What's the point of career fairs?

[Anonemous]

Took a half day from work to go to one today...

You go there and wait in hour long lines to talk to the representatives and they tell you to apply or look online for any available positions. (so it's like they don't even know what positions are available in their own department)

Even if you have a specific position you are interested in and tailor your resume just for that one position, they'll be like oh we'll just put your resume here in this black hole/shredder never to be seen from again.

So it's a great place for networking...
You ask for contact info? They don't give it.
You ask for Email? Nope, I won't be able to help you or they never even respond to a thank you note. (Don't even get started on how futile it is to reach them on LinkedIn.)
You ask for a card? I'm fresh out.

/been to 10 career fairs and it's the same old same old

 

[Doppel]

I have been on the other end of a couple and for people in high demand it could help get their interest in your company I guess, but I am thinking for people who have been out of work for a while some career fairs are probably quite depressing.

 

[Spydermag68]

It is a great place to get 110 written on you resume.

 

[Anonemous]

I have been on the other end of a couple and for people in high demand it could help get their interest in your company I guess, but I am thinking for people who have been out of work for a while some career fairs are probably quite depressing.

Yep very depressing to see a lot of out of work Engineers and PhDs (Biotech/Pharma/Bio/Chem/you name it...)

 

[7window]

to get out of the office.

Seriously

 

[BoberFett]

Taking time off work to go to a career fair?

I thought those were for students and the unemployed...

 

[OutHouse]

It is a great place to get 110 written on you resume.

???

 

[Spydermag68]

???

1\10

 

[glenn1]

Career fairs aren't for you, they're for the companies to gather local market salary data (current position and new hire expectations) from anyone desperate enough to attend.

 

[shortylickens]

its a way for HR to save money, goof off, and make themselves look productive.

Seriously, its a joke. If they really wanted the job filled they wouldnt fuck around with a fair.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Simple, trying to shoot out the star with the BB gun is always fun.

 

[ultimatebob]

1\10

Wow... you really gotta suck to get a 1 out of 10!

The lowest I ever gave was a 3, when a guy totally blanked out in the interview when I asked him how he would QA test a software tool. Umm... it was for a QA test job... what did he think I would ask him?

 

[sdifox]

To train you on rejection.

 

[Imp]

All I know is that my company sends new hires back to their universities and colleges for career fairs. Tells them to apply online essentially. What they don't tell them is that there are a few hundred applicants per spot.

 

[sdifox]

All I know is that my company sends new hires back to their universities and colleges for career fairs. Tells them to apply online essentially. What they don't tell them is that there are a few hundred applicants per spot.

I had to scan through 700 resumes for 2 positions.

 

[Rage187]

The ones they don't want, they direct them to apply online.

 

[gorcorps]

I got two internships and two job offers via a career fair. Sounds like somebody isn't worth taking to. Our career fair was also only open to students and there weren't many lines.

 

[Imp]

I had to scan through 700 resumes for 2 positions.

Didn't do the HR keyword skim?

 

[Jaepheth]

The only career fairs worth going to are the ones hosted on college campuses for their soon-to-be-graduating students. Any other career fair is just companies fishing for people gullible enough to take commission-only sales jobs.

They're a total waste of time. You'd be better off spending your day customizing your resume to target specific positions online.

Hell, you could better spend your time figuring out which bars the management of local businesses frequent and just hang out there to network.

 

[shortylickens]

The only career fairs worth going to are the ones hosted on college campuses for their soon-to-be-graduating students. Any other career fair is just companies fishing for people gullible enough to take commission-only sales jobs.

They're a total waste of time. You'd be better off spending your day customizing your resume to target specific positions online.

Hell, you could better spend your time figuring out which bars the management of local businesses frequent and just hang out there to network.

Probably.

I think cracked had an article saying that bar-goers were more likely to advance and get special jobs because they appeared more sociable.

 

[sdifox]

Didn't do the HR keyword skim?

We asked HR to not skim.

 

[Spydermag68]

Wow... you really gotta suck to get a 1 out of 10!

The lowest I ever gave was a 3, when a guy totally blanked out in the interview when I asked him how he would QA test a software tool. Umm... it was for a QA test job... what did he think I would ask him?

1\10 looks like NO

 

[IronWing]

The phishing is great!

 

[Rumpltzer]

I found two of my college internships through career fairs. It was at a top-five engineering university, and they had a week-long event for the engineering career fair.

 

[mammador]

Depends on the questions asked. i generally ask them what their firm does, what the industry and such. i've hardly ever been to any though, and the one i went to was what my workplace held