Workforce boards partner for virtual job fair
Workforce boards partner for virtual job fair
Get ready for another job fair. But don’t worry about dressing to impress, shaking hands or rattling off that self-marketing pitch of yours. This fair takes place online.
Several North Carolina workforce development boards have partnered for the Piedmont Triad Partnership Virtual Job Fair, which runs today through Saturday. Job seekers can dress down, avoid long lines and save on gas by visiting virtualjobfair.triadworks.org. After registering, “it’s basically a one-click operation” to apply for jobs, says Kyle Wolf, business services representative with the Greensboro-High Point-Guilford County Workforce Development Board.
This marks the second virtual job fair made possible through the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED), a three-year, $15 million federal grant awarded to the Piedmont Triad region in 2006. The U.S. Department of Labor selected the Triad as one of 13 regions nationwide to receive the grant, which is part of an effort to foster local, innovative development through federal resources, according to the partnership’s Web site (www.ptpnc.com).
Wolf, who works with Guilford County employers to ensure their training, recruiting and hiring needs are met, says the partnership’s first virtual job fair in July featured 38 employers who advertised 110 job openings. He adds that job seekers cannot upload their résumé directly from their computers to the site, but instead are asked to simply copy and paste the information from their résumé into standardized text boxes, also known as a résumé wizard.
Virtual job fairs have advantages for both employers and job seekers. “There’s a pretty significant cost involved” for companies to purchase exhibition booths at traditional job fairs, Wolf says. They often pay $500 or more to occupy a booth for one day. And that doesn’t include the cost of staff or recruitment materials.
Although employers don’t get to meet job seekers in person, a virtual job fair allows employers to advertise as many jobs as they want by purchasing an online “booth” at a reasonable price, save the money normally used for staff and recruitment materials, and then “really kind of let it go for a week,” Wolf says. Because this particular virtual job fair requires that job seekers copy and paste their résumé information into a résumé wizard, it also eases the evaluation process for employers.
Job seekers can apply for local jobs from the comfort of home and with little effort. After registering and filling out the résumé wizard, they can simply go to each posting and click on “apply for this job” if they are interested in it. Wolf says jobs of all experience levels and in several career fields will be available, from health care to financial services.
Depending on their comfort levels and social skills, job seekers may consider the anonymity of a virtual job fair a plus, while others may feel it prohibits them from making a good first impression in person, but it’s still possible to stand out during one of these online events. On the main screen of each employer’s virtual booth, there will be contact information that job seekers can use to follow up, an important part of being successful after any kind of job fair, even the online brand. “The same rules apply,” Wolf says.
Register online
What: Piedmont Triad Partnership Virtual Job Fair
When: Today through Saturday
Web site: http://virtualjobfair.triadworks.org
Partners: DavidsonWorks, Northwest Piedmont Workforce Development Board, Greensboro-High Point-Guilford County Workforce Development Board, Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments, Regional Partnership Workforce Development Board, Pee Dee Region Workforce Development Board
