Job fairs can be a time and cost effective solution for organizations looking to find a large number of new candidates.
Companies looking to find a large number of new candidates should consider hosting targeted hiring events – that’s the advice from one HR head who recently helped organize over 300.
Genevieve Zoskey is a retail staffing manager at The Home Depot Canada – this spring, the company held a job fair at each of its locations and hired close to 6,200 new employees as a result.
“With so many events taking place across the country, it’s also an effective way to highlight The Home Depot and spread awareness of the jobs available,” says Zoskey.
According to Toronto-based Zoskey, the number of attendees ranges depending on the location, weather and other variables but the most popular event to date saw 200 job seekers turn up.
“When candidates arrive at the store, they sign-up for an interview at our registration table and fill out an introduction questionnaire,” she explains. “The questionnaire and the candidate’s resume is then passed on to the hiring manager to review for the interview. “
This set up allows the retail giant to maintain its preferred face-to-face recruitment approach while still covering large number of candidates in a reasonably short period.
“Since some candidates are hired right on the spot, the job fairs provide an easy way to speed up the process for those looking for work,” says Zoskey. “It’s also a great way for a candidate to meet leaders face-to-face and get a true feel for the stores.”
However, while there are a number of benefits to be had from hosting such large-scale events, Zoskey admits there are some significant challenges too.
“Working on this scale, the biggest challenges are coordination and logistics,” reveals Zosky, who says the notorious Canadian weather has posed a number of problems in the past.
“All of our major regional events are planned many months in advance, and it really takes a village to coordinate and execute,” she tells HRM. “We encourage as much face-to-face interaction as possible and building awareness about the events in advance to get communities excited about them.”
Zoskey says The Home Depit Canada also develops a cross-functional “Spring Readiness Committee” in advance of each annual drive to ensure every department is on the same page.
Then, once the events conclude for the season, the company does a wrap report to help everyone involved better understand what worked well and what could be in need of improvement.
“That said, it all comes together well and we love having everyone in our community involved coast-to-coast,” says Zoskey.
Genevieve Zoskey is a retail staffing manager at The Home Depot Canada – this spring, the company held a job fair at each of its locations and hired close to 6,200 new employees as a result.
“With so many events taking place across the country, it’s also an effective way to highlight The Home Depot and spread awareness of the jobs available,” says Zoskey.
According to Toronto-based Zoskey, the number of attendees ranges depending on the location, weather and other variables but the most popular event to date saw 200 job seekers turn up.
“When candidates arrive at the store, they sign-up for an interview at our registration table and fill out an introduction questionnaire,” she explains. “The questionnaire and the candidate’s resume is then passed on to the hiring manager to review for the interview. “
This set up allows the retail giant to maintain its preferred face-to-face recruitment approach while still covering large number of candidates in a reasonably short period.
“Since some candidates are hired right on the spot, the job fairs provide an easy way to speed up the process for those looking for work,” says Zoskey. “It’s also a great way for a candidate to meet leaders face-to-face and get a true feel for the stores.”
However, while there are a number of benefits to be had from hosting such large-scale events, Zoskey admits there are some significant challenges too.
“Working on this scale, the biggest challenges are coordination and logistics,” reveals Zosky, who says the notorious Canadian weather has posed a number of problems in the past.
“All of our major regional events are planned many months in advance, and it really takes a village to coordinate and execute,” she tells HRM. “We encourage as much face-to-face interaction as possible and building awareness about the events in advance to get communities excited about them.”
Zoskey says The Home Depit Canada also develops a cross-functional “Spring Readiness Committee” in advance of each annual drive to ensure every department is on the same page.
Then, once the events conclude for the season, the company does a wrap report to help everyone involved better understand what worked well and what could be in need of improvement.
“That said, it all comes together well and we love having everyone in our community involved coast-to-coast,” says Zoskey.
