Questions to Ask Employers at a Career Fair
Questions for the two or three minutes you get at a booth: whether the roles are genuinely open, how screening works, what the job involves day to day, and how to follow up so the conversation counts for something.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Which roles are you hiring for right now?
Why ask it
Plenty of booths are staffed for brand visibility whether or not headcount exists. A recruiter who names two or three specific openings has live requisitions; one who says they are always looking for good people usually does not, and you can move on politely.
Are you on the hiring team for those roles, or here representing the company more broadly?
Why ask it
It changes what the conversation can do for you. A hiring manager or team recruiter can flag your name; a brand ambassador or an agency rep cannot, and it is better to know that before you spend your best twenty minutes there.
Are these open to people finishing in June, or do you hire on a rolling basis?
Why ask it
Cohort employers close applications months before the start date, and a rolling employer may have nothing today but something in eight weeks. The answer tells you whether to apply tonight or diarise a date.
Do new hires join a structured programme or go straight into a team?
Why ask it
The two experiences are very different: a cohort with rotations and a training budget, or a desk and a manager who may or may not have onboarded anyone before. Ask which, then ask who supports you in the version they describe.
Is the online application the main route in, or do people you meet here get referred?
Why ask it
This is the question that decides whether the fair was worth attending. If everything funnels through the same portal, ask what you can add to your application that a recruiter would recognise from today.
If I apply tonight, does it come to you or to a central system?
Why ask it
Applications that land in a general queue can sit for weeks. Some recruiters will offer a direct email or a code to reference; you only find out by asking, and the difference in response rate is large.
What gets a CV set aside at the first screen?
Why ask it
Recruiters usually know the one or two filters applied before a human reads anything: a degree subject, a minimum grade, a named tool, work authorisation. It is unflattering to hear and far more useful than a list of the qualities they admire.
What does the process look like from application to offer, and how long does it take?
Why ask it
Gives you a timeline to plan other applications around, and a warning sign if nobody at the booth knows. Four stages over six weeks is a normal answer; a vague one often means hiring is paused.
Is there a test or exercise, and what is it on?
Why ask it
Most employers will tell you the format, and some will name the topic. Knowing whether it is a timed aptitude test, a coding task or a case study is worth more preparation time than any rehearsed answer about your strengths.
Do you sponsor work visas for these roles?
Why ask it
Better answered in ten seconds at a booth than after four interview rounds. Treat a case-by-case answer with no example as a soft no, and ask whether any specific team has done it recently.
Where are the roles based, and how many days a week on site?
Why ask it
Job listings are often written before this is settled, and the recruiter usually knows the current practice rather than the stated policy. Ask about the team you would be on, since it frequently differs from the company line.
Can you tell me the salary band for this level?
Why ask it
Asking early is normal now and saves everyone time. A recruiter who cannot say but offers to check is fine; one who reacts as though the question is inappropriate has told you something about the culture.
Which team would I join, and what are they working on this quarter?
Why ask it
Moves the conversation from company to the actual work, which is where you can tell whether you would be interested. Specific answers also give you material for the application, and vagueness suggests the role is not yet defined.
What would the first six months look like day to day?
Why ask it
Graduate roles vary from real project work to a long queue of tickets, and recruiters tend to be honest when asked about the daily texture rather than the opportunity. Listen for what fills a Tuesday.
Who trains new people, and how much of it is structured?
Why ask it
Either training is somebody's actual responsibility, or it falls to whoever has a free afternoon. Answers like you learn by doing usually mean there is no plan, which suits some people and leaves others stranded for a year.
What do people find hardest in their first year?
Why ask it
A recruiter with real contact with the team can name something concrete: the on-call rota, the pace of client work, the amount of writing. Silence or a generic answer suggests they are one step removed from the job.
How long do people usually stay in this role before moving on?
Why ask it
Short tenure is not automatically bad, but the reason matters: promotion out, transfer to another site, or people leaving the company entirely. Ask which of the three is most common.
What has changed on the team in the last year?
Why ask it
Surfaces reorganisations, a hiring freeze that just ended, a product that was cancelled. This context rarely appears in job listings and explains why the role exists at all.
What made you join, and did you come in through this route?
Why ask it
A recruiter who was hired the same way you would be is a genuinely useful source, and the question relaxes a conversation that has been transactional. Their answer also tells you what the company sells to its own staff.
What is the best way to follow up, and may I mention that we spoke?
Why ask it
Gets you a name to use and a channel that will actually be read. Ask for a card or the spelling of their name; a follow-up sent within two days while the fair is still in memory carries much more weight than one sent next week.
Is there anything in my background you would want to see strengthened before I apply?
Why ask it
Direct requests for feedback are rare enough at a fair that people tend to answer honestly. You may hear something specific and fixable, a missing project, an unfamiliar tool, which is worth more than an encouraging goodbye.
Working a career fair well
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you go
- Pick five employers rather than twenty. Two good conversations that end with a name and a next step beat a bag full of branded pens.
- For each one, find the single thing you could not have learned from their website, then build your first question around it. That is what makes a recruiter remember the conversation.
- Check whether they list current openings online first. Walking up already knowing the role title turns a pitch into a discussion.
At the booth
- Open with your name, what you study or do, and the type of role you want, in about fifteen seconds. Recruiters are triaging a queue and need to know where to put you.
- Go at a quiet time. The first thirty minutes and the last hour are the least crowded, and the last hour is when recruiters have the most time and the least patience for vagueness.
- Ask about the process before you ask about culture. Deadlines and screening filters are time-sensitive; the culture answer is available from any employee later.
- Take a note the moment you walk away: name, role, what they said, what you promised to send. After the sixth booth nobody remembers which recruiter mentioned the rotation programme.
What not to do
- Do not ask what the company does. It is the one question that ends a conversation, and the answer is on the banner behind them.
- Avoid handing over a CV as the whole interaction. Paper gets scanned or binned; a recruiter who can attach a face and a five-minute talk to your name is the actual goal.
- Do not treat the booth as an interview you have to win. Your job is to work out whether the roles are real and whether you want them, which requires you to ask rather than perform.
Following up
- Send the follow-up within two days, referencing one specific thing they said. Anything longer and the fair has blurred into one queue in their memory.
- Apply through the route they named, even if you already applied elsewhere, and mention the fair by name and date in the first line.
- If nothing comes back in the timeline they gave you, one polite check-in is reasonable. After that, put your energy into the employers who did reply.