It’s hard to mention virtual career fairs without thinking about COVID-19. Why? Because it changed everything. Before the pandemic, only 6% of employers used a virtual career platform regularly.1 And by November, 2020? Over 90%.2 That’s a 1400% increase!
Fast forward to late 2021, and what was once a “temporary trend” is now here to stay. Top recruiters now prefer virtual hiring solutions. And who could blame them? Virtual career fairs have so many benefits, from increased efficiency to a superior candidate experience.
Still not convinced? Here’s a brief overview of what virtual career fairs are and why they’re so beneficial for recruiters and employers.
What Is a Virtual Career Fair?
A virtual career fair provides an effective way for employers, recruiters, and hiring managers to meaningfully and conveniently connect with candidates during a specific time and date. The event takes place on a virtual platform, creating a smooth and effortless experience for both recruitment teams and candidates.
During a virtual career fair, organizations get the opportunity to determine if a candidate is the right fit, while candidates can learn more about the organization and whether they’d want to work there. Rather than just reviewing resumes, recruiters and hiring managers can connect with candidates face to face and fast-track the hiring process.
In addition to helping businesses and organizations recruit virtually, online career fairs are useful for staffing agencies, who often need to engage a large number of job seekers quickly. A small team of recruiters can easily vet hundreds of candidates during a short window.
Here’s how the process works for recruiters:
- Set up a virtual career fair (which takes less than 5 minutes on Live Recruit!) and build a customized, employer-branded registration page
- Invite candidates in your pipeline and promote the event across various marketing channels
- Attendees sign up during a time slot and fill out a form where they enter information, such as their resume and current occupation
- Candidates enter the event platform at a specific date and time
- Recruiters then chat, call, video, or text with candidates 1:1 for a few minutes each — all within the platform
- Rate and take notes on candidates before, during, or after you chat with them
- Determine if you want to bring a candidate to the next phase of the hiring process
- If yes, connect the candidate with a hiring manager within the platform
- In some cases, a recruiter may choose to make an offer right on the spot
- View comprehensive, real-time analytics on the Live Recruit dashboard so you can optimize your events
What Are the Benefits of Virtual Hiring Events?
“Do virtual career fairs work?”, “Are virtual career fairs worth it?”, “What are the benefits of virtual career fairs?”, “What’s the point of a virtual career fair?” — these are just a few of the questions we’ve heard from prospects over the years.
Here’s a comprehensive overview of why virtual career fairs should be part of your virtual recruitment strategy:
#1 Benefit of Virtual Career Fairs: Fast-Track the Hiring Process
Traditional recruitment can often lead to a slow hiring process. In fact, it can take a whopping 42 days on average to fill a position.3 The big time suckers? Wading through a large candidate pool, getting candidates to apply, and endlessly scheduling interviews.
Live Recruit’s virtual career fair platform solves these problems. Rather than having to apply, candidates can simply join the event, where you can effortlessly communicate with them and sift out the best ones from a large talent pool — no more combing through hundreds of resumes! Plus, you can instantly connect candidates and hiring managers within the platform, eliminating the back and forth involved in traditional interview scheduling.
#2 Benefit of Virtual Career Fairs: Eliminate the Restrictions of a Physical Location
Virtual career fairs take place online, allowing you to access a much larger talent pool. Rather than being limited to a specific location, you can host applicants from an unlimited geographic area. Plus, unlike physical events, there will be no maximum occupancies due to fire codes or COVID-19, which means you can host an unlimited number of candidates.
#3 Benefit of Virtual Career Fairs: Highlight Your Employer Brand
Before the virtual career fair even begins, you’ll have opportunities to cultivate employer brand awareness. For example, you can use the registration page and event marketing to show off your custom branding and tell your employer brand story, allowing candidates to connect with your organization. You can also outline how easy it is for candidates to create change in your organization, as well as highlight your mission and vision. During the event, recruiters can speak about the culture and their experiences at the organization, fostering a lasting impression.
#4 Benefit of Virtual Career Fairs: Build Your Talent Pipeline
Strategic marketing and the convenience of virtual career fairs make it easy to attract diverse, well-rounded candidates. What does this mean for you? After each event, you’ll leave with an impressive database of prospective candidates that will help you meet your current hiring needs. Additionally, you’ll fill your talent pool with qualified candidates that you may want to hire when new job opportunities open up.
