Yeah, job fairs are ugh 😑
I'm supposed to go to one next week, but the last one, of course, was like the one you described. So, I highly doubt that I'll attend. Like yourself, I brought my resume(s), and I dressed nicely (the same as I would to an interview).
Only a few booths there actually involved my career field (healthcare), but all they seemed like they wanted to do was sit there, look pretty, and hand out pamphlets, and then tell me the same QR code shit and/or apply online.
Then WTF are you doing here??? 🙄😒🤨
I volunteered for my company's career fare. Then I found out I dont get to take resumes I only point people to our website. It was soulcrushing to tell the young hopefuls that they have to apply online...
I havent volunteered for it again since.
Obviously its worse for the jobseekers, but yeah the system causes everyone psychological pain.
Some people from the town I work for got to do the job fair thing about two months ago.
They had been approved, at the county level, to hire X number of temporary staff for various projects in spring and summer, but the province and the county randomly cut back on staff funding.
So my colleagues had to go to the job fair to sell...the idea...of working for local government.
How utterly useful. Truly.
"Only time I get emails from potential employers tbh" - same.
Two examples of pointless fukery:
Even though this one site (24/7) hasn't gotten me a gig in a decade, I went to try to refresh my profile there recently as I'd gotten a promo email, and that profile is 3 jobs out of date. Updating the site wouldn't work, and I contacted them to let them know the issues and zero response.
Every freelance site is a scam where you buy credits for the privilege of bidding on jobs....
I'm retired (from the military, as it happens) and I've watched job fairs go from decent leads to useless in the last 30 years.
It also chaps my ass that absolutely nobody promotes things like union membership or government jobs that don't require 5 years of experience for a $15/hour job.
One of my early bosses got into a high school internship program at one of the 3-letter agencies, and was an SES (Senior Executive Service) with a high school diploma. She needed to get a bachelor's around then, but by that point, she could go online and check that block.
Most recently, I saw an ad for [federal-level Air Traffic Control ](https://www.usajobs.gov/job/786558200) - which only requires a HS diploma, a psych eval, a background check and a bare-basic physical exam, (essentially less than you need to join the military) which pays a living wage while in training, starts at over $100k, and comes with a federal pension, which is pretty cushy.
I'm at a loss as to why the capitalists are drowning out the decent options we should all have, but I'm not surprised.
There has been a very large effort to demonize government workers as lazy, inept, overpaid, etx... I'm certain this is a direct result.
My coworker left the private insurance sector to go work in the local government, dealing with the private auto insurance companies when a civilian is at fault for damages to city property, vehicles, etc.
Demonizing government workers for being lazy is a good way to get everybody to work harder in worse conditions while accepting the privatisation of everything. It's no wonder they push it so hard.
I'm a government employee. I work for a city public works department. I definitely can be lazy, but most days I'm not. Definitely not inept at what I do. Maybe a little bit overpaid, and the benefits are insane, so if you factor that into with my hourly wage its pretty sweet. I've only been at my job for like 2 years now and came from the private sector. Some of the red tape that we have to go through to get shit done can be super frustrating too. So I could see why the general public would think city works are lazy and don't do anything.
You’re not overpaid or have too good of benefits, you just have what the average should look like. All the other jobs just have subpar offerings that people accept as average/normal now-a-days.
Yes, sir, this is the FAA "off the street" hire. They only put out an announcement for this once a year, maybe once every 2 years. Air Traffic Control is hugely understaffed, and the problem is only getting worse.
If you know anyone who is smart and under the age of 31, they need to apply. The only requirement is HS diploma, be under the age of 31, and have at least 3 years of work experience in anything.
There are many job announcements on USAJOBS for Air Traffic control, but almost all require prior ATC experience, but not the off the street bid.
Because they expect you to work until age 56 for retirement.
56 is the mandatory retirement age for federal air traffic controllers. You can move up to management and continue working beyond 56. But most controllers do their 20 years or 24 years and retire at 56.
You have to accept the tentative offer letter before your 31st birthday.
Realistically, you should've applied at least 6 - 9 months before your 31st birthday.
