Rant: that career fair booth that wasted 3 hours of my Saturday

I went to a big career expo in downtown Denver last weekend, the one at the convention center with like 80 employers. I walked around for 3 hours and only two booths actually talked to me like a person, the rest just pointed at a QR code and said "apply online." One recruiter literally checked her phone while I was mid-sentence about my project experience. I get that they're swamped, but why even set up a table if you're not going to engage? I left with zero interviews and a sore back from standing. Has anyone else noticed these things turning into paper-pushing events instead of real networking? What's the point of showing up in person anymore?

1 comments

1 Comment

ben82721d ago

Buddy of mine went to one of these in Phoenix last year. He stood in line for 45 minutes to talk to a robotics company, and when he got to the front, the guy just scanned his badge and said "we'll reach out if there's a fit." Didn't even ask what he studied. He watched the same recruiter do that to like 15 people in a row. He finally just took a business card off the table so the trip wasn't a total waste. That card had a typo in the email address. Real strong networking vibe there. These things are just a way for companies to say they "engaged with talent" without actually doing any of the work.