Recently attended the "reverse job fair" http://cbs5.com/consumer/paid.job.fair.2.1105491.html hosted by WorkYourCareer.com at Jillian's at the Metreon (http://sanfrancisco.jilliansbilliards.com/ ) here in San Francisco. 

At this particular job fair, attendees (job searchers) willingly paid $10.00 to attend an event that would allow them some face-time with recruiters and/or hiring principles from local hiring employers. 

Attendees also knew that the event was FREE for employers.

The idea of charging unemployed people money in order to find a job is often viewed along the lines of war profiteering or indentured servitude... yet the new craze in employment websites (and prospective revenue stream for them) is charging the candidate for a guaranteed positioning when certain keywords searches are used by recruiters and employers to find prospective candidates.

The likelihood of receiving a phone call from a resume submittal will no longer depend on the Boolean search string and how the search engine finds your resume, you are now expected to pay for certain keywords (just like companies do for online advertising - SEO / SEM) in order to have your profile appear within the first few screens within search engines scans, employment website listing, applicant tracking systems or social networking group. 

People criticize Mark Thomas, CEO of WorkYourCareer for charging attendees for the opportunity to speak with employers.  These same individuals seem to have no idea of the amount of time and effort is needed to put on a job fair (as well as the liability issues, clean-up and facility use, etc.)  Human resource departments have ZERO budget right now - organizations like WorkYourCareer.com and SlipSquad are providing hiring companies venues to meet prospective candidates and make hires.  This business model and job fair might not be ideal for every company's hiring strategies or branding - but if you are a recruiter, hiring manager or human resources person with a start-up or mid-sized technology company, you can make some significant "kudos" for being ahead of the game and making some GREAT hiring for only your time and effort.

The internet is full of fraudulent employment postings, multi-level marketing scams, and unscrupulous individuals posing as companies looking to take advantage of the unwise, the vulnerable, and the unemployed.  Perhaps these individuals are the cause of the unwarranted distain directed toward Mark and WorkYourCareer.com.  Perhaps people need to start looking outside the usual in order to land their next job... - or perhaps people are just simply desperate, that they are willing to try anything to bring in some income.

I witnessed optimism, excitement and gratitude from both attendees and the representatives from the hiring organizations.  I know that this first WorkYourCareer.com job fair lead to MANY interviews for both attendees and participating employers.  I have a very strong feeling that these events are only going to get bigger and more popular (but hopefully - not more expensive !!)

Reference:

"Unemployed Pay To Get In To SF Job Fair," July 29, 2009.  KPIX Video, ConsumerWatch (CBS 5), CBS Broadcasting, Inc., Retrieved August 5, 2009 via http://cbs5.com/consumer/paid.job.fair.2.1105491.html

Daniel Parrillo

President - Staffing Manager - Sr. Technical Recruiter

Strategi LLC
Phone #: 415-695-1600

Email: dparrillo@strategi.biz

LinkedIn Profile URL: http://www.linkedin.com/in/strategi