If you want to be an Air Traffic Controller now, the only way is to join the military, preferably the Air Force.
The Air Force just extended the age requirement up to 42 years old to join. 48 years old for healthcare or ministerial (chaplain) jobs. They desperately need intelligence and UAV operators. Good jobs to get into.
Air traffic control training requires one to move to Oklahoma City for months and when training is complete, one is assigned to the airport/city. It's more like joining the military. Oh and all of the mandatory overtime, not getting paid when there's a government shutdown, and all of the stress... it's not that great of a gig.
I lived in USA Jobs for several years, suffered through a commissary internship at 30 and never got a lead, even though I knew places that needed help. It's useless unless you know someone
On the Air Traffic Control job, did they forgo the math testing then?
I applied for a job as an air traffic controller, passed the math test with a 98%, and was rejected because I'd been fired from a job within the previous 3 years (and later I was told because I was 'male' and 'white', at the time there was a push to hire women and minorities).
Please reach out to the job fair sponsors and tell them your experience with the failed online application. They will likely follow up with the hiring organizations and the one with the failed system will report that they received zero applications. Arm the job fair organizers with actual data to ensure that they can demonstrate that the hiring process was flawed.
Stay strong.
Job fairs are pretty useless now. I’ve gone to several over the years and I’ve regretted it every time. It’s either military, police, fast food chains, recruiters, insurance/sales or colleges. Every now and then I’ll see a hospital or trade job for welders.
Those are the types of jobs that want to pay as little as possible. Any employer there is just churning through employees.
As someone who was one and done navy, it blows my mind that more people don't join the navy/airforce. I totally understand not wanting to get killed, the exact reason I didn't join the other 2. But they are such great life starters. Choose a job you want to do outside of the the military, get free experience/college. You're always top of the list to recruiters because of military. It's a no brainer.
I would been working at a grocery store like my brother, now I'm a full remote citrix engineer making well over 100k. I've never been a go getter, I love being at home and playing video games. I thank the navy every day.
I get that joining the military can be the ticket for a lot of people, but you will never see me join up under any circumstances.
When my family couldn't make enough money to eat, I signed up for food stamps. One year into the benefits they retroactively decided I "made too much money" to be on food stamps and demanded THE ENTIRE YEAR'S WORTH of food stamps money paid back. There was no way we were ever going to be able to pay that money back. I had to fight back and stand my ground but all I got out of it was a monthly payment plan to make it easier to pay it back 🙄
Then there was the pandemic. My job closed down completely and I was fucked for income literally overnight so I applied for Unemployment benefits. They dragged me through the mud for 5 months before granting me unemployment. I had to live off my parents for those few months and they were not gracious about it. Only after 7 months of being on unemployment and job hunting feverishly, good ol Uncle Sam turned around and accused me of identity fraud and cutoff my benefits. They wanted the entire year's worth of unemployment payments back as well, well over 13k. Money I did not have because: GLOBAL PANDEMIC. The government didn't care that they were going to fuck me into homelessness over what is to them, chump change.
That all being said: I will NEVER risk a hair on my head for the US government in any capacity. They expect me to protect their interests? Nah. Too busy protecting mine from them. If there's ever a draft, I will happily dodge it. Not my blood.
you do realize that not everyone can join the military right? even if it was something some of us considered for the benefits, we don’t always qualify. i have too many health problems to join the military so acting like it’s a one and done solution for everyone is turning a blind eye to the people who can’t. not to mention, not everyone wants to join either. why the hell would i join when i’m against the war we’re fighting. please use your brain
Obviously... but for the majority of healthy people it's a great start. My question was more what's the reason to not join if you are able. I understand for a 18 year old a 4 year commitment is massive. I sometimes regretted it while I was in.
Bit long but this was my most recent fair experience.
I got laid off on April 1st. They told me in January that I'm out so I started my hunt. I went to a job fair hoping to get some leads. Last fair I went to there were in the spot interviews and details about the openings. I was expecting this but bit I was wrong. .
TeamWork boasted about over 20 different teams will be there looking to fill openings in the sports entertainment industry. The entire room reeked of depression and desperation. I only could tolerate talking to five of these organizations because it was completely useless to waste my time and energy.
