employeeze

Traditionally career fairs have been held for blue collar, low-paying jobs or for new grads. They are announced in the local newspaper or via flyers on campus. In today’s connected world, they are also sent out as email blasts. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using this approach to find talent, but employers trying this approach to find senior talent will find it difficult to ovecome the stigma attached. But as the economy continues to suffer, candidates are willing to try *anything*, especially if they are on unemployment insurance and required to make a minimum number of efforts per week.

So how can you decide if a career fair is worth your time to attend? First of all, where did you hear about the event? Was it a big announcement in the local paper? If so, chances are it’s probably said “cattle call”, unless it specifically states that the companies are looking for the type of skills you have.

Generally, you should contact the organizer and ask what sort of positions are being advertised, and whether or not there is a candidate database where you can submit your resume for the potential employers to review it and set up appointments with you ahead of time. Or, conversely, if there are one or more companies attending that interest you, call the HR department and ask to speak to a recruiting assistant. S/he should be able to tell you the positions/type of candidate they are looking for.

A newer concept cropping up around the country is “networking” groups. I’ve been working with the Seattle Job Social Network and a couple of smaller more niche groups. I say newer, because it is a more targetd approach to joining candidates to hiring companies. These networking events feature companies that are hiring sharing their opportunities with a specific group of candidates. It’s advantageous all around because employers spend much less money, get their jobs advertised, and even if they don’t find the perfect candidate, they often will find someone that can help them make the right contacts. Candidates have the obvious advantage that they get direct contact with the people doing the hiring, instead of just applying to a website with no contact.