Tips for planning how you will stand out from the crowd to attract and hire top talent.
Career-fair planning should begin a few months before the exhibition dates and summer is a great time for you to get organized—recruiters should ensure all display equipment is in working order, marketing materials are ordered, and a publicity strategy is in place.
The following is a collection of best practices we've come up with that can help you get your career event planning underway:
- Research the career fairs before registering to get a good idea of who (exhibitors and spectators) will be attending and what materials you will need for effectively reaching candidates: Is it a general fair for entry-level, college student positions or a specialized fair that will attract skilled professionals?
- Aim to secure a booth facing the main entrance (or as close as possible) of the fair for attracting the highest volume of traffic.
- Read the exhibitor manuals so you know what the fair will and will not provide you (e.g., power, tables, chairs, Internet connection, food, water).
- Review the floor plan to assess who will be your neighbours and if you will have any space restrictions.
- Practice setting up your booth six to eight weeks prior to the event to ensure you have all the display elements and that they are in working order; remember, it can take four or more weeks to produce new banners or other display elements.
- Strategize what marketing materials and give-away items (“swag”) to provide; don’t just bring whatever you have in the stock room, it’s important the brochures and other information you provide speaks to your audience—targeted messaging says that you mean business.
- Get the word out:
-Set up a recruitment microsite specifically for upcoming career fairs and direct interested candidates to the site. This will enable you to capture metrics directly related to career fair participation.
-Include information on your career fair attendance in recruitment ads and job postings.
-Publish small teaser ads in media where the fair is being advertised.
-Put a banner announcement on your website.
-Create a Facebook page to invite attendees and post future career fair events.
-If you have a Twitter account, send out Tweets about upcoming fairs.
-If you’ll be present at a big national recruitment event, consider outdoor advertising (e.g., billboards or guerilla marketing) in the vicinity of the event leading up to and during the exhibition.
- Set measurable goals of how many visitors you expect to your booth and how many applications you wish to receive onsite and after the event.
- Offer prizes to recruiters who generate the highest number of applicants (e.g., recruiters who generate more than eight applications during the fair receive a gift certificate).
- Ensure transportation is arranged for all the career fair team members and that they know where to park for unloading the exhibit on set-up day.
- Plan fun role-playing games for senior recruiters to train junior recruiters on what types of questions and scenarios to expect at the fairs.
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