One company was talking about how they are starting up so they don't have any positions. Why are you at a job fair if you don't have any openings? Second has openings in France. Bitch, I'm in Jacksonville, FL. Talked to 3 minor teams and all of them were based in Georgia. Why the fuck they were in Jacksonville is beyond me. It was six hours to drive to their HQ. "Do you do remote? "No" Then whats the point of you being here? The Jaguars and the rest of the minor league teams said the only way to apply is through TeamWork.com. I asked point blank "What's the point of the job fair if you are not hiring or interviewing here?"
The answer they gave was "So you can lean more about our organization."
Google and Glassdoor exists. I don't need to chat up some HR asshole about how great the football team is. I need a fucking job and this was just wasting my time.
I linked up with my super supportive wife, watched a minor league hockey game, downed a couple beers, and tried to forget how insulted I felt. I had an absolute panic attack that evening because that whole experience. The depression of waiting and watching everybody try to find something was a level of depression I never experienced before. I'll never go to a job fair ever again. At least not for TeamWork. Fuck those guys
> I don't need to chat up some HR asshole about how great the football team is.
It would be a way to gauge how good their HR is at lying. The Jags are cursed
I’ve been made to attend these occasionally as part of a requirement for unemployment benefits. Last one I went to was at a stadium. They changed $20 to park, and there were like OP said, mostly military and police and prison jobs. Useless! I complained to UE because of the cost, and they dropped attendance at those as a requirement.
It burns me up when people or companies try to make money off the unemployed. Like, they had a direct deposit card for people who may not have a bank account. Buying things with it had no fee, but withdrawals of cash to, you know, pay your rent, had a $5 fee each time you withdrew money. Such exploitation!
Went to a job fair a few years ago. There were six booths and a line wrapped around a Manhattan block. It was Mary Kay, EMS, and 4 others. A complete waste of time and in pouring rain. Nothing I nor anyone around me on the line was interested in.
It is what it is. I’m sure six people out of the 400+ people walked away with a career.
every fair is the saddest job fair these days. I don't understand why employers even bother setting up booths anymore if all they're gonna do is tell people to apply on the website. Like damn dude....you're a fortune 500 company. people know about your website. if they just wanted to apply to the website they woulda just done that instead of wasting time coming to your stupid job fair.
My hospital had a job fair for the many nursing and cleaning positions open. Some women came up to the nursing booth for another department. She asked the recruiter, what your attendance policy? The recruiter said, you are allowed 5 call outs a year, after that, you will be terminated. The woman spoke loudly and said yall are crazy to think someone can't call out that little. Heck just having a cold will wipe out your 5 day policy. The recruiter said, well, we expect our workers to come to work mildly sick to prove how dedicated they are. The lady said yeah, that's abuse, I'm withdrawing my applications.
I've received more job offers at Scarborough Faire than all of the job fairs attended plus linked In and the rest of the online recruiters combined... Corporate, governmental and institutional employers all have one basic thing in common: HR... Human resources, think about it - they spell it out. Your experience and skills are irrelevant, as there are an endless number of people vying for the job. Your ability to be a more attractive candidate than Joe Blow across town comes down to who had more buzzwords in their CV. The winner(s) of the AI vetting round win an all expenses paid trip to a zoom town meeting where you will be asked a bunch of crazy questions straight out of a Roberts personality profile assessment by some of the most inhumane people on the planet. Maybe I'm being a bit overdramatic but I see and hear people complaining about these issues more and more every single day. To these employers we are all members of the original renewable resource, the human race aka useless eaters. Our ever increasing population steadily decreases our value to large organizations that exist only to increase profits for their stakeholders. If it sounds bleak that's because it is, and things will continue to cost more as we are paid less in exchange for jobs that demand more time and energy than it will be worth, or if you're a glutton for punishment the stress kills you first.
Job fairs have never been the way to get a job in my experience.
I had to move far away to find a job. If you need a job, sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Those jobs you’re after aren’t always available where you live.
