Growing up, many people were told to “pound the pavement” when they wanted to find a job. As recruiters, you know that “pounding the pavement” is no longer an option for most job seekers. Sure a few small retail shops might advertise their need for help in their shop windows, but most job searching is done online. That does not mean, however, that you should limit your recruiting to the internet (as wonderful a tool as it may be).
Don’t get me wrong — the internet is fantastic. Thanks to advances in wifi internet service, people can be online all day no matter where they are. This means that someone can job search just as easily from their tablet in bed as they do from their laptop in a coffee shop. There are, however, other ways to find potential recruits for the placements you need to fill.
One of the best ways to find hopeful recruits is to participate in job fairs. Like Matt Krumrie said in his article for ZipRecruiter:
“Job fairs allow recruiters access to hundreds of job seekers and candidates in one central location. It’s an easy way to meet candidates face-to-face, promote your job opportunities and introduce your company to a wide variety of professionals.”
Of course, not all job fairs are created equal. Here are some tips for finding the best recruits for the positions you need to fill.
Attend job fairs that cater to your field. There are a lot of “general” job fairs out there. These are good places for finding entry level applicants and sharing basic information about your company or field. They do not, however, tend to attract highly skilled recruits. General job fairs are, as much as we hate to use this label, for the desperate. Instead of attending all of the fairs, concentrate your effort on those that will attract the exact talent you need. Your ROI will thank you.
The one exception to this is job fairs for veterans. Many vets have a difficult time finding employment after they get home in spite of the fact that they literally spent years learning a trade or a skill. You’ll find highly qualified applicants at these fairs. And–a bonus for your clients–hiring veterans offers some awesome tax benefits to their employers.
Make sure the booth you create at the job fairs you attend is well designed and properly staffed. Don’t just sit a couple of interns behind a table with a pile of fliers. Instead, make the booth interactive. Set up some web-based information capture portals. Staff the booth with experts who understand what the job entails and are excited about the field.
Using the Web
Incorporating the web into your job fair presence and recruitment practice is important. Why?
Your potential recruits are likely more comfortable using the web than they are talking to strangers. Having a station with a web-enabled tablet will give them a way to sign up to hear more from you or to send you their resume/CV without having to make awkward introductions. While most people stopping at your booth will be happy to talk to you, there are some introverts who will appreciate having the option to choose their contact method.
You can show potential recruits more with an interactive display than you can with a flier. Having a presentation loaded onto a few devices will allow your potential recruits to “meet” your clients and to decide if they are a good fit for the positions for which you are recruiting. You can also walk them through your onboarding process right then and there if you think someone would be a good fit for your client.
Collecting information is better than handing it out (though you should, of course, have some sort of tangible takeaway for job seekers). It puts the burden of contact on you, instead of forcing you to sit and wait to see if anybody actually contacts you after meeting you. When you are the one reaching out, you’re more likely to get a positive response. And collecting information via information capture apps is far more accurate than having someone fill out a signup sheet or adding their name to a list.
In addition to being more accurate, using digital information capture methods, helps you protect potential recruits’ privacy–something that a “sign up for our email list” sheet offers.
Using the web to enhance your job fair offerings is a fantastic way to combine modern recruitment tools with old school recruiting methods. We hope these tips will help you reach as many potential recruits as possible.
