Career Flux - job fair

How Can Employers Benefit From Job fairs?

By Ewan Cambell MacDougall Leave a Comment

Few employers are struggling to find employees at the moment with so many job seekers, but with such a saturated market it can be difficult to sort through such a wide variety of applicants. One tool that more small companies should be utilizing is a Job Fair.

Why You Should Attend Job Fairs

You may think that at times like this when finding applicants is relatively easy, the expenditure of visiting Jobs Fairs is unjustified; however for smaller companies it is now more than ever that you can find value at these fairs.

With so few jobs available, job seekers are greatly widening there net and applying to jobs that don’t really suit their backgrounds. Job Fairs allow you to target your potential applicants a lot more specifically as different Job Fairs are open to different groups of people. Most Universities hold several Job Fairs every year allowing you to target applicants not only by education level but often also applicants from particular fields of study. You will therefore only be talking to applicants that have the skills you require.

When you are receiving a large number of applications, it can be hard to give them all the attention they need, particularly if you are a smaller company. It can therefore be all too easy to mistakenly pass up good candidates because of simple flaws in their applications. Job Fairs allow you to quickly conduct miniature informal interviews with any potential applicants that are often much more effective for deciding if a candidate would be a good fit for your company than traditional application processes. Many Job Fairs have 1000s of attendees and you can easily talk to hundreds in one day meaning you get to know a lot more candidates a lot quicker. The strong ones will stick in your mind.

Although the fees for attending Job Fairs can be quite high, they are actually fairly good value; Job Fairs are well advertised to a well targeted audience. If you are attending a Job Fair, you can often then reduce your own recruitment budget. Many University Job Fairs will also include a link to your company website on their own site which can be great for your websites SEO. Your staff members attending the fairs also get an opportunity to see what’s going on at other companies; information you can use to improve your own environment.

How to Get the Best from Job Fairs

If you are a smaller company, it can feel like you are at a disadvantage at a Job Fair; you will often be competing alongside much bigger companies that job seekers will already be thinking of working for. However, this can actually work to your advantage; these big employers are drawing the traffic to the fair, but you have as much access to this traffic to broadcast your message too.

Job seekers, however, will be unlikely to talk with you if it’s not obvious who you are and what you do. It is therefore very important for you to create a booth and banner that put out not only your company name, but what it is you do and what you can offer employees. This banner stand is what will attract job seekers so make sure it’s good. There are a number of specialist companies like Marler Haley who have expertise in helping small businesses with this. You can check out their portable banner stands here.

Some companies will also try and attract people to their stand by handing out freebies. If your budget stretches to this, it can be an effective strategy, but try and make sure any gift you distribute is linked to your industry so that people coming to get it are actually potential employees and not just someone after a freebie.

When you do give out freebies (and even if you don’t), try and bundle it with more information about working for your company. Many job seekers suffer from information overload at a Job Fair, so your pitch can easily slip to the back of their mind by the end of the day and if you’ve given them all the details written down, it will be easy for them to follow it up later.

It is also very important that you are selective about which fairs you attend; if your budget only stretches to a small number of fairs, then pick the ones that are most likely to have the applicants you are looking for. This not only gets you the best value for your investment, but sometimes very niche fairs will give discounts to employers who fit them well.

If you think that attending a University Job Fair could be a good decision for your company, call the Career Centers at your local universities where there will almost certainly be someone happy to give you all the details of their upcoming Job Fairs and what specifically they can offer you.

Filed Under: For Employers, Guest Experts Tagged With: Employer, employers, job fair

Your Strategy For Career Fair Success

By Ewan Cambell MacDougall Leave a Comment

As many Universities approach their final semester of the year, the number of Career Fairs that they will be holding is likely to rise. Job/Career Fairs are something that not enough students take advantage of, and those who do attend them don’t always know how to get the most from them. Whatever stage of job hunting and career progression you are at, there will be something for you at a Career Fair. You just need to have a plan to get the most out of every fair you visit.

