“Great vision without great people is irrelevant.”  – Jim Collins, Good to Great 

Chances are, that at some point in your life, a person of influence encouraged you to adopt a “roll with the punches” attitude. Mom, Dad, a teacher, coach, supervisor, or boss urged you to do whatever it took to find a solution to a major problem, get through a tough time, or simply to forge ahead when the going got tough. 

Well, if ever there was a time to heed such advice, it would be 2020—a year of historic unemployment, of radical changes to the norms of everyday life, of widely varying opinions about how to meet and overcome the challenges wrought by Covid-19. 

For staffing agencies, a 2020-style rolling with the punches attitude means adjusting operations to continue servicing the staffing needs of clients who are also experiencing upheavals, all while complying with social distancing guidelines. While some industries have suffered massive lay-offs, other sectors are booming and clamoring to fill many open positions.

Enter the virtual job fair. While not new to the world of recruiting, this online option has jettisoned to the forefront as an excellent way for staffing firms to continue providing quality candidates to fill a myriad of job openings, many in fields considered essential to both the economy and the livelihood of individuals and families.

In addition to the virtual space where candidates can interact with recruiters, other perks include—

  • Platforms that provide a fully customizable look for a brand-specific experience
  • The opportunity for candidates to network with other candidates
  • The option to view presentations given by the host organization
  • The ability to post videos, documents, and job applications for immediate access by candidates

The Benefits of Going Virtual

Less expense

With no venue to rent, no transportation costs to haul equipment and marketing props, less administrative planning, and event management expense, the cost to host a virtual fair over a traditional job fair can be substantially less.

Higher candidate attendance

A virtual job fair removes travel and time constraints and adds convenience in the form of mobile access. These bonus factors cannot help but increase candidate attendance.

“One of the biggest benefits of hosting your fair online is the ability to reach a much wider audience,” notes Melissa Van Dyke. “With a physical fair, your audience is limited to those in the immediate area who have the ability and time to travel to the location. A virtual career fair allows you to attract candidates from all over the world to learn more about your open positions and speak directly with your recruiters.”

Offers an expanded time frame

Unlike a traditional, in-person job fair hosted on “Wednesday 2-5 pm” or “Monday 6-9 pm,” a virtual event can go on indefinitely.

As noted by Ammara Zubair, “Equipped with tremendous flexibility to run for days, weeks or months, a virtual career fair can be set up to be live as long as the host prefers, a perk that no physical hiring event could offer without draining the recruitment budgets in a hurry.”

Saves recruiters time after the event

Functions within the platform, such as resume search tools, make quick work of sorting through candidates, and allows for an immediate shortlisting of talent.

4 Tips for a Successful Event

Recruitics suggests:

  • Incorporate your brand into the virtual platform with the visual “display booth” and include company videos and news, company locations on a map, and social media channels.
  • Offer new material not found on the company website as a gesture of appreciation for their time. For example, information helpful to their job search such as interview tips, employee testimonials, and “day in the life” videos.
  •  Organizations that wish to maintain transparency (that would be all of us) should have each attendee complete a waiver and release form, indicating that interactions during this online event will be saved/recorded.
  • Compile a messaging sheet of standard responses that recruiters, who are operating the online booth, can pull from to ensure consistency in company branding. A “cheat sheet” for basic answers regarding deadlines and standard procedures allows the recruiters to be more efficient, allowing more time to get to know the attendees.

Virtual Job Fair vendors

Check out the specifics and unique offerings each of these platform vendors can provide to meet your virtual job fair needs.

Now, more than ever, your clients are counting you to be there for them. To walk alongside them during these tumultuous times. To offer the same level of service, customized to meet their unique staffing needs, that you have always provided. And you will be able to do just that by finding quality candidates to fill your clients’ staffing needs by hosting a virtual job fair.

You know how to roll with the punches, and so does ASJ Partners. We are 100% committed to your marketing needs, ever-changing as they may be. We are in this unprecedented time together, by your side, providing expert assistance to guide your staffing firm through these Covid-19 times. Get with our team to discuss strategies for keeping your company’s name top of mind, now and always.