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Maximize Your Cleared Job Fair Return on Investment

Hiring events are an effective part of a successful cleared recruiting and brand building strategy. Meeting face-to-face with numerous candidates all in one place is a great opportunity to screen talent and find your next great hire. In just a matter of hours, job fairs offer the chance to meet with prospective candidates, network with other organizations and recruiters, and increase your brand awareness. Hiring events are a triple win for your investment, but you need to be sure your team is properly prepared to make the most of your attendance.

As you gear up for your next hiring event, consider these insights to ensure success:

Before the Event

Determine Who Will Represent Your Company

As you plan your company’s presence at a job fair, keep in mind some strategies for success. Setting goals in advance will help you decide who to send. Do you want to make on-the-spot offers? Or schedule interviews for a later date? It’s helpful to bring hiring managers if you plan to conduct in-depth interviews at the event.

Always send at least two representatives so your attendees can take a break without leaving your booth unattended. But be sure not to have too many representatives staffing your booth at one time. A mix of recruiters and hiring managers is a good approach, and you may want to have your reps work in shifts. Having more than 3-4 company reps in your booth at once leads to a wall of representatives that may be intimidating for candidates.

Organize Your Branding

Consider having a handout that conveys your unique selling proposition. Maybe you offer better benefits than your competition, a unique corporate culture, a broad range of contracts that allow for growth, etc. You want to be sure that whatever makes you better than your competition stays with candidates of interest.

Giveaways seem to be a race for the next great thing. Just keep in mind usefulness and shelf life, which is the main purpose of a giveaway – to stick around long enough that your brand is imprinted in the job seeker’s mind.

Prepare Your Staff to Think Beyond Their Specific Needs

Talented candidates may have interest in positions that are not directly handled by the company representatives at the event. You don’t want to lose those folks, so how will you make sure they have a good experience, receive pertinent details, and know whom to follow up with? Don’t miss the opportunity and turn talented candidates away because your representatives are not properly informed beyond their specific and immediate needs. Your results can vary greatly depending on the talent of the staff attending the event. So maximize your success by preparing your representatives ahead of time.

Share the Word About Your Event Participation

Use your communication and social media channels to publicize that you’ll be at the event and ready to talk to qualified talent. If you help amplify the message, the event will be a greater success for you. We promote our events on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, so spread the word if you or your team are active on those platforms. There could be a passive prospective candidate who follows you online that might take the initiative to meet up and find out more about the opportunities you offer.

At ClearedJobs.Net, we also send a pre-registrant file one week prior to our events. We urge you to contact job seekers of interest and encourage them to attend. That extra touch from you can help determine whether or not they decide to brave the traffic, rain, heat, cold or other obstacles that may make them decide not to come the day of the event.

We also encourage you to take advantage of our offer to preschedule interviews for your on-site team. Send us potential candidates and we’ll do the legwork to try to set up interviews for you.

At the Event

Be Welcoming

Don’t create a wall by having too many representatives in your booth at one time. That can be intimidating. It’s often better to stand in front of your table versus sitting behind the table in a chair. You’ll be more approachable and active on your feet.

Also limit cell phone use. It’s amazing how many job seekers will walk right by a booth if the representatives are looking at their phones. Some job seekers are shy or easily intimidated, and they may assume that something very important is happening on that phone, and don’t want to bother or interrupt.

“Go to the Website and Apply”

Job seekers often misunderstand these words, prompting a common complaint we receive in our job seeker surveys. They think it’s a brush off – and it may be depending on the candidate. But your company brand survives much better in that interaction if you tell them briefly why you’re asking them to apply on the website.

Don’t Be Offended If They Don’t Know Who You Are

Job fairs can be stressful, company names confusing, and memories short. Sure it’s annoying when someone walks up and asks what your company does, but remember not all candidates have had the time to research all participating companies. They may still be an excellent fit for your organization.

Take Advantage of Private Interviews for the Right Candidates

We typically provide a private interview room at our job fairs, so your team can take advantage of a more in-depth discussion with high-potential candidates. Utilize these or other areas at the venue away from the booth whenever possible. That sends a clear message to the candidate that they’re special and of keen interest to you.

Alternatively, be sure that they get to talk to more than one of your company representatives. That also sends a signal of clear interest to a candidate.

Don’t Leave Early

Leaving early makes everyone look bad. So although things will slow down at the end of events, s­­tay by your booth, organize your materials, and network with colleagues. That dream candidate you’ve been waiting for all day may show up at the last minute. It does happen.

After the event

Follow Up

When all is said and done, you may have a hefty stack of resumes and business cards, interviews scheduled, or leads for future talent pipelining. Follow up with candidates of interest right away. Don’t let them get away! At ClearedJobs.Net, we send you a final resume file of all registrants and walk-in candidates the morning after the event to ensure you don’t miss out on promising candidates. A job fair is a big investment of your recruitment budget and with the right preparation and execution you can guarantee a big bang for your buck.