Well THAT was useless!
Mar. 30th, 2004 12:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jim_pWhat if they had a job fair but nobody came?
Today my company had a job fair in Cambridge. The last time we had a job fair (a bit less than two years ago) out in the 'burbs we were positively overrun with job-seekers. I wasn't there at the time, but I was told that lines were stretching out the door and they had a hard time talking to everyone who showed up and they had to turn people away when the event ended.
So this time we were Prepared. We put out a call for volunteers and got lots of folks to conduct interviews (myself included). We had a strategy session beforehand to plan out how to optimize our time to ensure we could deal with the teeming hordes and talk to as many people as possible.
So today's the big day. We set up, throw the doors open, and ... crickets.
Just as an example, we had six Linux kernel engineers available to interview possible kernel-developer candidates. I think we had six such candidates total during the whole three hours. I wandered over to the other meeting room we were using to see if they needed a hand there, but they were nearly as sparsely attended there as well.
Perhaps it could be because the only newspaper ad for this thing was smaller than a credit card... was someone trying to cheap out? I wondered aloud if someone could tally up the value of all the wasted employees' time at this job fair and see how big an ad that would buy.
Was it location? A few candidates had reservations about working for a place far out in the western 'burbs without public transportation access; perhaps holding the job fair in the middle of MBTA-land was a mistake. Since the whole thing was planned by the North Carolina home office, they may not be aware of the nuances of location in this part of the country.
Or could it be that [massive shudder] Bush is right and the economy really is better than it was two years ago?
Today my company had a job fair in Cambridge. The last time we had a job fair (a bit less than two years ago) out in the 'burbs we were positively overrun with job-seekers. I wasn't there at the time, but I was told that lines were stretching out the door and they had a hard time talking to everyone who showed up and they had to turn people away when the event ended.
So this time we were Prepared. We put out a call for volunteers and got lots of folks to conduct interviews (myself included). We had a strategy session beforehand to plan out how to optimize our time to ensure we could deal with the teeming hordes and talk to as many people as possible.
So today's the big day. We set up, throw the doors open, and ... crickets.
Just as an example, we had six Linux kernel engineers available to interview possible kernel-developer candidates. I think we had six such candidates total during the whole three hours. I wandered over to the other meeting room we were using to see if they needed a hand there, but they were nearly as sparsely attended there as well.
Perhaps it could be because the only newspaper ad for this thing was smaller than a credit card... was someone trying to cheap out? I wondered aloud if someone could tally up the value of all the wasted employees' time at this job fair and see how big an ad that would buy.
Was it location? A few candidates had reservations about working for a place far out in the western 'burbs without public transportation access; perhaps holding the job fair in the middle of MBTA-land was a mistake. Since the whole thing was planned by the North Carolina home office, they may not be aware of the nuances of location in this part of the country.
Or could it be that [massive shudder] Bush is right and the economy really is better than it was two years ago?
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no subject
Date: 2004-03-29 10:57 pm (UTC)No, the economy isn't that much better at all. I think it was the lack of advertising and the location. I also don't think job fairs do bring out too many people.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-29 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-29 11:16 pm (UTC)I think the advertising had something to do with it too... like I said, our last job fair brought out quite a lot of people.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-29 11:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-30 05:44 am (UTC)While I'd definitely consider working for RedHat in a hot second, I've learned through hard won past experience that taking a job THAT far out in the 'burbs is a recipe for disaster - I can't really get there, and it's a gigantic boatload-o-dissatisfaction waiting to happen for me and potential employers alike. RIdes are nice but only when the kind ride given isn't sick and/or doesn't leave the company (which people inevitably do :)
Also, I guess you're right about advertising, I never knew about the job fair, and while I'm not right for a position waaay out there there are a number of unemployed people I know whowould be...
And - the economy isn't that much better, you're right, but in certain restrictive spheres I am seeing more movement. I see on the order of 5-7 Java jobs go past my inbox on a weekly basis, that's something anyway.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-30 06:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-30 06:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-30 12:28 pm (UTC)