The Benefits of Virtual Career Fairs
Hire Heroes USA’s next Virtual Career Fair will be take place on Tuesday, August 29, 2017, from 10am – 3pm EDT. Utilizing the virtual realm for these job fairs provides a distinct advantage over traditional in-person career fairs, because most of our military, veteran and military spouse clients are geographically dispersed around the country and even overseas.
The virtual concept provides an excellent platform for job seekers and employers alike. Here’s why:
- Job seekers can learn more about each participating company, as well as their available openings. Since this event is open only to military, veteran and military spouse job seekers – you know that all of the companies participating are specifically seeking the talent offered by this select group – particularly the talent gained from service in the U.S. military. Participation in this event not only helps job seekers expand their network and learn about a variety of hiring organizations all at once, it also provides them the opportunity to submit questions directly to the participating recruiters and hiring managers, allowing for timely answers.
- For participating Employers, benefits include the ability to discover top military talent no matter where the job seeker is currently stationed and/or resides. low-cost way to access employable talent without having to pay the expenses (travel, etc.) that are associated with attending traditional in-person career fairs. Besides that, it is also less time consuming because no travel is required. Employers can also engage with multiple job seekers at once, allowing more prospective applicants to learn more about each employer’s organization.
- Both Job seekers and Employers have an added benefit, too. They can accomplish all of this within the comfort of their own workspace or office. In the Virtual Career Fair environment, employers and job seekers are able to engage with each other through group and private chats, with an option for video chats, as well. The Virtual Career Fair is also more productive than the traditional in-person option, because Job seekers can engage with more employers, and employers can engage with more job seekers.
Hire Heroes USA received a lot of positive feedback from participants in our first Virtual Career Fair, which was held in May. That event drew 32 employers and was jointly sponsored by Amazon, Raytheon, and the Virginia Department of Transportation. Other companies participating were Sanford Health, U.S. Foods, Walgreens, and Windstream Communications, to name just a few. On the job seeker side, we had hundreds of participants – from all over the country and around the world. It was even noted by employers that great candidates were identified who would’ve typically only started their job search after they had moved back to the United States.
One job seeker who was hired by Amazon following our May event said, “The Hire Heroes USA Virtual Career Fair was perfect for connecting with employers.” With continued positive responses like that, Hire Heroes USA will continue to provide this platform on a quarterly or bi-annual basis as yet another way to bridge the gap between our military, veteran and military spouse job seekers, and employers.
Learn more about how the Virtual Career Fair works
Blog by: Liz Reyes, Director of Employment Opportunities with Hire Heroes USA