A Head in the Crowd

Job fairs play the percentages and make you feel like a number.

by Maureen Coulter

The night before the Temple University Part-Time Job & Internship Fair last year, I sat hunched over my computer trying to bulk up my anorexic résumé. I inserted the phrase "excellent organizational skills." I made claims of dues-paying membership to an on-campus environmental club I had checked out one afternoon.

The next morning I shimmied into itchy pantyhose, ditched my Pumas for pumps, and headed over to the event with enough confidence in my job-landing ability to spring for an overpriced cup of coffee. My ego had been crippled by past rejections from Outback Steakhouse and Kimberly Clark (I dried my tears with Kleenex), but, strapped for cash and time, I thought the idea of a job fair was brilliant.

"It sounds like a cattle round-up," my mother had said. And indeed, it bore a suspiciously close resemblance. After countless booth visits, handshakes and applications, the lone callback I received was from the prestigious Temple Hospital Gift Shop, where I was one of 30 interviewees for a cashier position. I was not the lucky winner. Not that I was totally stoked at the prospect of ringing up stale "Get Well" bouquets and diabetic candy tins, but any source of income, however meager, would've been welcome.

People are past the point of panic attacks/excessive drinking/doctor-shopping for Xanax in reaction to reports of massive job cuts, outsourcing and skyrocketing commodity prices. It's old news. Even so, bills don't pay themselves, and if you are among the many mired in occupational insecurity, you may have considered a job fair or career expo. The 2008 fall season, especially, is inundated with them. From the über-specific Ann's Choice in Warminster that serves only those interested and qualified to work at a senior residence, to the Mega Career Fair at the Linc that drew vendors from Acme to Vanguard, these events trumpet an end to your career woes. And yet I came up empty. Am I the only one who finds job fairs dispiriting, unproductive rabble-routs?

"Out of the 200 people we might meet today, we'll probably only hire one," said Katie Burns, a recruitment coordinator for New York Life Insurance Co., one of the 53 vendors at the Sept. 17 Mega Career Fair (MCF). Those odds didn't bode well for MCF attendees and job fair virgins John Ayre and Malika Mitchell, who both had hopes of drumming up offers. Ayre, recently laid off by General Electric, was "desperately trying to find work." Although he met with about a half-dozen vendors, he found "nothing promising." Mitchell, a paralegal student, was looking for a customer service gig to help pay her tuition. "I've worked as a hostess and a cashier, but I'm hoping to move up on the professional ladder," she said.

Attendees are subject to the needs and motives of the employers themselves. "Vendors all use job fairs differently," said Kathy Siravo, product and events supervisor for MCF. "Some just collect résumés. Others sign up 10 interviews in a day. Some have an alternative location where they send people for an interview if they like them."

Actual numbers are difficult to come by, according to Siravo. While hundreds — thousands, in MCF's case — of attendees meet with recruiters at these events, there are no solid statistics on how many people actually get hired. "The hiring process is so long, and employers don't always get back to us," said Siravo. Even without hard evidence, it's clear that our mangled economy has put a damper on companies' inclination to place more people on the payroll.

"Employers are still hiring [at job fairs]," said Megan Rimer, associate director for corporate relations at Temple's Fox School of Business. "They still need entry-level employees. They just aren't hiring en masse. The numbers are smaller."

Temple career coordinator Megan Pongratz said that the real value of a job fair might not be in imminent job prospects. "What is important is the choice and selection. There is a broad range of a lot of different employers." Paul Swider, a recruitment-advising supervisor at MCF, pointed out, "Usually, there are several steps to the hiring process. This is the initial one, the meet-and-greet."

Burns of New York Life added that job fairs had the advantage of face-to-face contact. "It's much better than just reading a résumé off hotjobs.com."

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Targeted and skill-specific job fairs may be a little more fruitful, said Pongratz. Temple's College of Engineering holds a career expo for future graduates of the school. Of course, students who are well versed in dialectic constants and flexural strength are usually sought after, anyway. But it seems that many companies are catching on to the idea of specialized career expos. CreateAdelphia: The Philly Creative Jobs Event that took place Sept. 25 at World Café Live, was geared toward those with experience in fields such as design, marketing and video production. This provides more warm leads for employers, and more direction for job seekers than simply scrolling the pages of CraigsList.

For those scrambling for a job so their electricity won't get turned off, a job fair may not be the most efficient use of one's time. To employers, these affairs are an exercise in volume. To people like Ayre and Mitchell, they are just the first step in a grueling process. As for myself, I might still hit up a job fair, as long as the majority of the recruiters are salivating for unproven journalism students willing to work for pennies. Otherwise, I'll leave the heels and the pantyhose in the back of my closet until I land an interview.

(editorial@citypaper.net)