Poll of the Day > Have you ever gotten a job at a job fair?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I actually have (although I attribute it to the fact that the company was desperately hiring.) But it was for a job in packaging food and wasn't exactly my forte. I didn't stay long there.

I tried getting jobs more in my field (science and software development) but I haven't had much luck at the job fairs.

I haven't and have attended a few. Whenever I've gone to them they are always very busy and I'd be waiting a while just to talk to a employer so I just lose interest. I don't like very busy places the best of times. Any job I've got is by just simply applying online. These jobs were mostly warehouse and retail. I find warehouse to be the most easy to get into without even needing to attend a job fair.

No, they just direct me to the website, or just say theyre not hiring right now and give me a flyer.

Loved going to them in my school days and having this happen:

Blightzkrieg posted...

No, they just direct me to the website, or just say theyre not hiring right now and give me a flyer.

Maybe instead they should call it a job unfair!

Blightzkrieg posted...

say theyre not hiring right now

This is most perplexing. Unless they have judged you by appearance alone and allowed their first impression of you to disqualify you from any position you may choose to apply for at their organization, there is no reason for such companies to even have a presence at a job fair.

EclairReturns posted...

This is most perplexing. Unless they have judged you by appearance alone and allowed their first impression of you to disqualify you from any position you may choose to apply for at their organization, there is no reason for such companies to even have a presence at a job fair.

Because HR needs to justify its existence.

The story I always heard with my college's job fair is that they just needed to go to keep their spot secure for a future semester when they actually were ready to hire. I don't know if it's true and it begs the question of if spots are so coveted why wouldn't the school just find an interested company to replace them, but it's probably because universities don't actually care about your career success. I think a lot of companies just get in because of alumni favoritism and probably money (especially money in job fairs unaffiliated with a uni)

I've been to a few job fairs, but never gotten a job at them.

Hell, I've never gotten a (significant) job from blind applying on their website either. First job was through my university posting system, second was a referral, current one was a recruiter contacting me. I do get lots of interviews but have to wonder if I ever really had a chance, since that's a company's lowest tier behind internal applicants and referrals.

Back in High School

No.

No, because the hiring managers generally weren't there.