Any successful recruiting strategy is tethered on having robust sourcing initiatives such as participating in a career fair. The events offer recruiters an opportunity to interact with a pool of professional candidates with diverse expertise who qualify for the open slots that may pop up in future or are currently available. Below are tips that can help the those how are seasoned about career fairs and the novice to maximize their experiences at the fairs.

Package Your Brand

It is important to ensure that how you setup the booth at the trade show is a perfect packaging of our business’ brand. Also, the layout of the booths especially if there are more the two, is also meticulous. Go for an eye-catching setup that makes the booths stand out; that’s how you will pull in potential candidates. Give specifications and restrictions regarding size and detailing of the materials you need to the event before you ship them to ensure you get something that is easy to erect and with clear branding.

Print Materials

Make sure you have business cards on hand and as well as some printed promotional materials. Such materials should contain relevant information that visitors at your booth and use to familiarizes themselves with your company. The promotional materials may be a brochure, one-page handouts, exhibition banner printing or anything that helps spread the word.

Work With Resumes

It’s commonplace to request or receive resumes for interested candidates. If you are to request for interested candidates to make their application, should they send their CVs online or hand in printed resumes? If you are not interested in resumes, then decide whether or not you will be open to accepting any that comes forth. Since job seekers who attend career fairs also see it as an opportunity to learn something new, give them some professional advice based on the information they provide (education and work experiences).

Open Positions

Be clear about the open positions that you have and which are hard-to-fill careers that demand certain qualifications. It is hard to determine the type of people who will show up at job fairs, and it is important to have your representatives ready with talking points that they can use to cover the important points when interviewing potential candidates.

Nametags

Use the chance to be part of the fair as an opportunity to network with other players within your industry. Hence, it is important to wear a nametag and have your representative do the same so that job seekers can remember and perhaps mention those names as they interact with other companies at the same fair. It will be a good chance to network and get contacts of other influences players in your industry.

Timely Operations

Arrive at the fair, set up, and open your booth on time especially on the first day of the event when the attendance is the often the highest. Getting there early gives you enough time to find the ideal spot and space to setup your booth and allowing adequate time to be ready before the job seekers start arriving. It will be an unprofessional image to be working on your stand when job seekers have arrived.

Incentives

You may incentivize your efforts by offering giveaways to all interested candidates that stop by your booth. It should be something interesting that attracts people to your station and gets them interested in engaging with you about your business. Incentives are a great way of creating a buzz around your stand but may the main avenue of bringing in highly qualified candidates.

Respond To Inquiries

It is important to answer to inquiries ASAP during and after the career fair. Follow up on issues raised and respond to them accordingly because job seekers are keen on landing lucrative jobs and thus will not take it well if they are kept guessing.

Hold Interviews

Interviews are a no-brainer, but you need to prep the question you will need to pre-qualify the applicants. While a bit of chitchat is also important, you still should maintain a professional conduct. Come up with questions that help identify the interests the candidates have for working for you.

Keep the above tips in mind and also remember to be the forerunner of your strategy. Do not sit behind the table, stand in front of the booth or stand and be as inviting as possible.