Query for article on usefulness of job fairs to tech writers

[Fred Murphy <fmurphy -at- GJ -dot- NET>]

For an article on the efficacy and dynamics of job fairs as vehicles for
securing technical writing work, I would appreciate commentary from both
job seekers and any recruiting professionals that may become aware of
this posting. My desire is to better understand the relationships
between the technical-writing job seeker and the job fair as an entity.
Questions I hope to explore include: Do job fairs have differing goals
and intents? What criteria make a job fair of interest or of potential
value to the job seeker? What role does the job fair play in the larger
strategy of the job search? Beyond obvious match-making, are there any
other agendas at work between job seekers and fair participants? How can
a job seeker make best use of his or her presence at a fair?

I certainly don?t expect people to provide responses to all of the
questions I?ve posed. On the other hand, I would be grateful for any
feelings or insights you would care to share. They will receive thought
and respect. You don?t have to confine your comments to the ideas
below.

From job seekers, I am interested in your impressions, experiences, and
job-fair successes or disappointments. Have the job fairs that you?ve
attended been crowded and chaotic or manageable and organized? Do you
feel that you are able to interact meaningfully with the recruiters? Do
you feel that face-to-face contact with the recruiter provides greater
opportunity to promote your candidacy or are online approaches as
effective or more effective? Are your hardcopy resume materials welcomed
or even accepted by recruiters? In any case, are you always encouraged
(or required) to supplement the hardcopy resume materials presented at
the fair with an online application? Do you have any sense that the
agency or company representatives to whom you speak will be involved in
the candidate selection process or are the representatives simply
conduits? Have you found any job-fair strategies that you feel increase
your chances of garnering an interview? Do you find job fairs
intimidating or friendly? Are there any important things or questions to
anticipate before walking into the job fair? What questions should the
job seeker be prepared to ask? Do job fairs play a primary, secondary,
or little-employed role in your job-hunting efforts? Are there any other
comments you want to share?

From recruiters, I am interested in the basic expectations driving your
firm?s participation in job fairs. If your essential task is to find
specific candidates, what happens to the ?other? resumes you gather?
What are your goals when you participate in a job fair? How are job
fairs proposed, planned, coordinated? How do you prepare for a day?s
recruiting efforts? What kinds of stresses are encountered? Are you
tasked to be generally knowledgeable about the positions open or do you
function as an modestly informed intermediary? How quickly are
appropriate candidates likely to become aware of your interest?

Do any of you know recruiting agents who may want to contribute their
feelings and ideas?

Obviously, I would like to put together an article that will help us all
make the most appropriate use of this potential avenue to employment.

Thanks again for sharing the benefits of your experience with the tech
writing community.

Sincerely,
Fred Murphy
fmurphy -at- gj -dot- net

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