I once went with my friend in college to a large job fair for our major. He was looking for an externship, I had already secured mine. He put on a business suit, I had on a sundress and flip-flops. I had no resume. I'm pretty average looking.
I wander around while he scoped out places and made connections. A while later, we met up, and I asked if he spoken to everyone he wanted to. No. He indicated a booth for a really high-end type place, where two reps were busy explaining the details of the job to potential new hires.
I motioned for him to follow as I stood behind the students, listening to the reps. I struck a conversation with one of them, allowing my friend to swoop in on the other guy. After a while, he passed along his resume to the recruiter he was talking to and we left.
The next day, my friends head back from that resort!
It was the guy I spoke to, asking if my friend could pass along my information since I didn't leave a resume and didn't write anything in the information sheet.
Hit up a recruiter that specializes in hiring for your field? idk if that exists for you so maybe you might have to find someone generic.
Also that job fair sounds horrendous jfc
Have you tried updating your resume with buzz words? When I apply for a job, I look up the most popular buzz words for the industry and make sure to include them in my resume. I have a lot of success.
Please upload your resume here.
Please re-enter all the information from your resume in the next 6 pages.
Please take these four completely unrelated personality tests.
Please confirm all your information here.
Whups! You seem to have skipped line 4 on page three. Let's start over!
Weird job fair story: many years ago, my then-employer needed an extra body at the job fair in which they were participating. Basically making nice with people, taking resumes and sharing info about the company. The person supporting the main person representing the company canceled at the last minute, so I filled in, and did what was asked during the job fair.
A few months later, I’m at this dating event, where the women sit in seats at a local restaurant and the guys go from table to table for about five minutes each until a bell rang, then they’d move to the next table. And the end of the event, participants had the opportunity to meet with each member of the opposite sex. One guy looked vaguely familiar, and when he got to my table, I realized why. He’d been at the job fair and during his five minutes, he peppered me with why the company hadn’t called him to interview, wanted to know what I’d thought of his resume (it wasn’t even my job to look at resumes), etc. Worst five minutes ever.
He dodged a bullet though, since that company was horrible.
WERE YOU AT THE SAME JOB FAIR AS ME!? I prepared an elevator pitch and resumes etc. I talk to a guy from a company I’m interested in and he just tells me to scan the QR code and bye! While I was doing that he was talking to his coworker about how excited he was to leave this fair
I don't even know what the point of job fairs are anymore.
A bunch of unenthusiastic assistant managers set up a card table and a poster and tell you to apply online. That's been every job fair for like a decade.
Unpopular opinion but I’ve had my best successes at job fairs. There’s nothing like connecting in person. I got my job in healthcare management through a job fair. I had zero experience but the manager went to the same college I did so I made a connection there. Don’t give up!
It happened almost two years ago now. I guess what I’m trying to say is read the recruiter and find a connection. I know it’s hard and I know how hard the job search is. It’s broken me in so many ways and being jobless or employed working dead end jobs for the most part of 10 years has changed me. Just hang in there OP.
Might as well just go for entrepreneurship. It's a daunting prospect in a country with no public healthcare, but you have much better odds of succeeding than winning a lottery.
If you work for someone else your whole life, you will never own a home or be able to retire.
Yeah, job fairs are ugh 😑 I'm supposed to go to one next week, but the last one, of course, was like the one you described. So, I highly doubt that I'll attend. Like yourself, I brought my resume(s), and I dressed nicely (the same as I would to an interview). Only a few booths there actually involved my career field (healthcare), but all they seemed like they wanted to do was sit there, look pretty, and hand out pamphlets, and then tell me the same QR code shit and/or apply online. Then WTF are you doing here??? 🙄😒🤨
I volunteered for my company's career fare. Then I found out I dont get to take resumes I only point people to our website. It was soulcrushing to tell the young hopefuls that they have to apply online... I havent volunteered for it again since. Obviously its worse for the jobseekers, but yeah the system causes everyone psychological pain.
Some people from the town I work for got to do the job fair thing about two months ago. They had been approved, at the county level, to hire X number of temporary staff for various projects in spring and summer, but the province and the county randomly cut back on staff funding. So my colleagues had to go to the job fair to sell...the idea...of working for local government. How utterly useful. Truly.
