Job Fair

HRCathy

I went to a job fair yesterday, and there was an interesting group of people attending.

I collected resumes, and in hindsight, should have not taken them. One guy actually got upset with me because I don't have part time, and I don't pay enough for him. He believes that I should not only make an excepption for him, but that I should not have gone to the job fair if I was not giving opportunities to work. It was an interesting day.

I told every candidate that they had to go into the office and fill out and application. Some asked if they could leave a resume, and I accepted it. I have no intention of calling any of these people back. It was still better than a day at the office, and great people watching, but now I have a stack of resumes that I don't want.

Do I have to consider these people applicants? I have job openings, but none of these resumes will fit what I am looking to fill. Can I shred these, or do I have to add them to my applicant tracking form and keep them?

Thanks! What is even scarier, is they all have my name now. The calls are already coming in. Yikes...

ray a

When I've gone to job fairs I have also accepted resumes and treat them the same as if they had mailed them to me in response to a job ad or if they had dropped them off at my facility. If I'm hiring engineers and someone hands me their resume at a job fair and they have engineering background, I treat it as a solicited application. If someone drops off their resume at a job fair and we do not have openings or do not employe their skill, I chuck it.

HRCathy

Great, thanks for the information. I thought I might be ok doing that, but I wanted to be sure. I was very disappointed with the candidates at this job fair. Have a great weekend!

C Wilson

I know what you mean about them all having your name. A couple of years ago I had someone I met at a job fair call me and ask me out for a date!(I didn't even remember him). The fact I am married didn't act as a deterrent. He eventually disappeared, but it was a scarry couple of weeks.

I will be attending the same job fair next week. I have actually found some great employees there. I just hope the wierdos stay at home. I keep the applications for anyone who's qualifications meet the requirements of any open positions that I may have & shred the rest.

ACU Frank

That reminds me...

What are you doing Saturday night?

HRCathy

I've had that type of thing happen too. I believe that some of them think that flirting will help them get a job. One guy told the person next to me that Satan runs the Internet and he wouldn't apply for a job through the Internet. I think we should write a book on our favorite lines from job fairs. I'm sure it would be very interesting.

Paul in Cannon Beach

Wow.. job fairs. Great subject. I am going to part of one in April. My first "career fair" so it should be interesting.

I have attended "summer job fairs" for years because our organization hires about 90 summer staff. We mostly recruit at colleges and campus groups.

What I am seeing is that less students are coming to these job fairs because they know they can go online and get the information. Why bother talking to some strange recruiter (except for romance apparently) when you can go online at your convenience?

The career fair in April should be interesting. I am going partly to represent my organization and our career opportunities and also to represent our SHRM chapter. We will be sharing interview tips and helping people spruce up their resumes.

I dont have any really odd recruiting stories but I would advise everyone to remember to bring breath mints.