Please share your experience of going to Job Fairs .. specially if you are a new graduate ..
Did you find them useful? what type of companies attracted you and how did you interact with the various companies at the fair..
By the end of your visit what did you achieve and how would you move forward in terms of next steps after the job fair ..
Re: Job Fairs ..
I'm not a new graduate and i didn't have any good experience with any job fair. I laid off 3 years back and i used to live in NY every other week or so i had to go to Job fair but no success. Best thing is if you have any connection in any company you will get the position. In job fair you have only minute or two to express yourself and tell recruiter about your experience. Good luck with that if you are a new graduate.
Re: Job Fairs ..
Please share your experience of going to Job Fairs .. specially if you are a new graduate .. Did you find them useful? what type of companies attracted you and how did you interact with the various companies at the fair..
By the end of your visit what did you achieve and how would you move forward in terms of next steps after the job fair ..
Job fair = lots of free stationary! :p (Seriously, lasts me a year :d)
Job fairs are only helpful if you are good at talking! I have a friend who landed a job with Microsoft and he got the interview through a job fair. Personally, when I see a company taking resumes from every single person, I know right away those resumes are going to trash. (atleast I assume so, who has time to go through 100ss of hard copy resumes when you can use online filter systems more efficiently??)
I always try to get personal email address and follow up! [email protected] doesnt help much!
Company info sessions on campus are a different story.
Re: Job Fairs ..
From the HR perspective , they cant just throw away CV's , yes they may have other easier alternatives to sift through soft copies , but believe me companies are always on the lookout for innovative ways of getting the best of the best .. when they do the job fairs they actually come with the expectation that they will go back with a bunch of paper CV's ... that they then sift and choose the best candidates from ..
you can always offer to take their email ID and and send them through a soft copy later on , but do hand over your paper CV as well ...
Re: Job Fairs ..
I went to 6-7 job fairs and i did get 2-3 interviews. they have loads of innovative stationary in these career expos. :D
if career infos are through university then you get to see booths of reputable companies, but they are mostly hiring for sales jobs.
its better to do a lot of research on a single company before you talk to their representatives.
ps. Job fairs are good for the people who have work experiences and they know what exactly they are looking for. if you recently graduated then you cant get much out of job fair, except for cool stationary.
ps2. i dont know about UK or USA, but the job fairs in canada (if they are not through ur uni-school-college) are mostly showcasing small colleges, investment or insurance companies or military recruitment agencies.