Virtual Job Fair Best Practices for Recruiters and Hiring Managers

Hi friend,

Virtual job fairs are a new thing for many recruiters and hiring managers during the pandemic, but I bet they will stick around as more companies go remote-friendly and tap new talent pools. Now that I’ve attended a few from both sides of the table, here are some tips and best practices for hiring managers and recruiters that will make virtual job fairs smooth for you and the candidates:

Tip 1: Hiring managers need a way to talk with participants individually or in small groups with shared interests. If the virtual job fair platform does not support “break out” rooms, set up a separate Zoom or Google Meet room that you can invite people to one by one. It’s probably a good idea to have this anyway, in case of technical difficulties.

Tip 2: Take advantage of the virtual format, and share a link where participants can give you their contact information so that recruiters can follow up or send them email alerts about new job opportunities with your organization. At a virtual job fair, people do not have to take turns or wait in a line to enter their contact information on a tablet. 

Tip 3: In a virtual setting, you often can’t see how many candidates are still active at the job fair unless they are currently at your virtual “table”. I have attended several virtual job fairs where I left someone’s table because the room was full, but when I came back a short time later, the recruiters were already gone, several hours before the end of the job fair! It’s okay to leave early, but set clear expectations with candidates on your signage (see the next suggestion) or leave instructions on how to get in touch so you don’t miss out on great talent.

Tip 4: Make a slide/virtual signage to display to candidates who join your room, explaining what to expect. For example:

We’re so glad you’re interested in careers at Microsoft!

We’ll be here until 9 p.m. EST. Please say hello in the chat and tell us what opportunities you are interested in so we can make note of the order you joined us and connect you to the right hiring manager for a personal conversation.

While you’re here, share your contact information with us at: tinyexampleurl.com/sign-up

If possible, leave one person in the “main room” to acknowledge new people as they enter and keep everyone updated as to their place in line. 

Tip 5: Just in case, recruiters and hiring managers should have a separate line of communication that is not part of the virtual job fair platform. This could be your company Slack, or something similar where you can coordinate quickly about how many people are waiting, if you want to refer a candidate to talk to a different hiring manager, or if someone needs to step away for a bio break.

Tip 6: Finally, do as much as possible to learn about the platform you will be using and the technical constraints ahead of time. Ask the organizers of the virtual job fair if you can do a dry run or if they will provide early access for testing. You never know what will go wrong.

Let me know if I should add any recommendations to this list, and good luck with your next job fair!

Karissa