#5 Benefit of Virtual Career Fairs: Create an Event in Under 5 Minutes
Forget months of time-consuming coordination and event planning. Virtual career fairs are incredibly easy to set up, especially when you use an intuitive platform like Live Recruit. Our Event Builder feature allows you to input the details of the event — including the time and date, event name, and open job positions — and then automatically generate a registration page that you can share with potential candidates.
#6 Benefit of Virtual Career Fairs: Utilize Effective Omni-Channel Marketing
By using a virtual career fair platform like Live Recruit, you’ll gain access to world-class event promotion services. What does this mean for you? You’ll boost attendance and easily attract top talent.
Signing up for Live Recruit means you can tap into our 19+ years of recruitment marketing experience. With the help of expert writers, designers, web developers, and digital strategists, your events will be promoted across the channels where candidates are most likely to engage: digital ads, email, live calls, direct mail, and more.
#7 Benefit of Virtual Career Fairs: Provide a Better Candidate Experience
It’s a candidates’ market out there. In fact, over 20% of recruiters say they can’t meet the demands of top talent.4 What does this mean for recruiters? Job seekers can be picky and it’s harder than ever to attract the best candidates.
So how do you stand out from your competition? Give candidates a better recruitment experience. Virtual career fairs get rid of the need for travel and reduce the time commitment. Think about it: Would you rather spend time commuting to an event or hop on from the comfort of your home? Plus, candidates who are at work can step out for a few minutes to join the event rather than having to take off an afternoon.
Finally, candidates will be able to join your career fair and speak directly to a recruiter rather than having to submit a resume and then hope to hear back. Instead of wondering what happened to their resume, candidates will feel valued by your organization.
#8 Benefit of Virtual Career Fairs: Measure Results & Optimize
Virtual career fairs offer real-time data to measure event success. For example, Live Recruit’s Reports & Analytics feature gives you a big picture overview of your candidate pipeline, from the number of registrants to how many people you’ve interviewed. You can also view granular data points, such as attendance rate and chat analytics. With the right data in hand, you can optimize your events and hire faster.
#9 Benefit of Virtual Career Fairs: Gain Time Back
Virtual career fairs offer so many opportunities to save time. Rather than spending hours, or even days, on planning an event, all you’ll need to do is select a vendor and set up your event. Plus, your team will save time on travel and day-of prep work.
Additionally, candidates will be able to read up on your company before the event rather than having to pick up a brochure and wait in a line. This means candidates will be more informed, leading to more productive conversations. Live Recruit also allows you to register candidates by slots so there’s no waiting time and you can determine how to plan your day. Finally, you’ll be able to easily access candidate data, including their resume and chat history, making follow-up an almost effortless process.
#10 Benefit of Virtual Career Fairs: Save BIG
Gone are the days of logistical expenses, flight and hotel costs, and venue fees (which can total in the tens of thousands!). Plus, there’s no need to spend on food and refreshments or company swag. Lower overhead costs means a lower cost per hire (here’s how one of our clients did just that). And on top of these savings, Live Recruit is making virtual career fairs more affordable than ever. Don’t believe me? Check out our pricing page.
Moving Forward With Virtual Career Fairs
For today’s recruiters, the future of talent acquisition can be intimidating. Candidates want a better experience and competition for the best talent is only increasing. As a result, forward-thinking recruitment leaders will need to adapt their strategy to meet the demands of the new normal. Virtual career fairs will help you do just that. They provide an impactful way to hire the right people — while saving you time and money. With 19+ years of recruitment marketing experience, the Live Recruit team will ensure you get all the benefits of online career fairs.
References:
- Maurer, R. (2020, May 18). Career Fairs Go Virtual in Reaction to Pandemic. SHRM.
- NACE Staff. (2020). The Use of and Attendance in Virtual Career Fairs Climbs Sharply.
- Time to fill and time to hire metrics FAQ
- Vojinovic, I. (2021, January 6). 70 Recruitment Statistics For Attracting Top Talent In 2021. SmallBizGenius.
