In-Person Career Fair vs. Virtual Career Fair

Every day, more and more business is being conducted online. Today's students might anticipate balancing the physical and virtual worlds in their future employment. Fortunately, many of these students grew up in a digital world and are comfortable with online interactions. But can those online interactions provide such strong business relationships as eye-to-eye interactions?

There is no denying that there are numerous benefits of virtual career fairs. But most participants want to know are virtual career fairs worth it.

Let us first explain how virtual career fairs work.

How does a virtual career fair work?

A virtual career fair looks just like a physical career fair, but it's conducted online through a virtual career fair platform. Using a virtual career fair software, you can create an engaging and user-friendly virtual environment where potential employees can learn more about the companies they are interested in, contact them, and arrange a meeting in just a few clicks!

Career fair networking

In-person, face-to-face communication is still the most efficient and generally accepted type of communication. When communicating via video and chat, nonverbal cues like tone of voice, eye contact, and body language are sometimes lost. In-person communication is generally regarded as being more honest since it fosters relationships, increases credibility and confidence, and inspires cooperation among participants. Although in-person event networking has its benefits, that doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve the same deal of networking during a virtual event.

In fact, virtual event networking is more streamlined and faster than in-person networking. With a focus on event matchmaking, the b2match all-in-one event management platform provides a variety of customizable solutions that increase the number of meetings and connect employers with the top candidates. Some of its features include chats, integrated video meetings (no external solutions necessary), branded corporate pages, rich participant profiles, a job board with offers from recruiters, and others. The AI Meeting Recommender, a system that uses machine learning algorithms that analyze a lot of data to offer interesting profiles to each user, will help your participants find their ideal match. As a result, there is an increase in engagement and excellent interview quality.

Talent pool

Virtual career fairs enable more qualified candidates from a larger candidate pool to network with potential employers and make it easier for businesses to collect data and provide statistics. Candidates have far more freedom regarding when and how they can attend virtual events because they are not affected by bad weather, heavy traffic, or structural concerns. With a virtual career fair, you can expand your candidate pool and connect with qualified candidates worldwide! Physical events can only be held within a geographical area, meaning your number of potential employees is limited. The virtual event networking software makes it possible to screen candidates and hire highly qualified people for particular positions.

Event Scale and Investment

Physical career fairs necessitate a specific venue with a set number of seats available, so not everyone who wants to attend will be able to. Additionally, it is undoubtedly the costliest component of your event. Your event planner will need to look into potential venues, bargain for prices, and ensure that the space is available on the day(s) you want to hold your career fair. If you wish to put the comfort of your guests first, you must also consider parking. When planning a physical job fair, you will also need to budget for marketing, technology resources such as stage setup, equipment for keynote speeches, lighting rigs of the highest caliber, projectors, and technical support. It is always preferable to pay for insurance because a poorly constructed building could interfere with your career fair. You must also plan for on-site corporate catering (breakfast, afternoon snack, lunch) and think about how to keep recruiters and workers motivated during the event. You'll need assistants to help your guests with any issues or inquiries, but you also have to consider the cost of their fees. The standard rule of staffing is to provide at least one assistant for every 12 guests.

The cost of a virtual career fair can vary based on the extent of features, duration, exhibitor participation, and customizations required to match the organizer’s needs. But the good news is you only have to pay the virtual career fair platform provider, which reduces the cost of your career fair immensely. Because your virtual career fair is held on a virtual career fair platform, candidates across the world can attend them and connect with valuable contacts. Accessibility is a crucial aspect that any virtual event should offer. Some candidates can not attend career fairs because the facility is not adapted to people with disabilities. Virtual career fairs are limitless and for everyone! On a virtual career fair platform, you can add captions when events are being broadcast live to make them more comprehensible and accessible electronically. These are essential for those who require them in order to participate, including deaf or hard-of-hearing users, as well as for those who like to watch videos with captions.

Analytics and data

Since there are only a limited number of readily available statistics, it is challenging to assess the performance of the physical career fair. The only method to determine whether an experiment was successful is to ask the volunteers, which can be a difficult task. On a platform for virtual career fairs, however, you can keep track of every attendee and observe how they interact with one another. You have access to the platform's comprehensive post-event analytics report. Hearing from your attendees is the best method to determine whether your event was a success. To raise awareness, build credibility, and expand your audience, you can send thank-you notes to attendees, partners, and everyone who participated via social media and email. You can also share the success of your event online. Sending follow-up surveys after the virtual job fair will help you learn the main lessons about what worked well so you can repeat and improve it the next time. By asking the appropriate post-event evaluation questions, they also give a sneak preview of areas that need improvement.

Virtual career fairs offer unmatched benefits; your money can be used elsewhere because there are no capacity restrictions, time restrictions, hospitality costs, expensive marketing, insurance requirements, or event management obstacles. A virtual event allows hosts to reach a global audience, recruit efficiently, provide guests with convenience, and schedule exciting events without renting equipment. With all these advantages, it is understandable why interest in virtual events isn't dwindling. It seems that virtual events and especially virtual career fairs may become the norm in the future.

If you are a student, you should probably check out some career fair networking tips for students so that you can be prepared for your next career fair.