite a few concerned faces and even some heads shaking in disappointment. While it’s natural to have a “knee jerk” reaction to the thought of robots and automation, I’m reminded that the adoption of technology is not only beneficial but inevitable. The world of work is changing faster than ever, and automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning will be at the forefront of this change.  

Agility Partners is founded on innovation, and as I listened it became even more apparent that we must not only embrace change but drive it. Finding ways to leverage these technologies in our business is just as important as any other. Automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence are technologies designed not to take jobs and replace humans but to free us up of repetitive and manual tasks. This opens an entirely different world of possibilities, and we need to adapt to this new mindset. 

For instance, take customer support bot technology. This automation tool doesn’t replace talent but helps support it. Bots enable your teams to focus on more complex challenges and will result in a significant increase in resolution speeds that will impact the team’s overall success. Imagine calling customer service and having your issue resolved in a fraction of the time while still interacting with a human. In this instance, automation is a complement to the support teams! 

If you think about the evolution of technology as this type of progress, saved and redistributed effort, then robots and automation are just the next phase, and the economy will continue to adapt and flourish as a result. 

 “Partners in Progress” is not about our team at Agility continuously learning and improving but is about the world of work progressing, evolving, and embracing change. The thought of people and technology working hand in hand is scary for many but with the right approach, the possibilities are endless.  

Embrace the change, continue to progress, and let’s do the unthinkable!

Building a culture of excellence

To the May 2020 graduates

The future of work