Well, this fair was nothing like I had hoped. I wanted to believe that the slight lifts I’ve seen the economy (including a resurgence of job postings) that this fair would be better than the others I’ve attended and hear about. I was wrong.
You know it’s bad when:
- Within just a few minutes of the start time, people are already leaving.
- The woman running check-in ignores a registrant to talk to the guy from New Jersey who interrupted us. I didn’t even get the bag of marketing stuff.
- The first table is the big/local bio research firm seeking study participants; ironically, they’ve also had some layoffs.
- The next table is Mary Kay giving away free lip gloss and signing up more distributors.
- Half the tables in the room are unused. There were only 12-15 companies in the room.
- People are horrifically under dressed.
- When I stopped at the table for IT jobs, the woman asked me if I knew what IT was.
- At least one guy had a kid in a stroller with him.
Lesson learned: If it says “job fair”, it’s probably not going to be “career” worthy.
I was reminded of another fair an IT Career Fair (which I had received an email about). If I can work it into my busy Friday, I’ll attend that one.