In comparison to in-person recruiting events, virtual career fairs have many benefits that solve the top challenges recruiters and student face today. Virtual career fairs allow recruiters to connect with candidates around the world with the click of a button. They provide many advantages for students, career centers, employers and recruiters by increasing productivity, reducing event costs, and increasing engagement.
Here are six ways virtual career fairs are better than in-person events.
Safer and More Convenient
Hosting and attending a career fair from the comfort of your own home limits the health risks and reduces stress among attendees. This allows people from across the country to attend this event without having to worry about travel restrictions or maintaining social distancing. Job seekers can virtually wait in line for an employer’s booth while sitting at their desk, reviewing their notes, and not having to worry about staying six feet apart from other job seekers in line.
Reduced Event Costs
Virtual events are generally less expensive than in-person events for several reasons. The cost of a physical career fair goes far beyond the amount you pay for the event itself. There’s a cost for the venue, amount of participants, traveling, parking, and visual equipment for your booth like posters and brochures. To host a virtual career fair through GradLeaders, everything from the attendee registration, payment processing, and event promotion to live video hosting and engagement reporting are all included in a standard price for your convenience.
Increased Participation
Virtual events are simply easier to attend since attendees can join via their phone or laptop right from their home without having to take an entire day out of their busy schedule. By taking away the time and money restraints, more employers and job seekers are likely to attend. With an increased participation rate, job seekers are more likely to land a job while employers and recruiters are more likely to hire right-fit talent.
Improved Personalization
Virtual career fairs allow for a more branded and personalized experience. Without paying for costly marketing, printing and shipping, each employer can fully brand and customize their virtual booth for free to really appeal to students and catch their attention. Virtual career fairs also allow for customized waiting rooms, lobby areas, and different info presented before, during and after the event, creating a better participant experience. Employers can not only utilize live video, but also provide links to recorded videos, websites and downloadable brochures right from their booth. Students also have the ability to create custom profiles and quickly select from multiple resumes depending on the company or opportunity. These are all things that would be difficult to impossible during an in-person event.
Improved Efficiency
Virtual career fairs have been known to create more meaningful connections between students and employers. Employers can speak with students in private chat rooms or through personal video calls and not feel rushed by the people waiting in line or pressured that others will overhear their conversations. This also gives students and employers the chance to take notes after each conversation to review after the event or at a more convenient time. This is a major perk of virtual career fairs because during in-person career fairs employers can easily get overwhelmed by the number of students they’re talking to and lose sight of their top candidates. Being able to take notes and review resumes during a virtual career fair improves your productivity and allows you to truly take control of the event.
Measurable ROI
Many virtual career fairs provide real-time data to track your progress during the event and after. You can track the number of attendees, the number of interactions at each booth, and reread chat transcripts. And because everything is happening online, often times in a platform like GradLeaders where employment outcomes are also being tracked, it’s easy to tie hires back to a specific event. These types of measurable insights allow you to make future adjustments and ultimately determine the success of your event by proving ROI.
Have you hosted a virtual career fair yet? What was your experience? Leave it in the comments below or feel free to contact us. We’d love to hear your story.