Technology is available to help with any activity today, and career fair management is not an exception. Career fair technology is vital in keeping track of the many components of a successful career fair – company recruitment, space management, attendee registration, marketing, and so on. There are many tools on the market, so how do you decide which one best fits your needs?
Career Fair Technology That You Can Use Now
Something amazing is always on the technology horizon, but you need an application that is fully tested, developed, and ready to use now. Career fair technology is a subset of the event technology market. Consequently, you have two primary options:
- An event management app customizable to job fairs.
- An application specifically built for career fairs.
Let's take a look at both options.
Event Management Apps
The competition for event management software is fierce, so there are many excellent choices. The Capterra review of available applications is a useful starting list. Event management software is designed for medium to large companies that hold several events a year. If your career fair is just one of many different types of events your organization manages, this may be a good option for you. Most of the applications provide a menu of services that cover the lifecycle of your job fair. Standard options include:
- Company Recruitment
- Web Page Design
- Social Media Marketing
- Attendee Messaging
- Event Registration
- Analytics
Additional options include everything from wearable tech tags that keep track of attendees to arranging entertainment. The variety of options and flexibility can be a significant advantage if you have the time and resources to make full use of them. The drawback of a generic event management app is that you will need to customize it to fit each type of event, including your career fair.
Career Fair Apps
Career fair technology is developed exclusively for organizations that manage career fairs. Like general event management software, career fair applications offer a menu of services that provide assistance from early planning to post-event evaluation. However, each step is boiled down to what you need to plan a job fair. This is convenient and can be particularly helpful if you need extra guidance. Let's look at one technology solution in the career fair technology market.
Career Fair Plus
Career Fair Plus is a career fair application aimed at the college career fair market. More than 100 colleges in the US use Career Fair Plus to guide their graduating students through the entry-level job market. Career Fair Plus incorporates school branding with their application, so every college has its own app. Take a brief look at some of their listings on Google Play or the Apple Store. The career services team setting up career fairs have all of the options listed above for general event planning technology, plus additional features geared toward graduating students such as:
- Employer Descriptions
- Resume Uploading
- Interview Tips
- Interactive Maps
- Interview Scheduling
- Push Notifications
- Offline Mode
Career Fair Plus can also integrate with existing career service applications. For example, USF Career Services uses the Handshake app to allow students to see upcoming events and make appointments. Career Fair Plus connects directly with Handshake so that USF students get a seamless experience between the two systems and enjoy all the benefits of a purpose-built career fair app.
Conclusion
The goal of evaluating career fair technology is to find the best fit for you. You know the hiring process, and you know how business works, you need a technology partner who will help you plan an event that builds on these strengths. There is a definite advantage to choosing a software solution from a company with significant experience in the career fair marketplace. Let a company like Career Soft apply their knowledge and expertise to make your career fair a success.
