by Malgorzata Grodzka, Managing Director, meetingpoint – personnel search & selection,
e-mail: grodzka@meetingpoint.pl, website: www.meetingpoint.pl
Online job advertising has now become the major avenue for recruitment of new employees. Nearly every candidate looks for jobs on the Internet first. Most jobs are now advertised solely on the Internet with many job seekers also searching solely online. It is also much cheaper for the employer to post the job advertisement online than in the traditional press. This means that employers cannot disregard the Internet when seeking potential job applicants.
Job fairs have been in the arsenal of Internet career hubs since they first began appearing on the landscape in the mid-1990s. But, they have been getting increased emphasis of late, as employers search every possibility for qualified applicants in this era of worker shortages. (120)
Some of the online recruitment fairs are geographically based, others targeting a particular industry or promoting series of regional job fairs and are hold in native languages in locations around the world, others are hold by means of allinces with the world's most heavily trafficked web sites.
For example, to help Polish candidates to search for the job in the country and abroad and respond to to the growing interest of European employers in the recruitment of employees with the use of Internet platforms, an experienced Polish personnel consultancy company: meetingpoint – personnel search & selection (www.meetingpoint.pl), decided to organise the European Internet Job Fair, which will be held on June 16 – 22 2008 by means of the following Internet platforms: www.workwindow.info and www.ekipa.info . The European Internet Job Fair – being the first online fair on the European scale for the Polish jobseekers - will provide an access to the European employment service platform www.workwindow.info and its Polish equivalent: www.ekipa.info for employers and candidates across the whole Europe. The Fair will also help Polish candidates to search for the job in the country and abroad.
The objective of the European Internet Job Fair is to establish contact between European employers and potential candidates form Poland and to enable Polish experts to find attractive job offers and to present themselves to employers by sending application letters, video presentations or chatting with employers on the Internet. The employers will have a chance to present their companies and their job offers by means of such promotional devices as: virtual presentations of their companies, company description, job advertising, chat and branch room sponsoring, banner placing.
Career fairs in the virtual world work much as they do in the real one, Employers set up a shop - in the form of a banner or link advertisement - in a common area. Participants who are interested in learning more about an employer click into its virtual area, which contains company literature, descriptions of open positions and electronic applications. Online career fairs usually run for a limited time - in general one, two to four weeks giving employers a time frame for really drawing extra attention to their positions. This allows the potential employers to gather as many inquiries as possible in a short period. Candidates apply for positions using the recruiting site's online application system. That makes it easier for employers to measure the effectiveness of their booth in the virtual career area.
Usually, the online job fairs are supported by a large media campaign (press, radio and Internet) which enables to attract and target a huge number of candidates to visit the fair website. They are also supported by many partners including busines organisations like commercial and business chambers, employers’ associations which is one more avenue to to appeal to job seekers and to connect employers with the candidates.
For example, the European Internet Job Fair and the platforms www.workwindow.info and www.ekipa.info are supported amongs other distinguished partners by British Polish Chamber of Commerce.