Make a plan

The most important first step is to make sure you are going to the right Job/Career Fair; look out for ones not just happening at your university but also at any surrounding cities. If you’re not looking to work for a bigger industry, the chances are a lot of the companies you want to meet will be quite selective about what fairs they attend. Particularly as the fee they have to pay to attend a fair can be quite an obstacle for many industries. Look out for a fair with a focus on your industry and if there are particular companies you are really interested in, check any online listings to see which ones they will attend. If you struggle to find this information, you could always contact companies directly to ask them; this shows you have initiative and are serious about wanting a job.

Research the Companies Online

Whilst you’re online, it’s a good idea to also research the companies that you are particularly interested in. Doing this, you can establish exactly which questions you want to ask and it will help you seem well informed to any potential employers. Remember, if you don’t get a chance to research a particular company in advance, there will be lots of literature available on the day that you can skim whilst you’re waiting for your turn to ask questions.

Study the Display Stands Closely

Another top tip would be to study their display stands closely. I work with Nimlok banner stands that make these displays, and I know that companies put a lot of effort into making sure the most crucial information is displayed there. You don’t want to ask a question that is already answered right in front of you.

Find Out Locations In Advance

At the bigger fairs, it’s also helpful to look in advance at the online plan of where all the companies will be located. If you’re fighting to get through crowds, you don’t want to miss any company that could be helpful to you. However, you also don’t want to waste time visiting booths in an illogical order.

It Might Turn Into a Preliminary Interview

A lot of employers actually treat Job Fairs as a preliminary interview, so it’s good for you to do the same if you are talking to companies that you want to work for. It wouldn’t hurt to wear a business suit and come prepared with a concise pitch that sells you as a good candidate different from any other. Don’t forget if you want to practice your pitch, you can always try it out on other companies that you’re less concerned about first. Who knows they may even change your mind about them.

What to Bring

Wearing business attire is perhaps the most obvious way to make an impact on employers but they will also notice the little things. For example, if you bring a smart notebook and write things down you will seem well organized; these notes will also come in handy later as you might find the fair over loads you with information. If you take note of any contact details, you can then follow up any conversations keeping you at the forefront of an employer’s mind.

It’s also a good idea to bring some C.V. copies as a lot of employers will collect these from job seekers they see potential in. Another good reason to have your C.V. with you is that many Job fair organizers will have people there who can critique these for you. This can really help you learn how employers will look at your C.V.

Don’t Miss Out On an Opportunity

Even if you’re not actively looking for a job at the moment, Job/Career Fairs could still have something for you. Those in employment can get up to date with the job market and learn what opportunities are available to them while those who are a long way off graduation can find out details about the application process. Many students are often surprised by how long this process is; you might need to start applying sooner than you think.

Career Fairs are such useful resources which can be wasted or misused by so many job seekers. Make sure you’re not one of them by becoming proactive when it comes to finding fairs and preparing for the event. If this is done well, your chances of success at finding a job will improve dramatically.

Filed Under: College Graduates And Interns, Guest Experts, Job Fairs, Job Search Tagged With: C.V., career fair, employers, Interview, Job, job fair, job market

6 Places To Look For Jobs

By Mona Samar 2 Comments

Looking for a job demands a high level of focus and a proper direction. It doesn’t help just flapping around haphazardly in desperation trying to get ‘anything’ to work for and then getting frustrated when your employment goals are half met or not met at all. Fortunately, in this information age, there are myriad channels that you can use for a meaningful and fruitful job search. Let us examine 6 places to look for jobs among some of these channels where we can direct our job search.

1. Internet – World Wide Web

A couple of decades ago, you didn’t need to go ‘online’ to search for a job – there was no ‘online’. Nowadays, most people in most countries have to go online and use the internet to search for a job. More and more companies are opting to receive job applications online only. Even people with traditional mindsets would agree that using internet is part and parcel of our job search now.

Searching for jobs on the internet is quite simple. Just entering the term ‘jobs’ on Google returns hundreds of thousands of pages for you to browse. However, the sheer number of pages returned in such a way can overwhelm anyone, so it is important to direct your search in a more focused way.

Career/Job Advice Sites: At present, there are scores of career and job related websites, like the one you are on, providing free and valuable advice. Visiting only a few of the good ones will give you an idea of how to organize your job search and more important, which job boards (sites) to follow.

