The COVID-19 halt resulted in tripping off many employees apart from their jobs. Despite the increase in layoffs and furloughs in the year 2020, the percentage of active hiring has been proportional. In a recent survey report, approximately 50 categories are actively hiring and updating new career progression opportunities on a daily basis. Many big leading organisations had never put a stop in hiring the most promising candidates during the pandemic. With the change in scenarios caused due to the global pandemic, virtual has become the new normal. As restrictions have been imposed on travelling and people are pushed to follow social distancing practices, organisations adopted virtual ways for hiring and onboarding. With the measures of maintaining social distance, organising on-ground career fairs are nearly impossible. But, with the advancements in technology, organising a virtual career fair is just a step away. Today, surfing career sites is not the only way left for job seekers to find a perfect job. The online career fair is one such solution that helps the candidates to find the best-suited job roles without having to wait for the uplift of restrictions imposed.
Many companies around the world adopted new ways of hiring to keep going in the times of the global health crisis. Virtual career fairs came as a solution for the recruiting industry to seek top talent across the globe. Online career fairs work in the same format as traditional physical job fairs but in a virtual environment. It enables top leading employers to connect with the top talent for the most suited job roles remotely from their respective geographical locations without having to travel. Nowadays, the internet is piled up with ample virtual career fair platforms that offer engaging and interactive features. It won’t be wrong to say, virtual career fairs have become a crucial part of the recruiting industry. Online career fairs enable experienced job seekers and employers to connect and network seamlessly in real-time from remote locations. Today, virtual career fairs are the safest option, to keep the business going without risking the health front. To host a successful online career fair, selecting the right virtual career fair service provider is a must. An interactive and engaging platform helps employers and employees to connect and network seamlessly in real-time.
What are virtual career fairs?
Table of Contents
A virtual career fair is an online replication of a physical career fair, hosted on a virtual event platform. It involves a gathering of employers, hiring managers, recruiters, and experienced job seekers. Online career fairs enable top leading employers to surf for the top talent across the globe for open positions. Whereas, it enables job seekers to connect with employers and discuss their qualifications and roles that best suit them.
What are the benefits of a virtual career fair?
1.Time-efficient alternative
Time efficiency is one of the major merits of virtual career fairs. It saves a lot of time when compared to on-ground fairs. With physical fairs, one needs to travel to a location, spend time travelling, waiting in queues to have a talk with the representative, and so on. Online career fairs escalate all these obstacles associated with physical career fairs. You do not need to travel and wait in lines for communicating with the specific booth representatives or company. With virtual career fairs, jobseekers get more time to focus on the company and the relevant job opportunities rather than worrying about other issues.
2.Wider reach and better accessibility
Unlike traditional job fairs, virtual career fairs are not confined to one physical location. Certain restrictions faced during traditional fairs such as geographical barriers and space limitations get completely resolved with online career fairs. An online career fair enables job seekers to connect with multiple leading employers from the comfort of their own space. However, virtual career fairs are far more accessible than traditional fairs due to its wider reach. It taps the job seekers around the globe. Whatsoever is your geographical location, with online career fairs you can reap the benefits of the same.
3. Save on assets
Online career fairs result in saving money both for job seekers as well as an organiser. It relieves job seekers from travelling to a location from afar whereas organisers get relieved from renting a large venue and hiring staff. The cost involved in travelling, accommodation, renting venues, hiring staff, etc all get resolved with virtual career fairs.
4. Comfortable for Introverts
Many times introverts result in leaving a traditional career fair without having any discussions at the booth. Virtual career fairs are an easier alternative for introverts to have discussions with the company representative at a virtual booth. With online career fairs, they no longer have to deal with crowds and simply put across their point to respective representatives.
5. Data trackability
Valuable data tracking is another benefit of virtual career fairs. Right from the registration till the career fair ends, every jobseeker digital footsteps are tracked seamlessly. Right from whom they interacted, what they interacted with, what questions they have put across, their call to action, every digital attendee’s footsteps are recorded in the database.
Tips for job seekers to get prepared for an online career fair:
We have listed a few tips for jobseekers to get prepared for attending an online career fair. Let’s have a look at the same:
1. Do research for the companies you wish to come in contact with
Virtual or online career fairs relieves you from travelling to a physical location. But that does not mean you give up on your research. Same like traditional career fairs, virtual career fairs need you to do research for the companies that are participating. By doing prior research about the company helps you to impress the employers by imparting industry core knowledge.
2. Check out your technology
Check your internet connection in advance along with the device you choose to attend a virtual career fair. Nothing is worse than attending an online career fair with unstable or disrupted technology or wifi connection. Make it a point to test your technology beforehand to make your experiences effortless and your talent shine.
3. Dress up properly in professional attire
Planning to attend a virtual career fair in shorts and a t-shirt? A big no. You need to get dressed in professional attire to attend a virtual career fair the same as a traditional career fair. It helps in giving the right impression and impart professionalism to employers. Give them the answer out of many, why you are the best fit. To be on the safer side, it is advised to dress up completely instead of dressing in professional attire above the waist.
4. Set up a home office environment
Setting up a home office environment to attend a virtual career fair is a must. Look for a quiet corner in the house that has sufficient light. Look at the background, it should not be much fancy and should give an impression of professionalism. If required, remove unnecessary disturbance from the background. Instead of tuning in from a smartphone, opt for a desktop or pc to attend a virtual job fair. It should be placed at an eye-level that helps you to maintain focus on the ongoing career fair and have professional talks seamlessly.
5. Look straight into the camera instead of the screen
While attending a virtual career fair, make it a point to look into the camera instead of the screen. If you keep looking at a person interviewing you on the screen instead of the camera, it will result in distracting. However, making it look unprofessional. Look straight into the camera to make it look professional.
Whether you are rigorously seeking new career progression opportunities or want to gain insight from leading employers about the right career move, a virtual career fair is an answer to all. It enables you to connect and network with top leading employers remotely no matter wherever you are in the world.
