I had an opportunity to participate at no cost in a virtual job fair so I thought, "What the heck?". I have some excellent internship opportunities available, it's the perfect was to test drive the venue. I went all out, set up my booth, got on the webcam to talk about the organization and the type of students I'm looking for.
Students and alumni of 5 local colleges and universities were invited to attend. I'm really happy with the 329 booth views. The result was 29 resumes submitted. I reviewed them and selected 17 to respond by virtual interview to the 3 screening questions I selected.
Frankly, I'm baffled at the fact only 1 student submitted a completed interview! Most of the other companies and organizations participating didn't go as far as I did with the webcam and whole 9 yards, they just put up a few paragraphs and called it a day. They'll just collect resumes and call applicants back the old fashioned way.
My excitement has been kind of deflated. I was encouraged by the virtual job fair company that set it up that all college students have webcams on their laptops and the response would be great. I did have a voice mail from someone who said she tried but had difficulty uploading her video responses. I called her back and left her a message and it ended there with phone tag.
There is a contact us button on the site but no help desk number for immediate assistance. Are applicants having issues and giving up or what?
Have you participated in one of these as an employer or job seeker and what was your experience? I need to know if I scared away the applicants away with my video or if there's an issue. Help!
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