A job fair, also known as a career fair, is an event held to connect potential employees with employers and the other way around. The majority of job fairs have multiple booths set up in one large area. Each company is represented by a different booth. These companies’ prospective employees can visit all of the booths, introduce themselves to potential employers, and hand out their resumes. Employers working in each booth have the opportunity to not only assess potential employees for their companies, but also to distribute their business cards to a large number of people, potentially boosting business.
A college campus is one of the most common locations for a typical job fair. Many colleges host job fairs to assist their students in obtaining entry-level positions with a variety of companies after they graduate. Communities, in addition to colleges, may hold job fairs on occasion. Community-based job fairs are often sponsored by career centers in a specific town or city, and because they are targeted toward an entire geographic area rather than just one school, they tend to draw a larger crowd than college job fairs. Aside from the fact that there may be more people at a community job fair than at a college job fair, there may also be more potential employers available for contact at a community job fair.
Attending a career fair can be an extremely beneficial experience for someone looking for work. At job fairs, the initial meet and greet with prospective employers is said to be crucial because it can serve as a mini-interview. The first impression a person makes may have a direct impact on whether or not he is called in for a job interview by the company. Employers attending job fairs are more likely to schedule job interviews with people who stood out in a positive way from the crowd. It’s important for someone attending a career fair to remember that each employer present will most likely interact with a large number of people, so it’s a good idea to try to make a lasting impression.
If a person is unable to attend a job fair, she may still be able to get her resume noticed by a specific company if she sends her resume in around the time of the job fair. This may result in her resume being tossed in with the rest of the applicants who registered for the fair. Job fairs that take place online are also held on occasion. People who might be unable to attend an in-person fair will benefit from these online fairs. The majority of virtual job fairs allow prospective employees to not only submit resumes to employers online, but also to chat live with them.