Virtual Job Fairs Increase Candidate Engagement, Save Time and Money

The advantages to hosting online job fairs and hiring events are many. Both employers and job seekers save time and money from not having to set up and attend the events in person, attendance is not limited by geographic boundaries and the initial stages of recruitment are accelerated. Ed Barrientos is the CEO of Brazen, a technology company based in Arlington, Va., which is at the forefront of producing chat-based virtual hiring and networking events. He talked with SHRM Online about the ways virtual candidate engagement is used, best practices for organizations conducting online hiring events, and whether the traditional in-person career fair may soon be a thing of the past. SHRM Online: What are the primary ways that chat-based virtual events can be used in talent acquisition? Barrientos: Most companies use virtual chat events for top-of-the-funnel engagement with prospective candidates. We've always had career fairs, but they are generally ineffective. Large employers collect resumes and job seekers feel like the whole experience is kind of useless. Virtual job fairs, held by a single employer, perfect that human engagement in a more efficient way. Employers either send out invitations to specific people that they want to engage with, like engineers in their ATS, or broaden the engagement for an open house style event advertised through social media and programmatic advertising.