Hosting a career fair can be an amazing opportunity for recruiters and companies. Not only that you’ll get a chance to grow your talent pool, but you’ll also fill vacancies, network with talented individuals, and boost your employer brand.
If you want to make the most out of the event, you’ll need to take some time to carefully plan the job fair and think of creative recruitment ideas. From setting time and location to promoting the event, I’ve put together this guide to help you get started.
Choose Your Career Fair Team
Step one of a successful career fair planning is choosing the best team. These people will have to represent your company during the career event so make sure you pick the most experienced, communicative, and creative individuals.
You should consider working together with other recruiters in your company (if there are any) or with other HR staff. Why? Because networking is their strong point and they are trained to talk to potential candidates, present your company in the best light and deal with various administrative tasks.
Your team should also include hiring managers as they excel at screening and interviewing candidates. They can explain the job position clearly and answer any questions job seekers have. Lastly, you should also consider including an employee that has been with the company for some time. This employee should be able to provide an authentic and positive account of your company’s culture.
Find the Most Suitable Location for the Recruitment Event
If you’re planning the career event to be outside the office, you should choose the location at least 5 weeks before the big day. You should also consider all aspects of the location. How expensive is it to reserve the venue for the day? Is there parking on-site? Although a perfect location is hard to find and you’ll have a hard time pleasing all attendees, a convenient location with enough room for company booths and registration tables is a great option.
Think of Creative Ideas for Job Fair Booths
Attractive job fair booths may be what you need to stand out and attract potential candidates at your career event. You can have one booth that will represent your company culture, another for dropping resumes, and a third one for interviewing candidates.
To make sure you have creative booths with banners and pictures of your company, coordinate with designers. What’s more, don’t forget to order name tags for the people on your team, as well as business cards with contact details of the recruiters. Brochures are another valuable recruitment material in which candidates will find all the details they’re looking for.
Promote the Career Fair
How would you know that tomorrow is the release date of that new blockbuster movie? Because the studio invested in the promotion of the movie. The same applies to career fairs. If you want people to know that your company is organizing a career event, you should advertise it.
In my experience, the best promotion strategy includes:
- Putting the word out a few weeks before the career fair.
- Creating an event page on social media.
- Sending email invitations.
- Getting relevant event directories to announce your career fair.
- Using a media partner to promote the career fair to their readers or listeners.
- Working with sponsors who will promote the event in exchange for a booth.
Plan all the Activities That Need to Happen During the Event
A successful career fair planning includes proper logistics. You and your team should make a timeline of all the activities that need to happen during the career event. Have you invited any guest speakers? Have you organized career workshops? Review your timeline of planned activities so that attendees can enjoy the best experience.
What’s more, to make the most out of your career fair, you should have questions ready beforehand. You’ll be interviewing potential candidates and will have limited time with each one of them. You should prepare questions about your candidates’ interests and goals, questions about your company, and role-specific questions.
Take Care of Some Minor Details Before the Big Day
Before the big day, you should take care of the details so you don’t go running around at the last minute. At least 1 week out up to the career fair, you should:
- send reminders to your guests via email
- hold a final meeting with your team about their responsibilities during the career fair
- set up your venue
- order your food
- print out brochures, business cards
- have the name tags ready
- print out application forms
Make the Most Out of the Job Fair
The key to creating a successful career fair strategy is to promote your company as a desirable place to work and grow your talent pool. The best way to do this is by:
- Network with as many job seekers as possible to increase your chances of locating top talent.
- Provide candidates with interesting information about your company. They want to hear about open roles, your teams, job benefits, and growth opportunities.
- Interviewing for the job positions that are most difficult to fill.
- Keep interviews well-structured and brief. You don’t want your potential candidates to be turned off by long queues.
- Make sure you remember candidates that caught your eye or to call someone by writing down notes.
- Collect candidates’ resumes and contact details so you can review them and get in touch.
- Let candidates know when to expect to hear back from you.
Plan Your Follow-Up Process
There are several things you should do after hosting a career fair. You should get in touch with candidates that left you an impression to discuss details about the job. The earlier you contact potential candidates, the sooner they’ll be able to come in for an interview and start work at your company.
What’s more, you should also measure the success of the career fair. The best way to measure success is by asking yourself the following six important questions:
- How many people attended the event?
- How many people did you source during the career fair?
- Out of those candidates, how many possessed the right qualifications?
- How many people did you interview after the event?
- How many people did you hire to work for your company?
- How much time did you need to fill a position?
Final Word
Hosting a career fair can give your company a competitive edge. From accessing a large pool of qualified candidates to saving time and money, the benefits can be multiple. Not only that you’ll get to promote your brand, but you’ll also encourage talented job seekers to apply to work at your company and make long-lasting connections.
