The second part of blog covering my transition will cover job fairs.

From my perspective attending job fairs was a waste of valuable time and resources during my job search. I attended about 20 job fairs. Only one, in my opinion was worthwhile and that was the MilitaryMOJO job fair. MilitaryMOJO not only sent out the list of companies attending. They also provided each company’s open positions that these companies were recruiting for at that time.

MilitaryMOJO provided speakers at the beginning of their job fair to give us job search advice and how to improve our job search techniques. From the time I signed up for the job fair to about a month after I attended MilitaryMOJO provided valuable information. They even sent a follow up survey to find out my suggestions on how to improve their process. The only negative about the MilitaryMOJO job fair is that they are only held a few times a year in different cities. If you could only attend on job fair, I would recommend that you attend this one.

Now for the reasons I thought the rest of the job fairs were a waste of my time and resources. It was very hard to figure out what companies would be present at most job fairs. Trying to find out what positions would be recruited for was impossible. I know most people will say that you go to a job fair to network. While this is true to an extent. It makes no sense to attend a job fair that is not even recruiting for anything close to your profession.

For example, I went to one job fair that advertised they were recruiting for all types of professions. When I arrived, the only companies present were casinos recruiting for card dealers. At another job fair, a major corporation was there only recruiting for call center people. When I asked about an open HR position, I was told they had no idea what I was talking about. As they only recruited for call center positions for this corporation. To me most job fairs where more of a method for companies to put out their brand vs actually recruiting for positions.

Looking back at the time I spent preparing for various job fairs and the money I spent to go to them was not worth the value received.

As a final comparison between the MilitaryMOJO job fair and the rest of them. Each company I talked to at the MilitaryMOJO followed up with me either by email or a phone call within three days. This never happened with the rest of the job fairs I attended.