Virtual career fairs are a major talking point among recruiters these days. Like most events, academic and career-related events have seen a visible shift to the online world. Employers are conducting key recruitment processes online. These include job postings, employer branding, candidate screening, etc. Reason? To achieve a broader reach. Before the pandemic, physical career fairs were the only option known to recruiters. They worked for them, but not without limitations. The candidate pool was restricted to the fair’s vicinity, the cost of hosting these fairs was high, and companies could hardly source global talent.
A virtual career fair solves most of these problems for recruiters. Let’s explore how. This blog will also give you a comprehensive guide for hosting a virtual career fair. If you want to attract top talent for your company, keep reading!
What Is A Virtual Career Fair?
A virtual career fair is nothing but a cool online space that you can create to hire talent. It has all the elements of a physical job fair, but it drives higher engagement. How? It's easy to get around, with a fun lobby where cartoon people walk around. You can even put in videos of your staff saying hi and introducing the company, which helps people connect with your brand in a real way. You can customize your virtual space with the kind of branding you prefer and be in better control of the event’s flow.
That's not the whole story. Companies can set up cool online booths at the virtual fair. They can share company info, chat with people, and let them fill out applications. Job seekers can just click to check out documents and flyers. Recruiters can also post available jobs at these booths. HR folks and bosses can easily do Q&As with job seekers at the virtual career fair.
Do you wish to know how to host a virtual career fair? Keep reading to know about all the necessary steps needed to set one up!
Hosting A Virtual Career Fair: A Comprehensive Guide
Hosting a successful online career fair is like organizing any other big, fun event, but on the computer. In a virtual recruitment event, companies and job-seekers meet in a digital space. Let’s walk through how to host a virtual career fair, step by step.
1. Know Your Goal
Like with anything, figure out what you want from your online career fair upfront. What's the point of having one? It might seem obvious, but there's more to it than just hiring people. You might also want to build your company's reputation, hire for particular roles, hire a lot of people quickly, do interviews, and more.
2. Set the Date and Get People Signed Up
First, decide when to have your online career fair. Then, make an easy signup page. Ask people for their name and email so you know who's coming. You can even use free tickets to keep track of numbers and send confirmations.
3. Pick a Platform For Your Online Career Fair
Next, choose a platform that works for online recruiting and aligns with your business goals. It can be a simple webpage with chat windows or an elaborate virtual layout mimicking a physical career fair. It is ideal to have an event app or mobile version, so people can join from anywhere. The app should let them move around, visit company booths, watch videos, and chat.
4. Plan the Virtual Space
You can get super creative while designing your virtual booths. You are free to decide how they look, the stuff they show, and how people interact. Think videos, job openings, benefits info, and live chat. Make sure you have different languages covered and train your booth representatives well, so they know all the features. Here's a tip: Keep a list of common questions handy for quick and easy answers.
5. Promote Your Virtual Recruitment Event
To get people to sign up for your virtual career fair, you've got to get the word out! Pay attention to marketing before and after the event. Besides the usual stuff like emails, PR, and social media, try some clever ideas. For example, record webinars or use chat tools for those who couldn't make it. Here's a tip: most recruiters and attendees would appreciate a simple guide to help them get around the virtual event. Make one!
6. Get Ready for Event Check-In
On the day of the fair, people will need to get into the space. This is the event check-in. They'll probably click a link from their signup or log in on the app to get to the virtual lobby. Make this simple, so everyone is ready to go. During the fair, have some live sessions to keep people interested. Schedule talks, presentations, or Q&As where companies can share info. Add chat or video so job seekers can ask things. This makes the event feel real and makes it more useful and fun.
7. Don’t Forget To Measure The Metrics
After you get everything set up, keep an eye on how your online event is doing. Look at things like clicks, downloads, and the number of resumes uploaded. Seeing this stuff tells you what people are doing, what parts are good, and if you're getting your money's worth. This can help make your advertising better, improve how you get people to sign up, and make the next event way better.
8. Follow Up Later
After your virtual recruitment event, send thank-you emails. Share links to any recorded talks or job postings. Ask for feedback so you can make your next virtual job fair even better.
Final Thoughts:
Virtual job fairs are flexible, customizable, and smart! They expand the candidate pool for recruiters by including global talent. When you have things like simple event check-ins, a helpful event app, a solid promotional strategy, and nice-looking virtual booths, your online career fair can really get you your desired ROI. It brings companies and job seekers together, and it makes both job hunting and recruitment easier.
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