Job Search Tips - The Pros and Cons of Career Fairs

When it comes to finding a job, you are likely to look a lot of places and this is a good idea. The more places you look, the more jobs you are likely to find. But what about a career fair? It is a good way to find a job or just a waste of your time?

The Pros of Career Fairs

Networking: You will run into many individuals and companies at a career fair. This is a good chance to get out of there and network. Not only can you handout your resume or a business card, but you can also exchange personal information such as a cell phone numbers, email addresses, or twitter names (yes really). In today's society, networking can significantly improve your chances of landing a job. It is all about looking in the right places and having a good resume, but sometimes it is also about who you know.

Learn: You might be surprised how much you can learn at a career fair. Most importantly, you will learn about some local companies that you didn't even know existed. This is great because when you are in need of a job, you are encouraged to examine all of your options. While most hiring companies prefer to post a listing online, some like to have the option to meet interested job applicants in person.

Interviews: All job fairs and the companies who attend them are different. Some aren't even actively hiring right now, but they want to create a good database of resume for later. Some companies are hiring and will just collect your resume; their reps are there to do that collecting and tell all interested job seekers about the position. Best of all is the fact that some companies will do on-the-spot interviews! You might walkout of the career fair with a job or an appointment for a second, more formal interview.

The Cons of Career Fairs

Time: Job fairs are nice to attend because you might walk away with a great job. On that same note, you cannot ignore the fact that they require a lot of time. On average, most individuals are at the average fair for at least three hours. After all, there might be hundreds of booths setup and you want to do more than just run up and hand them your resume; you want to stay and network. If you are unemployed, this time will be well-spent. If you are employed and just looking for a new job, you might find some time problems.

Fees: Lets get one thing clear first, not all career fairs cost money to attend. For example, those that are held in public places like a local mall are typically free to attend. It is typically advised that you don't pay to attend a job fair unless a limited number of individuals are allowed in. As mentioned above, there are no guarantees so you might not want to take the risk.

If you want to eliminate the time and hassle of attending a career fair, do your job searching online; it is fast and easy. In fact, you can save even more time by using a desktop job finding program. These programs do vary from program to program, but they are designed to let you search hundreds or even thousands of job sites with one single search. Many also come with other great features, such as customized notes, built-in replies, advanced search features, and more.

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