Job Fair is a good place to gauge labour market sentiment and are far from being obsolete!
Where did jobseekers go to discover open positions before the age of the Internet? Job fairs, of course! Yet, even in today’s digital world, job fairs are still very relevant. It is a place to network, create good first impressions and most importantly, have a first-hand feel of organisations and their company culture.
There were more than 6 job fairs held in Singapore last year, with 3 already planned for 2016. This bears testimony that job fairs are still very much in demand. Last year’s JobsCentral Career and Education Fair saw 70 exhibitors in attendance, all of whom had the chance to expose jobseekers to their job opportunities. Over 45,000 job applications were made during and in the days following the fair.
Apart from job fairs being a gathering point for both spectrums of the hiring world, there are also many other aspects which are important to both organisations and jobseekers. For example, establishing a presence at job fairs helps organisations to create awareness which in turn raises good employer branding. Being on the ground also means that your employees will be able to network with talents and vice versa. For instance, employers will be able to gain a better understanding of the market pool and their outlook by talking to potential hires. With this information in hand, they will be in a better position to manage their hiring expectations.
A job fair is a good place to gauge the labour market sentiment, be it from a recruiter’s or jobseeker’s point of view. The access to a large volume of candidates at job fairs also enables organisations to hire instantly should there be a right match, saving them time and effort spent on interview processes. An added advantage of all these interactions between candidates and employers means that talent pipelines are created, ensuring a ready pool of potential hires.
So, how can jobseekers and organisers maximise their exposure at job fairs? For the latter, one idea they should consider incorporating at their booth is to include laptops or tablets for interested candidates to access an organisation’s corporate and social media sites, or even to instantly upload their resumes into the system. This way, companies stand to benefit by having a mix of traditional and non-traditional hiring avenues.
