Job Fairs Suck: Part I

Yes I said. I know its shocking, no one actually says that out loud. I think most would agree under conditions anonymity that they have at least thought it. 


I've had the privilege or unfortunate experience of being on both sides of the job fair table. It really doesn't matter what side you're on, the person walking around with 100 freshly printed copies of their resume or the employer representative tasked with putting on a good face for the company, its an utter waste of time. We're talking hours of my life that I'll never get back. Lost on a pointless exercise of hand shaking, paper passing unproductive, pointless waste of energy. I've never seen or heard of anyone landing a job at a job fair or finding a fantastic candidate at t job fair. I suppose its possible, but highly unlikely. I'd rather have a root canal than step foot in another job fair.


Now that I got the general dislike that I have about the concept of job fairs off  my chest, we can get into why they suck so much. Just to clarify, there are three parties involved in the whole job fair circus; job seekers, employers and the hosting organization. There are only two losers in this set up; the job seekers and the employers. The hosting organization wins because it earns money for planning, convincing employers to pay to participate and wooing in job seekers with hopes of finding employment. 


So why do job fairs such for job seekers and employers? Glad that you asked. 


Job fairs suck for job seekers because:


1. Job fairs give false hope. If you're unemployed, stuck in a job that sends you  into panic attacks or need to earn more money to make the rent, those advertisements for job fairs sound better than a Golden Ticket to Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory. You pull out your best suit, prepare enough copies of your resume to wall-paper the venue and set off confident that you'll find a new job. You might even stand outside to get into the venue in poor weather with the scores of other job seekers. All of this to be told to apply online for open positions or worse yet that there are no open positions.


2. Many employers participate in job fairs even if they are not currently hiring. It seems like common sense, if an employer participates in a job fair, there must be jobs available. This is not true. In many cases employers will participate in a job fair because its good marketing, they want the company name and log on the marketing material, they have participated every year for the past 50 years or somebody's friends is the coordinator of the event. There are a thousand reasons why a company would set up a table at a job fair and not have one single job to fill. In the event that the company is hiring, be prepared to be told to apply online. Most employers no longer accept paper resumes and applications until you arrive for an interview. If they do, that means an actual human has to enter your information into an applicant tracking system, and well no HR professional, no matter how junior, is going to sign up for that voluntarily. 


3. The contacts you make will not likely be useful. There is a misconception floating around that human resources is control of the hiring and firing within an organization. While it is true that human resources manages the process from an administrative standpoint, human resources does not hire or fire anyone except human resources employees. With that being said, at job fairs you will probably encounter very junior human resources personnel at job fairs. Human resources professionals at the executive or management level, with any amount of influence that could be of benefit to you, do not attend job fairs. Its not a good use of their time. The contact that you really want to make is the hiring manager for the position you are interested in perusing. Unfortunately, hiring managers rarely if ever even know that a job fair is going on nevertheless attend one. Your time would be better served searching LinkedIn or networking in some of other way.


4. Jobs above the clerical or entry level position are rarely sourced at job fairs. Entry and clerical level jobs are usually the jobs of choice for job fairs. If this is the type of job that you are looking to land, you might fair slightly better. For those seeking management, professional or other skilled positions, it is highly unlikely that those jobs will be advertised. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that as explained in reason number three, junior level human resources staff usually attend job fairs. These will typically not be the human resources staff tasked with recruiting for professional and management level positions. Secondly, these types of positions are generally recruited for through other means more geared toward this level of employee. 


5. Job fairs distract you from finding a job. Preparing for job fair takes energy. The energy spent preparing for the job fair could have directed to other more productive and efficient job search methods. There is also a tendency to slack off on your job search because you plan to meet 300 employers at a job fair. In addition to wasting mental capacity, job fairs waste your actual physical time. The time spent at a job fair cannot get recaptured, its lost. 


These are the top reasons why job fairs suck in my opinion. But if you insist on attending one anyway, I can't let you completely waste your time. Job fairs can suck less for job seekers if:


1. You are strategic. This means planning and doing some preparation PRIOR to attending the job fair.

•  Locate a list of the attending organizations and review their website. Determine if the company has any positions that you are interested in and apply for those positions. 
• Make a note of the jobs and job numbers or codes for each job that you apply. 
• When you attend the job fair be armed with this information and only stop by tables of those companies that you have submitted an online application. 
• Use this time to follow-up and inquire as to your status. Try to get a contact name as well, such as the hiring manager and follow-up with that person the same day of the job fair.

2. Collect business cards. Collect as many business cards as you possibly can. This includes cards of other job seekers as well. Immediately when you get home, search for the contact on LinkedIn. The point here is to build your network. That individual person may not be a good resource for you right now, but you never know how far their network extends and when a person in their network may be a good contact for you.


3. Don't waste your time mass distributing your resume. You'll notice a box under the table. That's where the resume is going to end up. Most recruiters keep a "hot file" of top candidates. If your resume goes in the box, its forgotten. If you have successfully completed tip one, then you should only distribute resumes if one is requested.


4. Stock up on office supplies. I mean really, I couldn't leave this one out. 


Tomorrow, Its all about  human resources professionals that have to attend these things. I'll tell you why it sucks to be you on job fair day and how you can make it suck a little less.