Nation

NATION

At job fairs, the goal is to land second interview

NEW YORK — Career fairs — geared to students, specialized industries and the general public — are drawing record crowds as job losses keep coming. What’s the best strategy for mining a general-interest job fair? Prepare beforehand and home in on the position you want, experts say.

Perfect your “elevator pitch.” This is a 45-second statement about how well you would mesh with the organization and what skills you’d bring to a position that needs to be filled.

Don’t waste your time. Don’t bother handing r sum s to companies that don’t need you, just so they have your r sum “on file.” The whole goal of a job fair is to get a second interview.

Poll: Small businesses keep plans to go ‘green’

NEW YORK — A survey of small businesses showed owners reporting their grimmest outlook since August 2003, but two-thirds of them say their troubles haven’t changed plans to “green” their companies.

The quarterly Wells Fargo survey said its index of business owners’ sentiment notched in at minus 4, the lowest since the poll began.

Though most businesses said they were going on with eco-friendly plans, two-thirds of the companies surveyed also said their customers were not willing to pay more for environmentally friendly goods — up from 49 percent in spring 2007, the last time the question was asked. And 62 percent said they didn’t take any steps to showcase their environmental initiatives to customers, also up from 49 percent in spring 2007.

Associated Press