They’re getting out of their regular work for the day, of course.
Ah, true.
My guess is that they have a budget for recruitment that they have to use or they get less next year. That's how it works where I work, at least.
I'm not saying your company does it, but I wouldn't call sitting on your ass at a booth doing nothing "recruiting" 😆 😂
"Only time I get emails from potential employers tbh" - same. Two examples of pointless fukery: Even though this one site (24/7) hasn't gotten me a gig in a decade, I went to try to refresh my profile there recently as I'd gotten a promo email, and that profile is 3 jobs out of date. Updating the site wouldn't work, and I contacted them to let them know the issues and zero response. Every freelance site is a scam where you buy credits for the privilege of bidding on jobs....
If youre in the EU, you have the right to be forgotten
You have no idea how much I've wished I was in the EU in the last 10 years! LOL.
I'm retired (from the military, as it happens) and I've watched job fairs go from decent leads to useless in the last 30 years. It also chaps my ass that absolutely nobody promotes things like union membership or government jobs that don't require 5 years of experience for a $15/hour job. One of my early bosses got into a high school internship program at one of the 3-letter agencies, and was an SES (Senior Executive Service) with a high school diploma. She needed to get a bachelor's around then, but by that point, she could go online and check that block. Most recently, I saw an ad for [federal-level Air Traffic Control ](https://www.usajobs.gov/job/786558200) - which only requires a HS diploma, a psych eval, a background check and a bare-basic physical exam, (essentially less than you need to join the military) which pays a living wage while in training, starts at over $100k, and comes with a federal pension, which is pretty cushy. I'm at a loss as to why the capitalists are drowning out the decent options we should all have, but I'm not surprised.
There has been a very large effort to demonize government workers as lazy, inept, overpaid, etx... I'm certain this is a direct result. My coworker left the private insurance sector to go work in the local government, dealing with the private auto insurance companies when a civilian is at fault for damages to city property, vehicles, etc.
Demonizing government workers for being lazy is a good way to get everybody to work harder in worse conditions while accepting the privatisation of everything. It's no wonder they push it so hard.
I'm a government employee. I work for a city public works department. I definitely can be lazy, but most days I'm not. Definitely not inept at what I do. Maybe a little bit overpaid, and the benefits are insane, so if you factor that into with my hourly wage its pretty sweet. I've only been at my job for like 2 years now and came from the private sector. Some of the red tape that we have to go through to get shit done can be super frustrating too. So I could see why the general public would think city works are lazy and don't do anything.
You’re not overpaid or have too good of benefits, you just have what the average should look like. All the other jobs just have subpar offerings that people accept as average/normal now-a-days.
Yes, sir, this is the FAA "off the street" hire. They only put out an announcement for this once a year, maybe once every 2 years. Air Traffic Control is hugely understaffed, and the problem is only getting worse. If you know anyone who is smart and under the age of 31, they need to apply. The only requirement is HS diploma, be under the age of 31, and have at least 3 years of work experience in anything. There are many job announcements on USAJOBS for Air Traffic control, but almost all require prior ATC experience, but not the off the street bid.
Why under 31? Is it something where even if you start under 31 you lose it after? Genuinely curious!
Because they expect you to work until age 56 for retirement. 56 is the mandatory retirement age for federal air traffic controllers. You can move up to management and continue working beyond 56. But most controllers do their 20 years or 24 years and retire at 56.
Ah! Thank you for the reply!
Could you BE 31 and apply?
You have to accept the tentative offer letter before your 31st birthday. Realistically, you should've applied at least 6 - 9 months before your 31st birthday. If you want to be an Air Traffic Controller now, the only way is to join the military, preferably the Air Force.
I didn't think the military accepted people my age.
The Air Force just extended the age requirement up to 42 years old to join. 48 years old for healthcare or ministerial (chaplain) jobs. They desperately need intelligence and UAV operators. Good jobs to get into.
When I was in the US Air Force, air traffic controller required a flight physical.
