Like A Bug Caught in "the Web"

Once upon a time, in a far away job market, people actually attended job/career fairs to find employment. They printed out tens of copies of resumés to give to prospective employers in hopes of winning employment. They dressed to the nines and went out in the search for the perfect job, or even simply a job that would pay the bills. They talked, they networked, they collected business cards from human resources representatives and then journeyed home again with dreams of employment or lessons learned from that day's experiences.

When did everything change?

Twice now I have armed my husband with 20-30 copies of his resumé, copies of DD214s, he has dressed professionally in suit and tie and gone out to tackle the big bad job fair. Twice he has come home with all the resumés I sent him out with (minus one or two) and one or two business cards. When I ask him "what happened" (basically meaning 'after all of those hours I spent typing and printing why are you coming home with all of your resumés') he calmly explains to me one company after another told him to go to their website to submit his application. They no longer advertise job openings, take resumés/applications, or hire from job fairs.

This now leads me to the question :

WHAT IS THE POINT?

If companies are no longer hiring or obtaining any information from prospective employees at job fairs, who does it benefit by attending them? Employers are now spending money on displays and sending their employee representative to the fair to stand there and direct people to their website.

Job searchers are driving distances, spending money printing out resumés - just to be redirected to a website they could have accessed from home. From my husband's experience they are not even really doing the networking thing, just simply saying a few words and redirecting you to the website.

However, if you are interested in a career in the military, there are recruiters standing by to answer your questions and sign on the dotted line.

In a world where social networking reigns supreme, and employment is done behind a computer screen versus actually meeting someone, its not all that strange that people are having a difficult time finding employment today. 

Words of advice for job/career fair attendees:

If you plan to attend a fair to become gainfully employed :

Step 1: DRESS THE PART - apparently people are showing up in tattered jeans and tee-shirts. No one is going to hire anyone that looks like that unless you are auditioning for a rock band.

Step 2: Continue spending your money printing out apparently worthless resumés - you know the one time you don't someone is going to want to take one. Preparation is key!

Step 3: Work on your 30 second interview - be able to present yourself professionally and briefly in 30 seconds or less. This might be all the time you have, but the first impression could land you the job.

Step 4: Be prepared to go home and sit all day submitting resumés online - but be gracious this will count for your required number of job contacts for your weekly unemployment.

Check out these helpful books from Amazon.com for job searching tips, hints, and information:

Good luck out there!