Smart Ways Employers Can Win With Virtual Career Fairs

Virtual career fairs are excellent alternatives to standard career fairs for employers looking to attract and recruit the best talent.

Unfortunately, virtual career fairs can also present challenges when making your presence known simply because of the “virtual” element.

How can employers really make their mark and attract the right attention at virtual career fairs when there’s so much online “clutter” to catch people’s attention these days?

Here are a few suggestions we hope will help you connect with amazing and highly skilled candidates!

Use Smart Recruiting Tools

Whether you are hitting all the virtual career fairs or using other ways to attract top talent, recruiting is an essential part of your marketing plan.

Recruiting can be challenging even if you have a great HR professional or team on your side.

An easy-to-use recruiting site is a great way to get your name out there and set yourself up to attract the right talent.

The mytrades.ca job board was born out of our desire to offer a simple and easy platform to connect both sides as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

Our easy-to-use dashboards allow employers to post jobs, track applicants, engage in Zoom meetings with potential candidates, and much more.

Register here to start posting jobs!

Stay Connected Before and After Virtual Career Fairs

Career fairs are not always the most efficient ways to connect with candidates, whether virtual or not. This is only one piece of the puzzle.

Students today are busy and have plenty to compete for their attention. They are most likely looking for jobs online, but whether or not they’ll take the time out for a virtual job fair is another story.

That’s why you need to keep the conversation going. Like with other marketing activities, engaging in conversation and making sure your company is recognized is key.

Recruitment outreach should be an ongoing activity. Registering your company on job matching websites is one way to get your name out there.

We are passionate about changing the way employers recruit in the skilled trades sector — contact us today to learn how!

Use Social Media Strategically

Social media is key these days, especially for younger generations. Depending on your target demographic, you’ll want to maintain a social media presence on one or two key sites.

But if you’re already on Twitter or Instagram, you may want to consider where your key recruits are hiding.

Social media channels particularly popular with Gen Z include:

• YouTube
• Snapchat
• TikTok

Clever posts and proactive messaging, especially video, can go a long way to helping you make your name known.

Create creative and meaningful visuals, and you’ll go a long way to attracting the right people to attend virtual career fairs and more.

Discuss important FAQs and share testimonials from current employees to drive them towards your booth at virtual career fairs. Consider discussing more than just “facts” about your company– incorporate employee testimonials, or talk about your business values and mission.

Target the Conversation

Where are skilled professionals looking for work in your sector or location today? What kinds of questions are they asking?

Remember that it’s all a two-way conversation, and it’s not just you “talking” about your business or brand.

Think outside the box about where you want this conversation to go — for instance, you might want to connect with specialty trades programs focused on training women if you want more diversity in your organization.

Take the time to understand current employees and what might or might not draw them in whether they are attending virtual career fairs or not.

Understand key things that people are looking for in their careers and highlight what you have to offer. Things like flexible work schedules or parental leave, for instance, will likely be good draws for younger individuals.

They want employers who recognize that their time and efforts have value beyond just an attractive salary.

Stay Connected With Your Community

As early and often as possible, be connected and stay in conversation with organizations focused on helping students, immigrants, and skilled workers and great jobs.

• Trade associations
• Organizations that place recent immigrants
• Student organizations
• Community organizations

One of the most important aspects of mytrades.ca is giving back to the communities we serve.

In partnership with community trades schools across Canada, our “Yellow Cap” program pays back a portion of every paid job listing posted on mytrades.ca into the community of each employer that registers with us.

Incentivize Visits to Virtual Career Fairs

Do you want people to visit your virtual job booth? If so, consider using social media and other conversation spaces to get them to join you at your virtual job booth — here are a few ideas:

• Games
• Trivia
• Contests
• Prizes
• Virtual scavenger hunt

Anything that you can do to make this process meaningful and fun can help spark interest!

Register Today to Easily Find Top Talent Fast

With larger job sites, you can sometimes feel like a small fish in a big ocean. We believe simplicity has been lost or constrained by big job boards for too long, and client servicing has taken a backseat.

We are changing the way people think about work. We’re helping them actively improve their lives and workforce performance with new technology, tools, and practices in the Canadian skilled trades community.