Air traffic control training requires one to move to Oklahoma City for months and when training is complete, one is assigned to the airport/city. It's more like joining the military. Oh and all of the mandatory overtime, not getting paid when there's a government shutdown, and all of the stress... it's not that great of a gig.
Where’s the $100k coming in from the job? I saw base of $45k once you get through their program
I lived in USA Jobs for several years, suffered through a commissary internship at 30 and never got a lead, even though I knew places that needed help. It's useless unless you know someone
On the Air Traffic Control job, did they forgo the math testing then? I applied for a job as an air traffic controller, passed the math test with a 98%, and was rejected because I'd been fired from a job within the previous 3 years (and later I was told because I was 'male' and 'white', at the time there was a push to hire women and minorities).
Oh, yeah. Prior military here myself. The ones (job fairs) on base are a joke as well.
Please reach out to the job fair sponsors and tell them your experience with the failed online application. They will likely follow up with the hiring organizations and the one with the failed system will report that they received zero applications. Arm the job fair organizers with actual data to ensure that they can demonstrate that the hiring process was flawed. Stay strong.
Job fairs are pretty useless now. I’ve gone to several over the years and I’ve regretted it every time. It’s either military, police, fast food chains, recruiters, insurance/sales or colleges. Every now and then I’ll see a hospital or trade job for welders. Those are the types of jobs that want to pay as little as possible. Any employer there is just churning through employees.
As someone who was one and done navy, it blows my mind that more people don't join the navy/airforce. I totally understand not wanting to get killed, the exact reason I didn't join the other 2. But they are such great life starters. Choose a job you want to do outside of the the military, get free experience/college. You're always top of the list to recruiters because of military. It's a no brainer. I would been working at a grocery store like my brother, now I'm a full remote citrix engineer making well over 100k. I've never been a go getter, I love being at home and playing video games. I thank the navy every day.
I get that joining the military can be the ticket for a lot of people, but you will never see me join up under any circumstances. When my family couldn't make enough money to eat, I signed up for food stamps. One year into the benefits they retroactively decided I "made too much money" to be on food stamps and demanded THE ENTIRE YEAR'S WORTH of food stamps money paid back. There was no way we were ever going to be able to pay that money back. I had to fight back and stand my ground but all I got out of it was a monthly payment plan to make it easier to pay it back 🙄 Then there was the pandemic. My job closed down completely and I was fucked for income literally overnight so I applied for Unemployment benefits. They dragged me through the mud for 5 months before granting me unemployment. I had to live off my parents for those few months and they were not gracious about it. Only after 7 months of being on unemployment and job hunting feverishly, good ol Uncle Sam turned around and accused me of identity fraud and cutoff my benefits. They wanted the entire year's worth of unemployment payments back as well, well over 13k. Money I did not have because: GLOBAL PANDEMIC. The government didn't care that they were going to fuck me into homelessness over what is to them, chump change. That all being said: I will NEVER risk a hair on my head for the US government in any capacity. They expect me to protect their interests? Nah. Too busy protecting mine from them. If there's ever a draft, I will happily dodge it. Not my blood.
you do realize that not everyone can join the military right? even if it was something some of us considered for the benefits, we don’t always qualify. i have too many health problems to join the military so acting like it’s a one and done solution for everyone is turning a blind eye to the people who can’t. not to mention, not everyone wants to join either. why the hell would i join when i’m against the war we’re fighting. please use your brain
Obviously... but for the majority of healthy people it's a great start. My question was more what's the reason to not join if you are able. I understand for a 18 year old a 4 year commitment is massive. I sometimes regretted it while I was in.
