How much do job fairs help the unemployed?

Odds of getting hired are small, but not impossible

By Penni Crabtree Special to the U-T
4:44 p.m., Jan. 7, 2012

Job fair tips

Even a small chance is better than no chance, so if you plan to attend a job fair, here are some steps you can take to increase the odds of success.
•Dress as though you are going to an interview. Wear neat, pressed clothes, cover tattoos, no visible body piercings other than earrings on women.
•Approach each employer’s table by yourself, not with a friend or as part of a group. Leave the kids at home.
•Show interest in the company and its representative, and know what the company does.
•Make sure you understand each company’s application procedure, whether paper or online. Ask for a business card. Fill out applications completely and neatly. Include a copy of your resume when returning the application.
•Be positive, prepared, polite and polished.

Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas


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What does work?

Paul Mease gazed glumly at the row of hotel suites, each bedecked with a different company banner, that he is running like a gauntlet: Shaking hands. Handing out his résumé. Trying to convince job recruiters in a few interview minutes that he is the guy for the job.

The unemployed San Diego barber is one of about 135 eager job seekers who lined up at a La Jolla hotel last month to participate in a job fair hosted by HireLive, a Laguna Niguel recruitment firm that brought together 17 San Diego companies with select sales and marketing positions to fill.

Mease, who has been unemployed for a month, acknowledged that he has no real sales experience. But he’s convinced that he is personable enough to “sell water to a whale.”

“I’ve tried the Internet job boards, cold calls, and now this is my first job fair,” said Mease, 36, with a shrug. “I’ve looked for work every day, and it’s discouraging. So right now I’m just trying everything.”

Thousands of job seekers across the U.S. will attend job fairs and networking events this year in hopes of landing an elusive job in a still-fragile economy. But are job fairs really an effective way to get a position?

Not very, say many human resource experts and outplacement consultants.

“The allure of the job fair is that you have a large number of employers under one roof, however, the number of job seekers at the fair is likely to far exceed the number of available jobs,” said John Challenger, chief executive officer of global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “You are basically taking a leap of faith that you will stand out in the sea of candidates flowing by the recruiter’s booth.”

In a Challenger survey of human resource executives, job fairs rank as the least effective job-search method, behind “blindly sending résumés to employers” and “cold-calling employers.”

There are no hard statistics on how many hires result from job fairs, which can vary in size, focus and sponsor. Some job fairs are small, focused affairs, sponsored by a chamber of commerce, government agency, school or nonprofit. Others are organized by national or regional recruitment corporations such as Monster Worldwide, CareerBuilder or HireLive.

Jennifer Grasz, a spokesman for CareerBuilder, said job fairs are helpful because “anytime you have an opportunity to get in front of a potential employer, it’s a plus.”

But the company could not provide information about the number of job fairs it was involved in 2010, the number of hires that resulted from them, or how CareerBuilder gauges the success of an event.

“We have over 140 affiliates who run separate programs for their respective markets, so it would be difficult to aggregate information,” said Grasz.

Chris Lombard, director of event operations for

HireLive.com, said that if companies get two or three hires per job fair, that is a “good success rate.”

But she was unable to point to any confirmed hires in San Diego for job fairs organized by the company last year.

“We don’t often speak with (job) candidates after the fact,” said Lombard.

Still, some experts say job seekers shouldn’t dismiss job fairs, despite the slim prospects for success. Companies that attend them are usually there to fill specific openings, so it is a chance to make a face-to-face impression, and get a jump on possible openings in the future.

But it should be considered the tiniest toe in the recruitment process door, the first screening that might land a job candidate a more formal interview down the road.

Jim Sprouse, regional sales coordinator for insurance company Aflac, said he hired about 20 people in San Diego in 2011 through job fairs, and will probably hire at least 25 more this year.

But he is careful to attend only job fairs geared toward his industry, not larger, broader job fairs that can become “cattle calls,” Sprouse said. Even in smaller, industry-specific job fairs, he probably interviews 30 job seekers, invites a dozen back for a formal company interview — and may hire one.

“Sales is not for everyone, so if you’re not looking for a sales position don’t kid yourself — this is not a ‘fallback’ career choice,” said Sprouse. “The worst thing someone at a job fair can say to me is ‘I just need a job,’ or ‘I’m looking for anything,’ and a good 20 percent of them say just that.

“You have to be smart about this, and a lot of people aren’t,” Sprouse added. “It’s a competitive market out there and you have to be prepared and set yourself apart. Perception is reality — and that first impression is about eight seconds.”

Linda Cimmino, a workshop coordinator and trainer for the San Diego Metro Career Centers, agrees that job fairs have a place in the job search arsenal. But not necessarily for landing a job.

“A lot of times recruiters at job fairs don’t even take résumés anymore, and by the time a company gets a résumé into their data system, you are already No. 150 in line because the position has been posted for some days,” Cimmino said.

“I tell people that they can go to all the career fairs they want,” said Cimmino. “But go with the intention to practice your three-minute elevator pitch, grab business cards and network.”

Penni Crabtree is a San Diego-based freelance writer.

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