Job Fairs

Paul in Cannon Beach

Has anyone been to a job fair recently? Just curious to know what the atmosphere is like. I was scheduled to have a booth at a local job fair today but I had to call and cancel. We have no openings. Normally I might still go and do PR for our organization but I dont foresee openings anytime soon.

I am still going to go to the job fair this afternoon and network with my HR colleagues from my SHRM chapter. I am curious to see what the atmosphere will be like.

In the past, these job fairs have been fairly unproductive for me. They bus in a lot of the high school students and that creates a lot of traffic but little meaningful interaction with serious candidates. The other category of people I would see could be described as "unemployable".

Times have certainly changed though and it will be interesting to see whether the job fair atmosphere is different.

plynnl

From what I have seen in local news reports the job fairs in Portland are packed with people looking for work and not too many employers.

Paul in Cannon Beach

That is what I have heard in the news as well. I guess I will find out this afternoon.

debboyer

I went to a job fair a few weeks ago, and the faces have certainly changed. The ones I participate in are at college campuses. I am in Illinois and this is the first time I ever remember not seeing Caterpillar. I went to one a few months ago and they were there but not splashy like they had been in the past.

Paul in Cannon Beach

That is interesting. Was the military well represented?

debboyer

Not any more than usual. This last fair put all those businesses that are true and tried and show up to every job fair seem much more desirable. You could certainly tell that many of the kids were paying attention to businesses that they probably would not have before.

I know that on the campus where my daughter attends several students had received both internships and graduation jobs that have now been notified that those offers no longer stand. It is a very scary situation to most of the students many are opting for continued education as this may not be the best time to be entering the work force.

Paul in Cannon Beach

At the last job fair a group of high schoolers were talking to me about summer jobs. Here in a resort area, housekeepers start at $10 - 11 per hour. Maybe I am old fashioned but thats not bad money for a part-time unskilled job.

I tried to convince the high schoolers to consider a housekeeping job but they were simply not interested. This was a year ago. I wonder if the attitude towards less desirable jobs like housekeeping and dishwashing have changed.

KSR6450

Paul, did you notice any changes at this Job Fair from previous ones you attended? I'm curious about the differences you may have encountered.

Paul in Cannon Beach

I was there about mid afternoon. Apparently there was a large rush of applicants during the first couple hours of the job fair. Employers I talked with felt the response was much larger than in years past.

There did seem to be less employers represented than I remember in years past but not much. Perhaps just 5-10 percent less.

So, yes, the atmosphere was different and there were far more job seekers at the fair than in years past.

KSR6450

[quote=Paul in Cannon Beach;715982]There did seem to be less employers represented than I remember in years past but not much. Perhaps just 5-10 percent less.[/quote]

That isn't as drastic a drop as I would have thought; I suppose that means there are still jobs to be filled. Good news. =D>

Maybe not... [URL]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30350209/[/URL]

Do job fairs really help you land a job?
Applicants say events are overcrowded, offer few positions.

"many gatherings are overcrowded, so applicants get lost in the shuffle.
And many employers have few or no jobs to offer, using such fairs as more of a promotional tool or for community goodwill."

[B] [/B]