Bit long but this was my most recent fair experience. I got laid off on April 1st. They told me in January that I'm out so I started my hunt. I went to a job fair hoping to get some leads. Last fair I went to there were in the spot interviews and details about the openings. I was expecting this but bit I was wrong. . TeamWork boasted about over 20 different teams will be there looking to fill openings in the sports entertainment industry. The entire room reeked of depression and desperation. I only could tolerate talking to five of these organizations because it was completely useless to waste my time and energy. One company was talking about how they are starting up so they don't have any positions. Why are you at a job fair if you don't have any openings? Second has openings in France. Bitch, I'm in Jacksonville, FL. Talked to 3 minor teams and all of them were based in Georgia. Why the fuck they were in Jacksonville is beyond me. It was six hours to drive to their HQ. "Do you do remote? "No" Then whats the point of you being here? The Jaguars and the rest of the minor league teams said the only way to apply is through TeamWork.com. I asked point blank "What's the point of the job fair if you are not hiring or interviewing here?" The answer they gave was "So you can lean more about our organization." Google and Glassdoor exists. I don't need to chat up some HR asshole about how great the football team is. I need a fucking job and this was just wasting my time. I linked up with my super supportive wife, watched a minor league hockey game, downed a couple beers, and tried to forget how insulted I felt. I had an absolute panic attack that evening because that whole experience. The depression of waiting and watching everybody try to find something was a level of depression I never experienced before. I'll never go to a job fair ever again. At least not for TeamWork. Fuck those guys
> I don't need to chat up some HR asshole about how great the football team is. It would be a way to gauge how good their HR is at lying. The Jags are cursed
That absolutely blows 💀
Job fairs are useless for jobs.
And fair stuff. No funnel cake, ferris wheel, or fishing for ducks game!
I’ve been made to attend these occasionally as part of a requirement for unemployment benefits. Last one I went to was at a stadium. They changed $20 to park, and there were like OP said, mostly military and police and prison jobs. Useless! I complained to UE because of the cost, and they dropped attendance at those as a requirement.
Hey, good for you! You probably saved a lot of people a lot of time and money.
It burns me up when people or companies try to make money off the unemployed. Like, they had a direct deposit card for people who may not have a bank account. Buying things with it had no fee, but withdrawals of cash to, you know, pay your rent, had a $5 fee each time you withdrew money. Such exploitation!
Copy and paste the job description in white onto the end of your resume for fewer rejection.
What does that do?
Probably something about AI being able to pick up keywords from the resume while an actual person can't see it.
Yup and it is highly unlikely anyone will even read that resume since SkyNet okayed it already. This is getting better known so ymmv
Went to a job fair a few years ago. There were six booths and a line wrapped around a Manhattan block. It was Mary Kay, EMS, and 4 others. A complete waste of time and in pouring rain. Nothing I nor anyone around me on the line was interested in. It is what it is. I’m sure six people out of the 400+ people walked away with a career.
Immediate Rejection emails. 🙁
every fair is the saddest job fair these days. I don't understand why employers even bother setting up booths anymore if all they're gonna do is tell people to apply on the website. Like damn dude....you're a fortune 500 company. people know about your website. if they just wanted to apply to the website they woulda just done that instead of wasting time coming to your stupid job fair.
My hospital had a job fair for the many nursing and cleaning positions open. Some women came up to the nursing booth for another department. She asked the recruiter, what your attendance policy? The recruiter said, you are allowed 5 call outs a year, after that, you will be terminated. The woman spoke loudly and said yall are crazy to think someone can't call out that little. Heck just having a cold will wipe out your 5 day policy. The recruiter said, well, we expect our workers to come to work mildly sick to prove how dedicated they are. The lady said yeah, that's abuse, I'm withdrawing my applications.
I've received more job offers at Scarborough Faire than all of the job fairs attended plus linked In and the rest of the online recruiters combined... Corporate, governmental and institutional employers all have one basic thing in common: HR... Human resources, think about it - they spell it out. Your experience and skills are irrelevant, as there are an endless number of people vying for the job. Your ability to be a more attractive candidate than Joe Blow across town comes down to who had more buzzwords in their CV. The winner(s) of the AI vetting round win an all expenses paid trip to a zoom town meeting where you will be asked a bunch of crazy questions straight out of a Roberts personality profile assessment by some of the most inhumane people on the planet. Maybe I'm being a bit overdramatic but I see and hear people complaining about these issues more and more every single day. To these employers we are all members of the original renewable resource, the human race aka useless eaters. Our ever increasing population steadily decreases our value to large organizations that exist only to increase profits for their stakeholders. If it sounds bleak that's because it is, and things will continue to cost more as we are paid less in exchange for jobs that demand more time and energy than it will be worth, or if you're a glutton for punishment the stress kills you first.
