Organizing a Job Fair for Recent Graduates
1 April 2008
Read by 1612 persons
Organizing a company job fair is within the reach of all student associations.
1. Asking the Right Questions
Target, target, target. First of all, don't act in a vacuum, target. Who is this fair for? Certainly not the thirty thousand students on campus... Your targeting will be more in terms of cohort than level: you will likely target "end-of-course" students, those most likely to enter the job market. These will therefore be students in DEA, DESS, master's, doctorate, or professional bachelor's programs. Then, when is the fair? If March is usual for higher education institutions, October may be a good time for the university. Graduates from the previous year haven't necessarily found a job by July, and often combine a final internship with a job.
Understand the University and Question Yourself.
By doing this preparatory work, you question the university and yourself about student employment. The more varied the subjects and curricula of your institution, the more you will benefit from not focusing your event solely on recruitment but truly on employment. If the "forum spirit" exists, with CV fishing and job hunting, round tables and workshops are the ideal complement, to connect a student who doesn't know where to go but has skills, and a recruiter who doesn't know that such a diploma leads to such skills. A round table on careers in communication will be of interest to philosophers, geographers, historians... A multidisciplinary institution will be more vague, in terms of professions, than a specialized technological institute for example. So, plan for booths on one hand, but also round tables and workshops for orientation actions.
Understand Your Surroundings.
That's it, you have an idea in mind. Then start by visiting the employment actors around you, talking to them and listening to their feedback. You can make appointments with the Student Career Services, Career Centers, and everyone else. Meeting them will be valuable: do it first out of politeness, then to see what you can do together, finally to act where they don't act. Always keep your question in mind: "Who will open doors for us?". For your "diplomatic tour", your surroundings can be classified into four main entities: the university, companies, institutions, and the associative sector.
Focus on the Closest: Your Institution.
Which teachers are most connected to employment? Professional courses, internship supervisors... Of course, it is difficult for teachers to share their address book reserved for their brilliant students. In any case, do not hesitate to contact the employment, orientation, and internship services of your university.
Companies Next.
To target them, it is wise to work with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of your region. If your university focuses on humanities and social sciences, for example, rather than large industrial groups, invite structures that are not used to promoting their fields: public employment, its competitions, its careers, IT SMEs, associations, corporate sponsorship for fine arts training... Another important tip: know how to listen to companies. Before imposing a turnkey event on them, wouldn't it be better to ask them what they are looking for? A small questionnaire beforehand will allow you to better adapt your forum to their needs.
Finally, you will benefit from mobilizing associative actors in employment support: the Bernard Grégory association focused on the professionalization of doctoral students... As well as institutions outside the university: the ANPE, the APEC.
Now that you have reviewed the four aforementioned entities, you can take action.
2. Organizing the Forum
Involve students. Preparing a forum is above all a matter of organization, particularly within the team. It is not always easy to motivate the troops, especially when the event is far off, yet it is necessary to get active as soon as the forum is over to prepare for the following year's forum, notes Jacinta, who orchestrated the annual forum of her business IT school. Example: at the University-Business mission of Paris 1, the diploma managers, notified 4 months before the forum, announce to their students the holding of a forum organization meeting. Among the students present at the meeting, 3-4 emerge to have strong coordination responsibilities. In the end, a hundred are involved on D-Day. At this stage, think about the preparatory work: CV directory for example. In short, don't work alone: let people know, and mobilize very early.
The Venue.
Choosing the venue allows you to determine potential dates (depending on venue availability). Keep abreast of forums already scheduled to avoid competing with an institution that might "steal" companies from you if it has a better reputation. If your university can host your forum on its premises, that's ideal. Otherwise, you need to find a partnership: the town hall is a good solution, all town halls have rooms for concerts/exhibitions/commemorations, and will give you the benefit of the presence of companies in their city. Be careful, even if the venue is free: who pays for cleaning, insurance, security guards, is a Red Cross service needed...? On the other hand, is there an Internet connection, telephone, is the room furnished or do you still need to rent furniture, is it large enough, is there easy parking outside?
Funding.
Forums organized by the University-Business mission of Paris 1, Dauphine, or Sciences-Po are charged more than 1000 euros per day to companies that wish to recruit. A price that includes a certain level of hospitality. Nothing prevents you from holding a low-budget forum, free for companies, which the University will finance through its budget included in the institution's four-year project. Get service companies to provide gadgets or coffee all day long...
