Job Fairs are a Waste of Time

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who has landed an offer as a result of attending a job fair.  You know the kind I mean.  You show up with a few dozen copies of your resume and are herded down lines of look-alike booths hosted by companies you’ve never heard of, collecting handouts and brochures in a plastic bag.   

I remember to going to one job fair in New York City just after I graduated from college.  At the time, I thought it was a good opportunity to network with corporate executives, except I didn’t realize that the people who typically work job fairs are low-level human resources or recruitment staffers who are just looking to get through the day and add a few hundred names to the database.

Perhaps job fairs are good sources of company information, but today, couldn’t you just get that online, without having to waste time getting all dressed up and commuting out to some convention hall?  And in terms of meeting people who work at the organization and are in a position to hire you, wouldn’t you be better off going to a relevant conference or setting up an informational interview? 

I look at attending a job fair the same way I look at posting your resume online and just sitting back and waiting for something to happen.  You can tell yourself that you’re looking for a job by doing these things, but if you want to locate viable opportunities that will result in interviews at the very least, you’re going to have to get a whole lot more active.  An active strategy includes researching specific companies that do the work you’re interesting in pursuing, and then using personal contacts or online channels to get yourself introduced to the right people in the organization.  

 

 

Comments

[Kevin@OutOfYourRut]

Job fairs can look impressive, but the only thing they seem to offer for the most part are sales jobs. You don't need to go to a job fair for that!

It's almost akin to going to a bar looking for a date--the prospects are there, but so is the competition. Plus, you can never be sure how serious any of the prospects are or exactly what they're looking for.

If you're unemployed and have the time, go for it--what the heck. But there are better places to look.

Good post.

[Kingsley Tagbo]

You're right. Job fairs are about the worst way to try to find a job. Companies who recruit from college campuses are an exception. They tend to be pretty serious about finding real talent.

[Oscar Hernandes]

Great article. Sharing it on my HireLabs fan page. The purpose is to let people know what jobs fair actually are.

[Katherine]

I actually did get a job from a job fair at my university about 6-8 weeks before graduation. However, I hated the job, and I quit to take another job for less pay before I had even graduated!

[Alexandra Levit]

@Katherine: Interesting, I wonder if the mass recruiting approach was an issue.

@Oscar: Thanks for that!

@Kingsley: Yes, I would agree with that. College recruiting is a lot more targeted. A lot of work goes into each visit before it occurs.

@Kevin: I love the date analogy, it's right on! Thanks for the comment.

[Jon]

I went to one in Connecticut last week. The line was literally out the door. As I stood in line, I thought to myself this is not the way to go about finding a job. I wondered if some companies were there just to promote themselves. There were a couple of sleazy recruiters there. You know the kind. They pretend they own a big corporation, but in reality they are probably just running their little outfit from their house. One guy, who looked like one of the Hanson brothers from Slap Shot but with a frown and not much of a personality, gave me a really crappy, too large business card. The back of it looked liked a deck of open cards, i.e, poker cards--hey, that is how I see it. There must be some symbolism there somewhere. Poker and a Job Fair are similiar because of what?

This aside, there were a couple of conferences in a few side rooms. One was about fixing up your resume. The guy said my resume was great, but I should keep off my dates. I told him if I showed my resume to ten people, I would get ten different opinions on how to fix it.

The other conference was about networking as demonstrated by Michael Goldberg, which was actually pretty good. Even he said in so many words that the job fair will only get you so far. So it wasn't a total waste.

As I left, I felt like a loser, and thought to myself, I am just not motivated to do anything but watch free streaming movies on Netflix. At that moment I said, this too shall pass. If you go to a job fair, a case can be made that you wasted that day. Do it once, just to get it out of your system. Then figure out a better way to find a job.