Are the Job Fairs soon to be free of human interaction?
I have been to two job fairs on campus. One was a "career fair" which was for people who had graduated or were going to in a couple months. The other type of job fair was for part-time employment that required nothing more than a high school diploma. I noticed there were many differences between the two types of fairs. The career fair required dress and there was an entrance fee is you were not a USF student. The part time job fair only encouraged professional dress, but did not require it. The main difference between the two was the type of employers who were there and the positions they were hiring. At the part time fair, there were many retail and restaurant businesses looking for college students to work hourly. At the career fair, there were many companies that were looking to fill entry level positions or retail stores looking to hire managers or people for their corporate office. I did not like about both fairs that some of the booths just had people working who didn't really have answers to questions. They just would give me the website information and told me that I could look up information myself. They seemed like just an employee they sent to stand at the booth. The career fair people were better and seemed to know more about recruiting. At both fairs, there were some companies that weren't physically taking resumes but instead told me that resumes were submitted online and that they couldn't take any that day. It was a little strange and unexpected, but I guess even job fairs have even gone digital.Posted by Suzanne on 1/23/2009 11:16:00 AM
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They certainly seem to be going in that direction -- but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Sure, the face-to-face element of job fairs is great, but they're usually staffed by people in no position to answer questions about a position in any detail. With very specific exceptions, the Internet has obviated the need for job fairs, which allows for you to apply with a greater number of companies in a much shorter time, and for those companies to quickly process and view your information. If you need to ask a question, a company website's search function or contact page will get you in touch with the information you need to know. It's a win-win, really.