Whatever happened to job fairs anyway?

re: Whatever happened to job fairs anyway?

Heather — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 01:12:00 GMT

Sorry, Brant, I should have clarified that I didn't mean college job fairs. Those are different altogether (I would classify those as "specialized" as well). I'm talking about job fairs for experienced folks.

I'm sure you can understand that Microsoft can't send a recruiter to every college for every job fair because we don't have that many recruiters available. Our campus recruiters mostly do scheduled interview days on campus. But I can't explain much more about how they select schools (because I have not done campus recruiting at Microsoft). I do know an extensive amount of planning goes into scheduling on-campus activities and we are committed to doing our best to match up qualified upcoming graduates with opportunities at Microsoft.

If you want more information on our campus recruiting, visit www.microsoft.com/college

re: Whatever happened to job fairs anyway?

Jeremy C. Wright — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 01:35:00 GMT

Is there any reason that "closed" job fairs couldn't be held? Like conferences? Candidates would have to register (maybe even be prequalified?), companies would need to bring a certain number of openings, etc?

The reason I say this is because I spent a summer doing the job fair 'thing' in Toronto 2 years ago. There were loads of candidates, but many companies weren't in fact hiring. They were simply building "brand awareness" with potential candidates.

And, most of the candidates were from other sectors looking to see what was happening.

It was awful.

I'm not sure who'd want to take the job of pre-screening candidates, but it could be an interesting discussion to have. Only candidates who have some kind of relevant skills can get in, and only companies with at least a certain number of openings can come?

Dunno.

RE: Whatever happened to job fairs anyway?

rcallaby@nospam.earthlink.net (Richard Callaby) — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 02:12:00 GMT

Heather,

There are monthly job fairs going on all the time. They are called User Groups. Here in Tampa we have a pretty good user group and almost every meeting I attended I koew of a position being offered or a candiate search going on. I believe the new "job fairs" are happening on a much smaller scale to a much more defined audience. Sorry to say I have never, ever, ever actually got anything out of job fairs here. I find that user groups snd networking with those in conferences, classes and other MSDN sponsored events turn out much better.

There are tons of "job fairs" going on right now. They just do not happen in the format that you are familiar with, sorry. Oh and you should start attending those user groups if you do not already do so as I see recruiters networking there all the time.

re: Whatever happened to job fairs anyway?

Brendan — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 13:43:00 GMT

I can relate to Jeremy's comments, here in South Dakota for the last few years I've seen quite a few job fairs with a good number of companies simply there to show their face and keep people aware of them... but not as a prospective employer at the time.

What makes it worse is when the majority of recruiters for companies are simply passing out the address of their HR webpage where they ask that all interested parties submit their resume online... they’ll be happy to take them there in person... but little gets done with them.

re: Whatever happened to job fairs anyway?

Heather — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 16:00:00 GMT

Jeremy-We actually do some events like that. In fact, I recently (in May) did something similar with the Silicon Valley PMA. But it was just me and another MS recruiter. We also do invitational events on campus here from time to time-mostly in our professional staffing team because they do the most hiring locally.

Richard-yes, I know what a user group is and I am very familiar with the format and am actually involved in some. My post above was about traditional "job fairs" and user groups server other purposes besides matching candidates with jobs so not really what I was referring to. I've been doing this for as while ; ) So you don't have to worry...

Brendan...I've experienced similar job fairs...bummer aren't they?

re: Whatever happened to job fairs anyway?

Jeremy C. Wright — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 17:34:00 GMT

Yeah actually I had the same experience as Brendan with large companies. Recruiters onsite, they'll talk to you but refer you to the webpage. Great.

I mean, I can see the value if you don't know about the company or hadn't considered them before. It's just frustrating from a job seeker's perspective. As I said, I did every job fair in the city (that was in my sector) for a full summer. Not one lead to anything remotely better than a "well, nice to meet you" or "apply to our webpage".

Heather, it's good to know you guys do this kind of thing, as I'm sure it's great. I guess in many ways things like the MVP Summit are also great for this kind of thing, yeah?

re: Whatever happened to job fairs anyway?

Heather — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 17:38:00 GMT

Jeremy-yep, for us, it's all about being targeted. I can't remember the last time I hired anyone from a full-on job fair, but I definitely make hires from the smaller, more targeted events. It's better for the candidates too...they are getting info about jobs in their area of expertise at Microsoft and they are taling to recruiters that are knowledgeable in those areas and can champion their candidacy.

Plus, I used to get a cold every time I did a job fair...not so much with the smaller events..they must be healthier ; )

re: Whatever happened to job fairs anyway?

Dennis T Cheung — Mon, 09 Aug 2004 00:49:00 GMT

I've never agreed with this decision. While it is far more cost effective, Job Fairs were a great way for Microsoft to reach out to the average person and build goodwill.

Oh well.

re: Whatever happened to job fairs anyway?

Heather — Mon, 09 Aug 2004 15:12:00 GMT

Dennis,

I don't think it was a "decision". I'm just talking about what I see in the industry, not a decision that I am communicating on behalf of MS (they wouldn't let me do that kind of thing here anyway). I still think we do some events out of goodwill. Job fairs can be very expensive to do. So if we aren't making hires from them, that's a problem. There are some events that are effectrive for us (the ones I mentioned in my post and I am sure that there are others) Again, this is just observation...I'm not using any stats. I network with a lot of recruiters and I am hearing about less job fair attendance and many of the fairs that we once saw are happening no longer.

I feel that once job fairs turn into festivals of good will, it's a little deceiving to the candidates that show up. Then it's more of a marketing activity (attended by recruiters) than a recruiting activity.

So again, I am not reporting any kind of decision from Microsoft and we do still particpiate in some fairs. I'm just observing an industry trend.

re: Whatever happened to job fairs anyway?

Zeeshan Yoonas — Tue, 10 Aug 2004 14:19:00 GMT

Hi Heather,

Just wanted to give you an early Texas welcome. Hopefully I'll see you at the NSHMBA conference in a couple months.

re: Whatever happened to job fairs anyway?

Mary — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:41:21 GMT

I live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and here they still have Job Fairs but they call them "Open House" now.