How to Run a Trades Career Day Booth That Gets Student Follow-Ups

Show one piece of work your crew actually does. Explain how a beginner learns it. Give interested students one next step you have confirmed with the school. A small crew can do that with a table, a sample, and a one-page handout.

For the wider hiring process, see the guide to recruiting apprentices in the trades. This checklist covers the career day booth and the handoff afterward.

Before the event: confirm the plan

NCCER recommends career days and contacting local schools when promoting construction careers. Ask the organizer:

• Where is your table, when can you set up, and is power available?
• Which materials and demonstrations are allowed? What safety limits apply?
• May students share contact details? If so, how may your crew record and use them?
• Which follow-up channel does the school approve?
• Are there age-related requirements to account for before offering a visit or application?

Choose one visual task from your crew’s work. A plumber could assemble dry pipe fittings on a table. An HVAC crew could explain a filter or airflow mockup. A painter could compare prepared and unprepared surface samples. Confirm your specific activity with the organizer.

Pack the approved materials, a finished sample or permitted photo, a small sign naming the customer problem, and copies of the handout below. Bring a way to record interest only if the school approves it.

At the booth: make the work easy to see

• Put the finished result where students can see it from the aisle.
• Have one crew member demonstrate while another answers questions, if two are available.
• Start with the customer’s problem before naming tools or materials.
• Reset the demonstration between groups.
• Point out the approved next step before students leave.

Try: “When a customer has [problem], we do [task]. This step matters because [plain-language reason].”

A sample 15-minute demonstration

Adjust this sequence to the student group and the organizer’s rules:

1. Minutes 0–2: Show the result. Name the customer problem it solves.
2. Minutes 2–6: Show one approved step. Explain what you are doing and why it matters.
3. Minutes 6–9: Describe a beginner’s first tasks. Say what your crew teaches and how it checks the work.
4. Minutes 9–12: Take questions. Cover a typical workday, training, career paths, and only pay details your business can verify.
5. Minutes 12–15: Give the next step. Point to the school-approved option on the handout.

NCCER identifies career paths and ongoing training as points to explain. Describe the paths and training you can discuss accurately for your own crew.

Make a one-page career handout

Fill in this template before printing. Use words a new crew member would understand.

What we do: [The work your crew does and the customer problem it solves]

Starting role: [A real entry role or type of first task; do not imply you have an opening if you do not]

What you learn first: [Two or three tasks a beginner would learn]

Training and supervision: [How your crew teaches and checks those tasks]

Pay: [Current, verified information for your business, or the approved contact who can answer]

Want to learn more? Ask [school-approved contact] about [approved next step].

Leave any unconfirmed detail off the printed sheet. Give the organizer a copy so the school knows what students are taking home.

Invite interest through the approved channel

Tell students how to use the handout. For example:

If this work interests you, take this sheet. Ask the school contact listed here about the follow-up option, and we’ll explain what a first step with our crew could look like.

Use the route you confirmed with the organizer. If the school does not permit direct collection of student details, do not start a sign-up list at the table.

The next business day: complete the handoff

• Assign one crew member or office person to handle follow-ups.
• Keep only the interest or contact information the school permitted you to record.
• Send what you promised through the approved channel.
• Arrange any conversation, visit, or application through the process agreed with the school.
• Note the questions students asked most often, then use them to improve the next handout and demonstration.

Before you load the truck, confirm the demonstration and follow-up route with the organizer. Then print the handout and practice the one step you plan to show.