Following on from the first in our three-part blog series Job Fair Hiring Success in which we look at some of the key issues for success when it comes to exhibiting at a job fair, we now look at the benefits of holding interviews on the day of the event.

As previously mentioned, we’ve been organising recruitment events for almost twenty years and while some employers won’t touch them, others swear by them.

We ask the question, why is this? Why do job fairs work for some employers and not for others?

Our first blog in this particular series looked at setting and managing expectations, and especially those of your superiors in terms of your projected recruitment ROI.

We firmly believe that having clear and realistic hiring goals remains the single most important ingredient when it comes to job fair success and this is followed closely by careful planning and holding interviews on the day of the event.

We are often surprised and a little shocked by the number of healthcare employers at our job fairs who don’t interview candidates on the day and this is despite providing a free interview area for all employers to us.

We know of one particular NHS Trust in London, one of the best known hospitals in the UK, that will attend our job fairs and then insist on candidates applying for their jobs online using the NHS Jobs recruitment website.

When questioned about this particular approach, they always state that our job fairs are fantastic for building their employer brand in the market, but they want candidates to follow their exact process.

In contrast, another NHS Trust from London at the same job fair, will have two clinical leads sitting in the interview room with the resourcing team on their stand screening and feeding them candidates all day. Who do you think has the most hiring success?

We believe interviewing candidates on the day is the most efficient and effective use of a job fair.

We all know nurses are in short supply and have the world at their feet when it comes to where and when they work.

How many nurses apply for jobs and never respond to a request for interview or simple do not attend their interview either in person or by Skype?

The answer is too many.

So why then waste the opportunity of interviewing candidates on the day when you have a captive audience of potential candidates for a limited period of time.