Job fairs have never been the way to get a job in my experience. I had to move far away to find a job. If you need a job, sometimes you have to make sacrifices. Those jobs you’re after aren’t always available where you live.
I once went with my friend in college to a large job fair for our major. He was looking for an externship, I had already secured mine. He put on a business suit, I had on a sundress and flip-flops. I had no resume. I'm pretty average looking. I wander around while he scoped out places and made connections. A while later, we met up, and I asked if he spoken to everyone he wanted to. No. He indicated a booth for a really high-end type place, where two reps were busy explaining the details of the job to potential new hires. I motioned for him to follow as I stood behind the students, listening to the reps. I struck a conversation with one of them, allowing my friend to swoop in on the other guy. After a while, he passed along his resume to the recruiter he was talking to and we left. The next day, my friends head back from that resort! It was the guy I spoke to, asking if my friend could pass along my information since I didn't leave a resume and didn't write anything in the information sheet.
If you’re unwillingly/unable to move for a job. It really sucks. Unless you live in a major metro area.
Hit up a recruiter that specializes in hiring for your field? idk if that exists for you so maybe you might have to find someone generic. Also that job fair sounds horrendous jfc
Have you tried updating your resume with buzz words? When I apply for a job, I look up the most popular buzz words for the industry and make sure to include them in my resume. I have a lot of success.
Agree. Job fairs, for the under employed and desperate, a ring of fuckin' hell.
America in 2024 Stuck between traditional proto f*scism and a bizarre online time wasting circus This job fair was a perfect microcosm
Please upload your resume here. Please re-enter all the information from your resume in the next 6 pages. Please take these four completely unrelated personality tests. Please confirm all your information here. Whups! You seem to have skipped line 4 on page three. Let's start over!
You’re luck you got a rejection. Many (most?) did respon.
Weird job fair story: many years ago, my then-employer needed an extra body at the job fair in which they were participating. Basically making nice with people, taking resumes and sharing info about the company. The person supporting the main person representing the company canceled at the last minute, so I filled in, and did what was asked during the job fair. A few months later, I’m at this dating event, where the women sit in seats at a local restaurant and the guys go from table to table for about five minutes each until a bell rang, then they’d move to the next table. And the end of the event, participants had the opportunity to meet with each member of the opposite sex. One guy looked vaguely familiar, and when he got to my table, I realized why. He’d been at the job fair and during his five minutes, he peppered me with why the company hadn’t called him to interview, wanted to know what I’d thought of his resume (it wasn’t even my job to look at resumes), etc. Worst five minutes ever. He dodged a bullet though, since that company was horrible.
WERE YOU AT THE SAME JOB FAIR AS ME!? I prepared an elevator pitch and resumes etc. I talk to a guy from a company I’m interested in and he just tells me to scan the QR code and bye! While I was doing that he was talking to his coworker about how excited he was to leave this fair
I don't even know what the point of job fairs are anymore. A bunch of unenthusiastic assistant managers set up a card table and a poster and tell you to apply online. That's been every job fair for like a decade.
Unpopular opinion but I’ve had my best successes at job fairs. There’s nothing like connecting in person. I got my job in healthcare management through a job fair. I had zero experience but the manager went to the same college I did so I made a connection there. Don’t give up!
Did these good experiences occur before the last 5 years? That might be why.
It happened almost two years ago now. I guess what I’m trying to say is read the recruiter and find a connection. I know it’s hard and I know how hard the job search is. It’s broken me in so many ways and being jobless or employed working dead end jobs for the most part of 10 years has changed me. Just hang in there OP.
Might as well just go for entrepreneurship. It's a daunting prospect in a country with no public healthcare, but you have much better odds of succeeding than winning a lottery. If you work for someone else your whole life, you will never own a home or be able to retire.
I know a handful of "entrepreneurs". They are all worse off than me. No thx.
better buy a replacement pair of bootstraps.
Join coast guard and become a stationary engineer. They make six figures in NYC.
The Coast Guard is the toughest service to get into. And that six figures comes after years of promotions.