Business isn't war, but sometimes it feels pretty darn close.

You're constantly fighting to boost the bottom line. You're battling industry competitors for business, often from a limited client pool. And you struggle every day to grow and improve your company in a perilous business climate.



The initial stages of this combat are seen in your recruitment efforts, because you're jockeying with your industry competition for the best employees. And the front lines of your recruitment can be seen at college and university job fairs, where you strive to put your best foot forward in order to attract the newest talent. So it's vital that you have a job fair booth that stands out from the rest.

Here are nine suggestions for putting together a highly effective job fair booth.

Staff it with friendly people. It sounds counter-intuitive, but in order to win the recruitment war, you have to put a happy face on your company. That means choosing job fair personnel who are outgoing, engaging, courteous, and quick to smile. Bored or intimidating people should be verboten at job booths.

Staff it with young people. Humans naturally gravitate toward people who look like them. So when you're on a college campus, that means putting young employees in your job fair booths. If prospective new hires don't feel they will fit in to your company's culture, they won't apply for a position.

Be on your best behavior. Make sure those who do staff your booth observe basic rules of job fair etiquette. Like not spending all of their time on their phones, or eating at the booth. And be sure they are out in front of their booth shaking hands and talking to job fair attendees.

Use visual aids. A generic sign and some brochures won't make your job fair booth stand out from the dozens of others in attendance. So incorporate large photos, charts, graphs, posters, and other aesthetically-pleasing items. Make sure your booth is well-lit and eye-catching.

Say it with color. Similarly, you don't want all of your visual aids to be monochromatic. Even if your company is associated with a particular logo or color scheme, it's still wise to integrate bright, vibrant colors in your booth. After all, you don't want your presentation to get lost in a row of other job fair booths.

Go with video. Running one or more videos is a great way to attract and keep attendees in front of your booth - where you can make contact and chat them up. Corporate videos, engaging slideshow presentations, and photos from company or volunteer events will work - or make a creative, funny video just for the job fair.

Spotlight available positions. People may not investigate a store if they think it's closed, and they won't take a good look at your company if they don't think there's a place for them. So be sure to display available job openings (and projected openings, if possible) so people can start to envision themselves as employees instead of job fair attendees.

Get creative with technology. If you want to think outside the box, turn to social media. Post Instagram photos on a screen taken by attendees at your booth. Or set up a Twitter account for the fair that advertises periodic prizes or drawings for attendees.

Don't forget the swag. At the end of the day, most of your job fair attendees are still college students - meaning they probably love free stuff. So placing candy, pizza, energy drinks, magnets, pens, drink coolers, and other items on display tables will improve traffic at your booth.

An army is only as good as its soldiers, and a company is only as good as its people. Hiring the best applicants starts with a top-notch recruitment strategy, a big part of which is an engaging booth at on-campus job fairs. So be sure these booths are equipped to help you win the "war" in your industry.

Chris Martin is a freelance writer about topics ranging from online reputation management to entrepreneurship to business finance solutions.