Best Virtual Career Fair Platforms - September 2020

Pricing for virtual events typically depends on a few different factors depending on the vendor.  Pricing will almost certainly be based on a combination of the number of events you want to do, as well as the scale of these events (number of booths, registrants, recruiters).

Our recommendation would be to commit to doing a few of these events so that you can get a sense for the value they bring to your organization, and work out the bugs that may come with the first one.  This will also give you some leverage to get better pricing on a per event basis versus just signing up for one event.

Here are some of the key features you should be looking for when decided between different virtual career fair vendors.

• Mobile: Many job seekers access virtual events on mobile, this entire experience needs to be mobile friendly.
• Customer branding: The ability to have your color/logos on the signup and events page.
• Landing pages: Quickly spin up beautiful, mobile optimized landing pages to collect signups, share expectations about the event, and sell your organization/event.
• Single Sign On: The ability for your job seekers and recruiters/employees/hiring managers to use SSO to access the platform.
• Custom candidate information: The ability to ask custom questions of job seekers when they sign up, or before they enter a given booth.
• Event reminders:  Text (SMS) and email based reminders about the event.
• Event tutorial: Candidates can get a quick primer on how to use the platform to make the most of their experience and cut down on tech difficulties.
• Webinars: The ability to do video broadcasts to all event attendees.  Great for professional development content, to share insights into different roles, or other employer branding content.
• Booths: Different sections of the event with different types of people (recruiters for a given role, from a given company, hiring managers, employees, etc) so candidates can talk to who is relevant.
• Booth search: Easy search for different areas of the event, especially on mobile.
• Chat Timer: A timer that both recruiter and job seeker can see so that there is a natural end to the conversation.
• Multi-chat: Recruiters can chat with multiple candidates at once.
• Snippets: Recruiters can use pre-filled questions and responses.
• Chat transcripts: Ability to send hiring managers chats, or add them to ATS for reference later in the recruiting process.
• Group chats: Ability to have multiple job seekers chat with a company representative.

When you do talk to vendors, we recommend you come prepared with a few questions to ask.  While each team is different, here are some sample questions for virtual career fair platform providers:

• How do candidates get into the ATS?
• How can I setup an event landing page?
• How many recruiters/registrants/booths am I limited to?
• How can I brand these career fairs with my corporate info?
• Can we talk about one of the roles I hire for in high volume and how I could setup an event for this role from start to finish?
• What data are you seeing in terms of hires from an event of a given size?
• What information can I collect on candidates beyond their resumes?  Can I ask custom questions so I can prioritize candidates.

Setting up a virtual career fair actually isn’t that hard.  The event landing page can be up and running in 15 minutes.  From there, it’s all about marketing the event to your talent pools, on your career site, and in job postings.

Given the event is virtual and people don’t need commute, take time off work, get child care, etc you can setup these events and have a large attendance with only a few days notice.

What is a virtual career fair?

A virtual career fair is a networking event where job seekers can engage with companies online instead of in person. 

Are virtual career fairs useful?

Yes, virtual career fairs are useful, especially during COVID-19 when large gatherings can potentially be dangerous. Even outside of a pandemic, both companies and job seekers will find value in being able to connect virtually, as it allows for a wider geographic range of participants.  

How does a virtual career fair work?

Employers and job seekers sign up for an event and get connected via chat rooms, video conferencing, and webinars to exchange information. Oftentimes a candidate will upload a resume that will match them to relevant employers and vice versa. However, candidates can also browse what companies are featured and reach out themselves. 

How can a virtual career fair platform help my recruiting process? 

A virtual career fair can help your recruiting process by connecting your business with a wide talent pool at a single event. 

What are the use cases for virtual career fairs? 

• Companies: Businesses can engage a wide range of talent
• Employment agencies: Recruiting firms benefit from large population of job seekers, giving them lots of 1:1 time with candidates allowing for quick vetting 
• Organizations hosting jobs fairs: Universities and professional groups who do career fairs in person will benefit from hosting similar events online
• Job Seekers: job seekers can find multiple different networking opportunities and even perhaps find their next position 
• Ad Hoc Recruiting Events: In person events require a lot of overhead, while virtual events require much less time and effort to put together and often achieve similar results‍
• Pre-Employment Testing: Great way for job seekers and recruitment teams to understand if there’s a fit before moving someone into the hiring pipeline