You're about to attend a job fair and you may be wondering how to be prepared? Based on our experience as event organizers, we've seen a lot of booths, goodies and great ideas to attract the right candidate. That's why we've decided to give you our best tips for making a good impression at an event as an exhibitor.
Before the fair
Targeting: Before attending the fair, you should first analyze your internal vacancies or the profiles your departments need. You will then have a clear vision of the candidates you will need to meet on the day.
Communicate: Think about communicating about your presence at the fair with attractive visuals inviting potential candidates to join you at your stand. Specifying the open positions can also motivate visitors to find out more about your company. You can announce your participation on your career site, your social networks, to your employees who will spread the word as ambassadors, but also on your calendar, your email signature or even in your offices if there are visitors.
Recently, we saw a recruiter who had personalized the cover picture of her company page with the event's visual, a good idea to be copied? 😉
Choose ambassadors: consider selecting people who know the company well and are comfortable talking about the various departments. If you are recruiting in support functions, opt rather for HR, if you are recruiting for the technical departments we advise you to also choose a department manager or an expert, etc.
Prepare the stand: This is the technical part: order a roll-up that will be adapted to the dimensions of the stand, flyers, goodies, all this takes time and requires a budget. Why so much material? Several things: they serve to give a professional aspect to your company, to give a positive image of your company to the visitors, and of course to make an impression. Imagine that someone keeps your pen for years, they might think of you when they look for a job in the future!
Other tips: highlight your strengths! Does your company sell products? Show them off! Has it won a "Great Place To Work" award? Display it! If you want to communicate the highlights of the year, why not use a computer or a TV to display the best photos and videos of your company?
Finally, don't forget to post your job openings, so your conversations with visitors will get to the heart of the matter more quickly.
Are you looking for an idea or do you need a little help to imagine and personalize your stand? Contact the Moovijob team!
During the fair
Attitude: Be friendly, smiling, sociable. It is better to stand than to sit (and above all, don't look at your phone). If you feel that candidates do not come to your booth enough, why not go and meet them directly in front of the stand or even in the Lounge Area for example?
Write your impressions on the spot: After each interview, write down your impressions of the candidate you met to facilitate your final sorting of the CVs.
Do shift: You meet with a lot of people at a job fair (300 to 500 on average per booth) and it can be exhausting to do everything alone. Think about alternating with colleagues and planning to have reinforcements for the lunch break: while some go to lunch, others take over to avoid leaving the booth empty, especially since some candidates can only come and meet you during lunch break.
Know how to say no: You generally have 8 hours in a day to meet a maximum of potential profiles. Of course, you will also come across less relevant profiles... so know how to shorten your conversations to make the most of your day. This will save you time, but above all it will save your contact's time, who will then be able to go and meet other companies that are more in line with their search. Be careful, however, not to reject visitors too violently. Be educational and professional: explain clearly why their profile does not match your HR needs.
After the fair
Thank you mail: After the event, it's always a good idea to thank the candidates. This can be a general post on your company's social networks, or even a nice personalized email inviting them to follow you on social networks while waiting for the sorting of applications. Above all, take the opportunity to inform them about your career site and the advantages of joining your company. In short, show them that they are important to you and that you respect them. Example: Many of you came from far away to meet us at Unicareers and we thank you for that!
Sorting resumes: After the fair, applicants are only waiting for one thing, a quick feedback from you. Since the right candidate doesn't wait and often will have visited other stands, your company is in competition with other companies. We advise you to sort out the CVs the same evening or the next morning, and to send an e-mail to the selected candidates within a week, either rejecting them or inviting them to an interview.
Reply e-mail: When sending your reply e-mail, try to personalize it as much as possible. This is time consuming, but will reflect well on your company, as those candidates you decline today may be the ones you seek in a few years.
Share your other tips with the community of HR professionals on the Moovijob forum and discover all the recruitment events in Luxembourg!