Job Search Engines: Anyone familiar with such a search would know that the leading job search sites include careerbuilder.com, monster.com, indeed.com and simplyhired.com among many others. Most of these sites let you post your resume free of cost or for a small fee for employers to scan.

Social Media: In recent times, the concept of Social Media Networking has exploded onto the scene. A job searcher can make full and rewarding use of it by getting registered on a site like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or MySpace and these versatile portals would throw job opportunities back at you like popping corns.

Companies’ Websites: If you have already gone through the grind of deciding upon which particular industry you want to go in, find out the companies suitable to your search. Now make sure to each of their websites as they post any available positions under ‘careers’ etc. Many a times, that is the only place they advertise as they think anyone really interested to work for them would visit them on the web to find out about them.

Government Run Job Boards: Most governments these days, national or local, run their own job boards and these are a very valuable resource. The credibility of advertisers on such job boards is high and you are less likely to waste your time up blind alleys. Type in your city, state or area name along with the word ‘jobs’ and you are sure to get a ‘jobs available’ page by the relevant authority.

2. Newspapers

When I graduated from college and university a couple of decades ago, the main source for our job search used to be the good old Newspaper. We used to get a ‘jobs available’ page on the Wednesday and Saturday editions. Although I mostly use the web now to help my clients, the joy of the rustle of newspaper and the excitement of going through the vacancies remain unmatched since then. My peers from that time would acknowledge that.

National Newspapers: The newspaper in its ‘paper’ form is on the way out slowly. Still, you can scan through the week-end editions of good national newspapers even now. If you are looking for big corporation or companies, a national or state level newspaper is the one to read.

Local Newspapers: For jobs in and around the area you live in, local newspapers are still your best bet, even compared to the web. The classified ad sections in these papers contain a treasure of local jobs from companies that are likely to be familiar to you. These ads are likely to seem more ‘real’ to you as compared to some distance and unknown employer and company on the web.

3. Networking

In the previous point, I mentioned about the ‘romance’ with newspapers relating to job search in the times gone by. Another channel at that time to secure a job was networking with the people you know and, in turn, they know, for jobs. Talking to your friends, friends of friends, acquaintances, relatives and even people like your grocer or hairdresser could get you job leads. Mercifully, this kind of channel is still alive and actually kicking. Any employment counselor worth his salt would tell you how effective networking with other people for your job search is, even and more so in this day and age.

Despite all the hype of job boards and numerous such avenues, networking remains the single most effective way to get a real job. The reason for this, among other things, is that a large percentage of available jobs are nested in what we call the Hidden Job Market. An aggressive and focused networking approach would land you a job faster than any professional person or organization can help you with.

4. Job Fairs

If you keep yourself abreast of all activities in the job market, you are sure to come across notices of Job Fairs happening in your town or city. Sometimes these fairs are held by aforementioned non-profit organizations while other times by a single big company itself. Going to a job fair might not guarantee you a job but would certainly help you get familiar with a lot of them. You would be able to talk to someone from the companies advertising there who would actually be eager to tell you more about them as opposed to if you cold called them. In addition, you can drop your resume there and then. Most of these companies put those resumes in their data bank and go through them when a position comes up. As a result, you are one step ahead of your competition at a later stage.

5. Recruitment/Staffing Agencies

Check into the Yellow Pages of your area and you are bound to come across a bunch of recruiting or staffing agencies. Call them or pay a visit to their office. Be clear about your target and explain it to them. They are in the job business only so you may find what you are looking for with them. Only thing to watch out is that some of them may have expensive services and there is absolutely no need to spend a large amount of money for your job search in this booming information age.

6. Non-Profit & NGOs

One of the positive offshoots of civilized society is that we have a lot of non-profit or non-governmental organizations working in various areas for the betterment of society in general. Many of them run very resourceful employment programs and are doing laudable work in this field. Look up in your area or city for such agencies and you are sure to find useful leads for your job search.

With so many resources available to you all around, its time to take a deep breath and embark on your job search journey. Good luck!!

Note: You can start searching for jobs at our JOBS page right away.