Prospecting. The time has come to prospect companies:
if you are launching your first forum, the work is enormous. If you are no longer a beginner, it is a matter of bringing back at least those from previous years. This step must be done throughout the year because you have every interest in maintaining very good contacts: send satisfaction questionnaires after the forum, a New Year's greeting card, keep the contacts of the database up to date. To be able to invite companies, the prices/dates/location must be ready, which is why you will take care of this after the venue because it allows you to define the location, the date and to give an idea of the budget.
Publicity.
This is one of the other major points of organization. Establish all kinds of partnerships with the press, websites, radio stations... to publicize the event outside the institution. Even if it means building a website for the event. Don't forget publicity within the organizing university, trying to involve students as much as possible, informing them of the names of the companies present so that they are mainly present on D-Day.
Ensuring D-Day.
On the day of the forum, mark the route: even if the places are known, the event location is not necessarily identified. Send a precise map to those who will be present. The presence of the administration, teachers whom you will have notified well in advance, insisting the day before, is of course necessary. A speech by the mayor of the city or any other influential person to close the day can be a good point.
3. The Must: Refining the Themes
Some institutions appreciate sporting events that create a different framework for the professional integration of young graduates, more intimate. The Edhec sailing race, Spi Dauphine, the EM's Hannibal Raid for 4 days of hiking in the Alps... allow the expression of values of courage, team spirit. Do not hesitate to contact these associations which, if they have their well-established and unique event, may be able to give you practical advice: how to approach a company, how to make a brochure...
Going further, you are free to invent your own variations on the forum theme, without necessarily going through expensive sporting challenges. Your forum dedicated to disability will benefit from the advice of Handisup and other associations mobilized on the theme, your forum "special international professions", to promote the professional integration of foreign students, will be judiciously advised by the Insert Export association... Resources exist.
Finally, you can choose to target the type of recruiter, by dedicating a forum to employment in local authorities. Both the recruiter and the student will not feel "one among many", each will remember it... It's your turn to play.
Posted April 1, 2008
animafac.net
1. Asking the Right Questions
Target, target, target. First of all, don't act in a vacuum, target. Who is this fair for? Certainly not the thirty thousand students on campus... Your targeting will be more in terms of cohort than level: you will likely target "end-of-course" students, those most likely to enter the job market. These will therefore be students in DEA, DESS, master's, doctorate, or professional bachelor's programs. Then, when is the fair? If March is usual for higher education institutions, October may be a good time for the university. Graduates from the previous year haven't necessarily found a job by July, and often combine a final internship with a job.
Understand the University and Question Yourself.
By doing this preparatory work, you question the university and yourself about student employment. The more varied the subjects and curricula of your institution, the more you will benefit from not focusing your event solely on recruitment but truly on employment. If the "forum spirit" exists, with CV fishing and job hunting, round tables and workshops are the ideal complement, to connect a student who doesn't know where to go but has skills, and a recruiter who doesn't know that such a diploma leads to such skills. A round table on careers in communication will be of interest to philosophers, geographers, historians... A multidisciplinary institution will be more vague, in terms of professions, than a specialized technological institute for example. So, plan for booths on one hand, but also round tables and workshops for orientation actions.
Understand Your Surroundings.
That's it, you have an idea in mind. Then start by visiting the employment actors around you, talking to them and listening to their feedback. You can make appointments with the Student Career Services, Career Centers, and everyone else. Meeting them will be valuable: do it first out of politeness, then to see what you can do together, finally to act where they don't act. Always keep your question in mind: "Who will open doors for us?". For your "diplomatic tour", your surroundings can be classified into four main entities: the university, companies, institutions, and the associative sector.
Focus on the Closest: Your Institution.
Which teachers are most connected to employment? Professional courses, internship supervisors... Of course, it is difficult for teachers to share their address book reserved for their brilliant students. In any case, do not hesitate to contact the employment, orientation, and internship services of your university.
Companies Next.
