More to the point, is it worth going to one if I can only spend about an hour there? I was going to go to one tomorrow, but it begins at 3PM in one of the hotels near LAX, and I have a 6PM class at UCLA. The class is only once a week so I can’t afford to miss it. Given traffic, needing to get some food before class, and so on, I figure I’d have to leave the job fair around 4 or 4:30.
Any thoughts? I hate to miss a potential opportunity but this seems like it might be more trouble than it’s worth.
Short and sloppy, job fairs are like…fairs. Different booths, with different companies, taking apps, giving info on their companies. Perhaps, an on the spot interview. If there are no on the spot interviews, I wouldn’t bother, I would just find out what companies were represented, and email them, check their website, etc…
I can only speak for the tech/engineering job fairs I’ve been to in North Alabama - maybe they’re different in your area. For here, though, you just go armed with lots of resumes and leave them at any/all of the booths of the companies you have an interest in. They usually reciprocate with some basic information (pamphlets) about their company but there is rarely an interview involved. You could pass out a fair number of resumes in an hour.
They open bottles of Dom Perignon and give out iPhones as signing bonuses while they write out reply letters to everyone else saying that “they’ll get in touch”.
Be prepared for disappointment. Back when I lived in LA (late 80s) and was getting my start in software development, I used to go to such fairs quite often. I found them to be a total waste of time – you’ll meet a few HR types, give them a copy of your resume, and maybe if you’re lucky, you’ll get a rejection letter a few weeks later. If nothing else, at least you’ll get a little practice in the meet-and-greet, which will come in handy if you get a real interview.
These days, you’re probably better off using the web – I’ve gotten my last two jobs off Monster.com. Dice and CareerBuilder.com are also useful. A lot of recruiters troll the web sites looking for resumes – some of them are just looking to build up a database, but occasionally you’ll find one who’s worth her weight in gold, one who’ll set you up with one or more good interviews.
Can you get the list of companies attending? I would go thru that and see if there are any that interest you (and are located in towns you are willing to work in). If there are 2 or 3 that look very interesting then I think it would be worth it – you could get there when the doors open, visit your favorites and then be on your way.
Also, if find you some companies that you would like to talk with, see if you can email the HR rep listed on the Job Fair list to let them know that you’re interested and you look forward to talking with them at the fair.
I’ve manned a booth at these fairs many times. We basically just talk to the prospective employees and explain what we do and what we’re looking for in a potential staff member. We generally chat with each person for about five minutes. If we come across people who seem good prospects, we suggest that they put in an application and we also pass their names along to our HR people with a recommendation that an interview take place.
I think an hour would be worth it. The two jobs that I’m looking at for my post-college career are both jobs that I discovered at a career fair. Go armed with a ton of resumes and figure out who you want to talk to beforehand. It could end up being a very very wise career move.
All the job fairs I’ve gone to have been a waste of time (wait, that’s not entirely true, one had a Soul Calibur II machine in the cafeteria area).
I handed out a few resumes to HR people (or people that just got the job thrust onto them that morning as one guy admitted to me once) and they all seemed bored.
The one I hit it off with really well (one of those local adult education colleges) never got back to me and never returned my email/call when I tried to get in touch with him.
A lot of people showing up will be contractors looking to convert to FTE, so they already have both feet in the door. We do, occasionally, pick up a candidate off the street at a job fair.
We also hand out provisional offer letters on the spot, if you are good enough (or already working for us as a contractor and we want to convert you).
Lines may be quite long at each booth, as people are filling out applications and being interviewed. I wouldn’t go unless I could spend the entire afternoon there.
I work for a mega-corp and we took our job fairs very seriously until a few months ago (I am not so sure now). We really, really needed qualified, professional people and had a hard time finding them. Any recommendations from the job fair HR people would result in a quick route to the real interviews. They don’t hire people on the spot but it can be worth it.
The ones I’ve been to are lame. Everyone’s strolling around in their $99 JC Penny suit. You go talk to someone. They judge you on how many times you can suggest you’re a “go-getter,” “team player,” and “self motivated.” If you’ve hit the appropriate number of buzz words you might get a private talk. Usually you just get your free frisbee and/or keychain and are sent on your way.
Definitely go. Having a limited time available only means you’ll have to be organized to make the most of your time. The first thing to do is to to find a list of the companies that are attending. (This is often available on-line, on the website of whatever organization’s hosting the job fair.)
Go over the list and figure out what companies you most want to work for. Visit their booths first and save others that interest you for later if you have time. Do your homework before hand. Know what the various companies you intend to talk to are involved in, where their main locations are, etc. This way, you can speak intelligently to the company representatives and leave a good impression.
At each booth you visit, expect to spend a couple minutes talking to the company representative about the company and about your resume. Ask if they’re interviewing in the area any time soon. If so, ask to be put on the list. I got my first interview this way with the people I’ll be working for when I graduate.
I know this post has been kind of long but the whole thing comes down to this: be prepared and you can get plenty done in an hour or so.
It’s worth it. I found my first job out of the Navy at a job fair. In the weeks after accepting that job, I got calls for interviews from several more firms.
My background: I was getting out of the Navy a few years back, and had just finished a Master’s in Civil and Environmental Engineering. The university I was at wasn’t having an engineering job fair until late spring. Two other universities in the region were having job fairs specifically for civil/environmental engineering in early spring. I went to both. I got interviews and offers out of both.
ETA: I almost didn’t go to the second job fair, because it was pretty far away from my house, and I had an interview scheduled earlier in the day that would only allow me to go for an hour. However, the interview ended early enough that I made it, and I’m glad I did. That job fair led to the offer that I ended up accepting.