Effectiveness of Job Fairs in Recruiting
Simply Hired Staff
In the day of online job searching, the old-fashioned job fair seems just that—old-fashioned. Whether or not they’ve gone out of style, there are benefits to the personal recruiting that job fairs make possible. That said—they can always be more effective. Here are some tips, based on Simply Hired’s own data, which might improve the usefulness of your job fairs.
1) The right time for job fairs
Although job seekers search for fairs all year, there are times when interest peaks. User interest in job fairs is highest in October and lowest in December and January. As you can see from the graph below, job seeker interest begins to peak before job fair listings. A savvy recruiter might want to start their job fairs earlier.
2) The right location for job fairs
Looking at the popularity of job fair searches throughout the U.S., there is a greater concentration of interest in the South. Of the top 10 cities where searches for “job fairs” were made, nine were in the South. The lone outlier, Phoenix, was in the West.
- Houston, TX
- Myrtle Beach, SC
- Dallas, TX
- Tampa, FL
- Orlando, FL
- Phoenix, AZ
- Nashville, TN
- Irving, TX
- Shreveport, LA
- San Antonio, TX
3) Know the job seeker audience
Although job fairs can be used to recruit for many occupations, workers in some fields are more interested in job fairs than others. Job seekers who looked for job fairs also searched for jobs in the fields of sales, business and financial operations and community and social services.
The top 10 jobs searched for by job fair inquirers:
- Human Resources Specialists
- Retail Salespersons
- Educational, Guidance, School and Vocational Counselors
- First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers
- Registered Nurses
- Education Administrators, Postsecondary
- Customer Service Representatives
- Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
- Nursing Assistants
- Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food
4) People looking for job fairs have a targeted search
Job seekers looking for job fairs tend to know what they want. Job fair searchers are 26 percent more targeted than a job seeker not looking for job fairs. A job seeker going to the trouble of finding a job fair and attending one has a pretty good idea of what they want.
5) Chance to talk to other recruiters and judge the market
Some of the biggest companies attend job fairs. Attending a job fair to see how competitors are recruiting can be beneficial. This will also give you an idea of who is hiring for what positions and which companies are generating a lot of interest.
The top 10 companies that post listings related to job fairs:
