90DC
23rd September 2010, 23:48
I took some time out today to attend the Nottingham Jobs Fair at the Royal Albert Hall. Call it market research. I estimate there were 3000 people already there. I arrived at 10:15, spent just over an hour queuing to get in and it was not what it was cracked out to be.
Stood in the queue, you could only expect that some dodgy, work from home scheme would be handing out flyers to the people most desperate to earn their own money, and surely so, it happened. I wont name the catalogue company as i have called it dodgy, but i can only say it begins with the letter, K.
I wanted to work out whether it would be a good place to advertise job vacancies come the next Jobs Fair. By advertising on local radio (Which is a strong possibility for my company) i would have an influx of work and could just turn up and have a nice handful of motivated people applying for jobs, and it could all be done in two days.
However
I walked around and believe the whole thing wasn't worth while for the potential employee. I would have been as annoyed as many people who queued around me if i had waited for an hour to work out that not all employers were offering jobs.
I first approached the tables of Experian and the NHS. I was annoyed to be given a sheet of paper with job vacancies in a list format and job descriptions in another format and was told to apply online. I thought the whole idea was so that you could find out firsthand about job roles and actually have a conversation and learn if it was actually a job match.
I didn't honestly approach everybody. The guys on the E-ON pitch seemed to avoid eye contact with me, maybe i'm not what they're looking for but i have a greater drive to do what they do than they do. I attend on average 10 meetings with potential clients per week, trying to sell my company's services (In a non-pushy way). Your loss E-ON.
I had a conversation with the woman on the JobCentre Plus pitch, thinking the DWP were advertising jobs. No. They just wanted to hand out sheets of paper with a list of jobs ranging from Regional Services Manager to Santa's Grotto Helper. Now i didn't ask, but i can only assume that the JobCentre wont be offering the jobless a free trip to see Santa this year.
I approached Toys R Us, BHS, John Lewis and another retail company, (The name escapes me) and they were all offering purely Christmas temporary positions. The girl at Toys R Us seemed to like me, and i am sure that had i applied, i could have been working on the Babies R Us department.
I hovered around the Tesco stall. They were more interested in taking University graduates for positions with funny, but irrelevant job titles, and didn't pay attention to me. Being young and wearing a shirt and trousers with my Ted Baker shoes, maybe i wasn't trying hard enough. They did however, give me a leaflet to see if my skills would match their position as shelf stacker. I haven't opened the leaflet, nor do i intend on doing so, but i it will be kept as a keepsake.
There was one company that stood out. The name escapes me, but they are a local care company who run care homes for children with learning difficulties. The staff from this company (Think it was called PCS) were more than happy to explain fully what they do, their mission statement and have a general, friendly chat. I took an application form as i didn't want to offend them by saying no. I've made use of the application form, as i've passed it on.
There was a private prison service, Serco, who were also advertising vacancies and handing out application forms. The people spoke to you and were genuinely prison guards. It was a nice touch, and so were the free mints!
There were recruitment agencies there, i didn't bother going to speak to anybody representing them, and without causing offence, i have in the past, been recruited through them, and more recently they have recruited staff for me, and i don't have a good word for them.
Nottingham City Homes had positions, but when i went (Both times) to their stall, nobody was there to talk about the positions and there was very little information. Just big advertisements for graduate positions.
I ended my time there by having a chat with a customer of mine, who was advertising jobs in her care home. She told me she recieved around 150 CV's for six positions.
Conclusion
Spending the good part of five hours at the Jobs Fair, i left very tired. I couldn't tell you how many people were there, but the chances of getting that phonecall were unlikely. Employers knew what they were after, if i had applied for any positions i would have been working in Toys R Us next week. To advertise a "Jobs Fair" on local radio, in shops, spend lots of money on promotional pens, rubbers and other stationary items, not to mention the flyers, for 100 jobs that would have been filled anyway, seemed a farce, a waste of money by the City Council. I wont be attending the next Jobs Fair as an employer as i'd find the right employees through advertising vacancies solely on my company website. I know, because in an industry with a high turnover of staff, my staff turnover is so low that being in business for nearly a year, and having 25 members of staff, i haven't issued a P45 yet. Careful picking? Good staff relationships? Who knows.
Nottingham's Jobs Fair isn't for me. I hope you find this information useful. I have tried to be informative and provide a matter of opinion. I welcome any questions.
Stood in the queue, you could only expect that some dodgy, work from home scheme would be handing out flyers to the people most desperate to earn their own money, and surely so, it happened. I wont name the catalogue company as i have called it dodgy, but i can only say it begins with the letter, K.
I wanted to work out whether it would be a good place to advertise job vacancies come the next Jobs Fair. By advertising on local radio (Which is a strong possibility for my company) i would have an influx of work and could just turn up and have a nice handful of motivated people applying for jobs, and it could all be done in two days.
However
I walked around and believe the whole thing wasn't worth while for the potential employee. I would have been as annoyed as many people who queued around me if i had waited for an hour to work out that not all employers were offering jobs.
I first approached the tables of Experian and the NHS. I was annoyed to be given a sheet of paper with job vacancies in a list format and job descriptions in another format and was told to apply online. I thought the whole idea was so that you could find out firsthand about job roles and actually have a conversation and learn if it was actually a job match.
I didn't honestly approach everybody. The guys on the E-ON pitch seemed to avoid eye contact with me, maybe i'm not what they're looking for but i have a greater drive to do what they do than they do. I attend on average 10 meetings with potential clients per week, trying to sell my company's services (In a non-pushy way). Your loss E-ON.
I had a conversation with the woman on the JobCentre Plus pitch, thinking the DWP were advertising jobs. No. They just wanted to hand out sheets of paper with a list of jobs ranging from Regional Services Manager to Santa's Grotto Helper. Now i didn't ask, but i can only assume that the JobCentre wont be offering the jobless a free trip to see Santa this year.
I approached Toys R Us, BHS, John Lewis and another retail company, (The name escapes me) and they were all offering purely Christmas temporary positions. The girl at Toys R Us seemed to like me, and i am sure that had i applied, i could have been working on the Babies R Us department.
I hovered around the Tesco stall. They were more interested in taking University graduates for positions with funny, but irrelevant job titles, and didn't pay attention to me. Being young and wearing a shirt and trousers with my Ted Baker shoes, maybe i wasn't trying hard enough. They did however, give me a leaflet to see if my skills would match their position as shelf stacker. I haven't opened the leaflet, nor do i intend on doing so, but i it will be kept as a keepsake.
There was one company that stood out. The name escapes me, but they are a local care company who run care homes for children with learning difficulties. The staff from this company (Think it was called PCS) were more than happy to explain fully what they do, their mission statement and have a general, friendly chat. I took an application form as i didn't want to offend them by saying no. I've made use of the application form, as i've passed it on.
There was a private prison service, Serco, who were also advertising vacancies and handing out application forms. The people spoke to you and were genuinely prison guards. It was a nice touch, and so were the free mints!
There were recruitment agencies there, i didn't bother going to speak to anybody representing them, and without causing offence, i have in the past, been recruited through them, and more recently they have recruited staff for me, and i don't have a good word for them.
Nottingham City Homes had positions, but when i went (Both times) to their stall, nobody was there to talk about the positions and there was very little information. Just big advertisements for graduate positions.
I ended my time there by having a chat with a customer of mine, who was advertising jobs in her care home. She told me she recieved around 150 CV's for six positions.
Conclusion
Spending the good part of five hours at the Jobs Fair, i left very tired. I couldn't tell you how many people were there, but the chances of getting that phonecall were unlikely. Employers knew what they were after, if i had applied for any positions i would have been working in Toys R Us next week. To advertise a "Jobs Fair" on local radio, in shops, spend lots of money on promotional pens, rubbers and other stationary items, not to mention the flyers, for 100 jobs that would have been filled anyway, seemed a farce, a waste of money by the City Council. I wont be attending the next Jobs Fair as an employer as i'd find the right employees through advertising vacancies solely on my company website. I know, because in an industry with a high turnover of staff, my staff turnover is so low that being in business for nearly a year, and having 25 members of staff, i haven't issued a P45 yet. Careful picking? Good staff relationships? Who knows.
Nottingham's Jobs Fair isn't for me. I hope you find this information useful. I have tried to be informative and provide a matter of opinion. I welcome any questions.