Are job fairs good places to seek employment?
Have you found a job that way? Are they better for some industries than others? How do you find out about them if they are good resources?
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“Are job fairs good places to seek employment?”
I guess, if you don’t mind being a “Carnie”.
@SirBailey Not clear what you mean. Someone who works in a carnival or traveling circus?
(@Marina, it was a joke. Albeit a bad one, but a joke nonetheless. Sorry.)
It depends on the fair. If you go to, for example, a job fair at a convention for your industry—that’s usually very good way to job search. If you go to an open job fair for a community, you’re less likely to find an actual job there in part because of the massive number of people who can (and do!) go. Also because I would send generalists to work the Chicago public job fair, but I send someone who knows that part of the business to the MBA women’s conference or the women in programming fair. Plus, at a very general fair, most of the jobs aren’t going to be stuff you are interested in—not your area.
My sister got her job through a job fair that was specific to her industry (she’s a software development engineer or something like that). She also got some call backs from that fair. Everyone was there for, basically, the same pretty specific thing so it was easier to figure out if a company was a good fit and get specific information. It was also easier to make contact with the people directly overlooking your resume.
With any job fair, you should be able to see what companies will be there ahead of time. Go to their website and look up what jobs they have to see if any interest you. You can even email them and say “I’m interested in blah and I’m going to this job fair, will someone knowledgeable about the area be there?” But usually less straightforward than that.
In my experience, no. As an Accounting professional with experience, very few employers are going to job fairs to look for that. I have yet to find anyone who had accounting openings at a job fair. I still go for the free pens however.
I’ve never had luck with job fairs, but that’s because in my professional capacity I don’t want to work for a company larger than about 200 people and because I don’t do Java. (Nor do I want to.)
They are good for entry level positions for right after you graduate from college.
my theory on whether somethings a good place to job hunt. “certainly can’t hurt…”
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