Despite the growing prevalence of campus recruiting technology and innovative campus events, career fairs are not going away any time soon. For employers that hire large numbers of entry-level employees, careers fairs can be a great way to meet and engage with hundreds of potential candidates in the span of just a few hours. But with travel, accommodations, and physical materials, committing to career fairs at a dozen campuses can be costly and time-intensive. That means it’s essential to make the most of your time at campus career fairs, from preparing high-impact handouts to investing in efficient processes. To maximize the value of a career fair and stand out to talented candidates, check out these best practices before heading to campus.
When deciding which career fairs are worthwhile, you will be faced with choices like which schools to visit and which kinds of career fairs (general or specialized) to sign up for. You may have core campuses you visit year after year, but consider expanding your campus presence if your goals include building a more diverse pipeline. Be sure to check out available career fairs at HBCUs, HSIs, Women’s Colleges, Tribal Colleges, and top public universities in your region.
Next, consider your hiring needs and select events that align with your top priorities.
If you have a variety of positions available across multiple departments, a general career fair might be your best bet. You’ll meet a wider range of candidates representing a variety of specialties or areas of study, allowing you to work on filling several roles at once.
When your needs are limited to a specific department or skill area, aim for specialized campus career fairs. Many colleges and universities list their specialized career fairs on their website, making it easy to determine which events are the right fit for your open positions. While you likely won’t meet as many candidates as you would at a general career fair, the students you do meet will be much more relevant to the position you’re trying to fill.
When trying to determine which events to attend, don’t be afraid to reach out the career service departments at your target schools for guidance. They should help you optimize your time and ensure that the events you book for your time on campus are worthwhile.
Campus career fairs are visual events – how your booth looks and the quality of your materials matter. If your setup doesn’t catch the eye of attendees or if your materials don’t measure up to other companies, it could be a strike against you. However, it’s important to remember that flash doesn’t substitute for substance. Design dynamic and visually interesting materials that highlight information that is most relevant to career fair attendees.
Showcase job openings that are suitable for recent grads, highlighting which majors and minors align with the role. Clearly define your company’s mission and values, and provide an overview of your benefits packages or cool company perks. Highlight your company culture and opportunities for professional development, providing specific examples and visual references (like team pictures) if possible. Have postcard-sized takeaways with your company’s website listed, directing attendees to your careers page or where they can learn more about the organization.
While some of this information can be communicated to candidates in conversation, giving the materials featured at your booth careful consideration and creating high-impact handouts can free up your time to focus on learning more about candidates, rather than spending the entire conversation educating them about your company.
If you want to ensure you have the chance to meet with some stellar candidates while on campus, spend some time prior to the event sourcing potential candidates and personally inviting them to visit your booth at the career fair. While there are several ways to source good-fit potential candidates, creating custom filters on LinkedIn and sending out personal invites to students can ensure that relevant potential candidates show up to meet you in-person.
Invest in a process for accepting resumes
Nothing bugs career fair attendees more than being guided elsewhere when they try to submit a resume. Even if having candidates fill out applications online is your preference, you don’t want to tell an attendee that using that approach is the only option. The most talented candidates will be sifting through several opportunities, and you don’t want your online application requirement to create a bad candidate experience and contribute to a leaky pipeline.
For a campus career fair, you need to be ready to accept resumes. Whether you invest in tools that can capture them digitally or bring a file for storing and bookmarking the paper documents, saying “no” to a resume should never cross your mind. Decide on your approach beforehand, as well as your process for following up with standout candidates to keep them engaged. Investing in a process before receiving hundreds of resumes will ensure that disorganization doesn’t keep you from identifying and hiring great candidates you met the day of.
When meeting hundreds of candidates over the span of a few hours, it’s difficult to discern on the spot who might be a good fit for your team. But if you’re hoping to use a career fair to pre-qualify candidates for your open roles, it’s important to define set criteria of what you’re looking for before you get on campus to maintain consistency and to get the most out of your visit.
The ideal criteria for standout candidates will vary depending on which roles you’re recruiting for, but be sure that it’s measurable and related to the role you’re hiring for. Consider each of your vacant positions and come up with some basic questions that can help you assess an attendee’s skills, experience, background, interest, and overall capabilities. By having questions prepared, you can jump right into these mini-interviews with greater ease and record what you learn about the candidate, making it easier to screen for standout candidates.
Showing up to a career fair and collecting resumes to revisit at a later date may yield you some candidates – but to capture the attention of top-tier talent, you should approach the career fair as more than just a place to collect resumes or applications. Prepare next steps for when you identify good-fit candidates. Are you planning to conduct first-round interviews on campus following the career fair? Conducting interviews on campus can be a good way to engage with prospective candidates immediately, but will require additional planning to reserve interview space and extended travel time for campus recruiters. Will interviews take place a few weeks later at your company headquarters? Be sure you communicate this with candidates as soon as possible so they don’t lose interest in your opportunity or assume they weren’t a good fit. When you establish the process of how you will follow up with and engage candidates of interest, you can more effectively move prospective candidates into the next stage of your hiring process.
Making the most of a career fair means bringing the best candidates into your pipeline. By spending time targeting the right campuses and career fairs, creating high-impact materials, and engaging with standout students, you can optimize your time and ensure your investment in on-campus recruiting pays off.