Virtual Career Fair

Ever since COVID restrictions and lockdown rolled over the world, digital hiring solutions like virtual career fairs have become commonplace. And till now, even in the post-pandemic situation, due to the numberless benefits that virtual career fairs come with, it still stays as the #1 choice among the recruiters. 

However, when it comes to hosting a virtual career fair, though it seems a lot simpler than hosting the physical alternative, standing out in this virtual setting can yet hold some challenges. Hence to host an outstanding career fair and yield the highest success for your company, make sure to analyse and prepare the recruitment strategy and experience carefully. 

Why choose to go online with virtual career fairs?

So what makes virtual career fairs a favoured recruiting tool? 

It is convenient. And as it removes geographic barriers, it brings a global audience. Just in a matter of seconds, it allows the employers to reach people from one side of the country to another and meet audiences while being in the comfort of their homes. 

Reduced cost is another of the benefits of a virtual career fair. With no facility and venue rentals, travel or shipping charges, compared to an in-person event, a virtual career fair is less expensive. Simply by using virtual event software, employers can conduct promotions to management all online. 

In addition, it ensures better hires as employers can efficiently communicate, engage and hold interviews of the ideal candidates on the spot. Also, candidate evaluation turns much easier virtually with the tons of assessment tools that you can use to measure an individual’s skills.  

Above all, hassle-free set-up, real-time data, powerful branding, and seamless communication are other key benefits you can expect while hosting virtual career fairs. 

Host a virtual career fair in 9 easy steps

A nine-step guide to planning and hosting a virtual career fair.

1. Prior to your virtual career fair

Pre-event planning is one of the crucial stages, and it is a key to a successful strategy. Here are some guidelines you need to keep in mind that can help you put on a great event. 

Step 1: Plan your event details and strategies early

You need to set particular goals and know what you are targeting. Consider everything while planning one, from budget to the number of audiences, specifications to requirements. For example, you can start by making an essential checklist.

• Target date and time for your virtual career fair
• The number of attendees you are expecting
• Goals you are looking to achieve
• Marketing plan and timeline
• Your event’s success metric
• Your expenses and budget

Step 2: Pick a virtual event platform that fits your needs

Once you have done planning, proceed further to select a virtual fair platform that will expedite the hiring process. Take into account some of the much-needed features like customisation, data and analytics, engagement features, ticketing or marketing facilities. 

Such as, you can consider virtual event platforms like EventBookings that offer a wide range of tools and features to help institutions or organisations connect virtually with the candidates. From video interviewing to event ticketing to live video broadcasts to real-time data analytics, EventBookings comes with integrated solutions and offers high-quality customer service. 

Step 3: Reach out to sponsors and speakers

Do your research to find and win your ideal sponsor for your career fair. Because to do additional branding and marketing of your event or attract more talented individuals to attend your event, sponsorship plays the role of a powerful marketing tool. Also, if you have a plan to invite speakers to inspire and entertain candidates, find the one who influences your target audience. Then, keep them informed about your event goals, objectives and every event detail to make them ready prior to your event. 

Step 4: Maximise your marketing channels to promote your event

Now that you planned everything, picked the platform and got the sponsors, time to create buzz and reach out to your targeted audiences through a range of platforms. Add a customised and compelling event page mentioning all event detail and select all the diverse marketing vehicles that your chosen virtual event platform offers to promote your event. Consider social media marketing and email marketing as great marketing channels to reach more potential attendees. 

Step 5: Keep multiple ticket types offering discounts or coupons

Virtual event ticketing makes ticket management work much simpler and straightforward both for you and your candidates. Provide a variety of virtual ticket types for your event to tailor the event experiences for specific audiences. For example, with EventBookings, you can set up early-bird tickets to create early buzz and other coupons or group ticketing facilities to sell tickets for your event.

2. During the event day

Now to make sure everything is all set and to keep the energy high while the event takes place, consider some of these day-of-event strategies. 

Step 6: Set up an outstanding virtual booth

Virtual booths are where your candidates come to gather information and interact with you. So try to set a visually appealing custom virtual booth and display all the necessary information your candidates might seek for. This might include your brand’s logo, images, service videos, job information, contents, contact details etc. Also, focus on the booth layout to ensure it stands out and attracts attention. 

Step 7: Utilise all engagement boosting features

Explore all the features of your event platform and ensure the proper utilisation of those to keep your attendees hooked throughout the whole event. For example, with EventBookings, you can enable your attendees to communicate with one another via individual or group chatting. Or you can integrate with other apps such as YouTube to offer more networking options during the event and set up live streams of speakers. Also, by arranging Q/A or live poll sessions, you can encourage attendees to participate.  

Step 8: Use built-in analytic tools to track and optimise your event

From the selling status of your virtual event tickets to your event attendee information to your conversions, you can track every detail with the right analytic tools. So be sure to check the availability of these tools with the virtual event platform you are going with. After all, by gaining all the actionable insights, you can measure your event’s success depending on the results.   

3. After the virtual career fair

Even though you may have wrapped your event, you are not done yet. The post-event period also requires some attention to maximise your event success. 

Step 9: Maintain follow up with participants

After your event has ended, continue engaging your candidates with helpful messaging and content to develop lasting relationships. You can offer to maintain follow up by asking for their feedback or suggestions for improvements. Or, maybe you can get them to follow your social media accounts so that they can keep informed about the next event update and register for your next one. 

So, here you go! With the proper planning and forethought, these are 9 easy-to-execute steps you can look up to host a virtual career fair and get the best result. 

And if you are on board with virtual career event planning, EventBookings is there for you to turn your job much simpler. Initially, what you can do is create a free virtual demo event, experiment with all the unique built-in features and explore how you can design your next virtual job fair with EventBookings.    

Author Bio:

I am Rebekah Murray. I am working as a content strategist at EventBookings. I have 12+years of experience in the field of content writing. I am passionate about exploring and writing about events, technology, marketing, and education-related content. Find me on Twitter.