To target them, it is wise to work with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of your region. If your university focuses on humanities and social sciences, for example, rather than large industrial groups, invite structures that are not used to promoting their fields: public employment, its competitions, its careers, IT SMEs, associations, corporate sponsorship for fine arts training... Another important tip: know how to listen to companies. Before imposing a turnkey event on them, wouldn't it be better to ask them what they are looking for? A small questionnaire beforehand will allow you to better adapt your forum to their needs.
Finally, you will benefit from mobilizing associative actors in employment support: the Bernard Grégory association focused on the professionalization of doctoral students... As well as institutions outside the university: the ANPE, the APEC.
Now that you have reviewed the four aforementioned entities, you can take action.
2. Organizing the Forum
Involve students. Preparing a forum is above all a matter of organization, particularly within the team. It is not always easy to motivate the troops, especially when the event is far off, yet it is necessary to get active as soon as the forum is over to prepare for the following year's forum, notes Jacinta, who orchestrated the annual forum of her business IT school. Example: at the University-Business mission of Paris 1, the diploma managers, notified 4 months before the forum, announce to their students the holding of a forum organization meeting. Among the students present at the meeting, 3-4 emerge to have strong coordination responsibilities. In the end, a hundred are involved on D-Day. At this stage, think about the preparatory work: CV directory for example. In short, don't work alone: let people know, and mobilize very early.
The Venue.
Choosing the venue allows you to determine potential dates (depending on venue availability). Keep abreast of forums already scheduled to avoid competing with an institution that might "steal" companies from you if it has a better reputation. If your university can host your forum on its premises, that's ideal. Otherwise, you need to find a partnership: the town hall is a good solution, all town halls have rooms for concerts/exhibitions/commemorations, and will give you the benefit of the presence of companies in their city. Be careful, even if the venue is free: who pays for cleaning, insurance, security guards, is a Red Cross service needed...? On the other hand, is there an Internet connection, telephone, is the room furnished or do you still need to rent furniture, is it large enough, is there easy parking outside?
Funding.
Forums organized by the University-Business mission of Paris 1, Dauphine, or Sciences-Po are charged more than 1000 euros per day to companies that wish to recruit. A price that includes a certain level of hospitality. Nothing prevents you from holding a low-budget forum, free for companies, which the University will finance through its budget included in the institution's four-year project. Get service companies to provide gadgets or coffee all day long...
Prospecting. The time has come to prospect companies:
if you are launching your first forum, the work is enormous. If you are no longer a beginner, it is a matter of bringing back at least those from previous years. This step must be done throughout the year because you have every interest in maintaining very good contacts: send satisfaction questionnaires after the forum, a New Year's greeting card, keep the contacts of the database up to date. To be able to invite companies, the prices/dates/location must be ready, which is why you will take care of this after the venue because it allows you to define the location, the date and to give an idea of the budget.
Publicity.
This is one of the other major points of organization. Establish all kinds of partnerships with the press, websites, radio stations... to publicize the event outside the institution. Even if it means building a website for the event. Don't forget publicity within the organizing university, trying to involve students as much as possible, informing them of the names of the companies present so that they are mainly present on D-Day.
Ensuring D-Day.
On the day of the forum, mark the route: even if the places are known, the event location is not necessarily identified. Send a precise map to those who will be present. The presence of the administration, teachers whom you will have notified well in advance, insisting the day before, is of course necessary. A speech by the mayor of the city or any other influential person to close the day can be a good point.
3. The Must: Refining the Themes
Some institutions appreciate sporting events that create a different framework for the professional integration of young graduates, more intimate. The Edhec sailing race, Spi Dauphine, the EM's Hannibal Raid for 4 days of hiking in the Alps... allow the expression of values of courage, team spirit. Do not hesitate to contact these associations which, if they have their well-established and unique event, may be able to give you practical advice: how to approach a company, how to make a brochure...
Going further, you are free to invent your own variations on the forum theme, without necessarily going through expensive sporting challenges. Your forum dedicated to disability will benefit from the advice of Handisup and other associations mobilized on the theme, your forum "special international professions", to promote the professional integration of foreign students, will be judiciously advised by the Insert Export association... Resources exist.
Finally, you can choose to target the type of recruiter, by dedicating a forum to employment in local authorities. Both the recruiter and the student will not feel "one among many", each will remember it... It's your turn to play.
Posted April 1, 2008
animafac.net
