The digital revolution meets the handshake

Amid the dehumanizing maze of online hiring, job fairs are making a powerful comeback

COULD GOOD OLD-FASHIONED job fairs be the answer to a very broken hiring process that jobseekers are looking for?

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Last week, several media outlets in London covered the London and Area Works Job Fair, which drew a couple thousand attendees. As we theorized in London Inc. Weekly, the demand might reflect both high unemployment as well as a growing sense among jobseekers that in-person recruitment opportunities may offer a better chance at landing a gig than the spray-and-pray methods of online applications.

At similar job fairs elsewhere in the country, that second sentiment keeps popping up. “Having an opportunity like this to find vendors that are actually looking [to hire] is amazing,” said one employer at a job fair in Kanata. A BIA director said the job fair environment “makes it more efficient for [employers] and for jobseekers.”

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To the question of whether they are making a comeback, there’s some tentative evidence that the job fair model might hold promise in the age of AI dominant hiring. A recent survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that after years of pre-pandemic decline, the number of people attending career fairs is climbing again, both on the attendee and employer side. “Clearly, both groups prefer to attend career fairs in-person,” the survey stated.

Official data backs it up. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis wrote that they were starting to see signs that in-person recruitment events were something more employers and jobseekers were prioritizing. “At the in-person job fairs, the whole application and hiring process seems quicker and more streamlined,” said one business advisor. Another added, “I’ve had jobseekers say thank you for putting them on, because it gives them an opportunity to actually talk directly with HR folks, and of course HR people are happy to see them as well. These events can be very successful for everyone.”

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The momentum might be gradual, but set against the bleak landscape of hiring in the AI age, local economic officials are making the case for the old-school approach.

“It gets your employer brand out there. You get to talk to people about your company, you get to have that face-to-face conversation,” said the London and Area Works’ Christine Wilton. “There is a lot here and the more people you bring together, the more people you attract.” Kieran Delamont