Dive Brief:

• Indeed will now offer "hiring events," a solution the company said will use automation to "expedite the hiring process" and reduce the cost per hire.
• "Hiring events" will allow for pre-screening of candidates and RSVP management, among other functions. Employers can create an event page listing the positions they want to fill, Indeed explained; job seekers then can see what jobs are available and sign up to attend the in-person event where they can meet employers and showcase their resumes and skills. Attendees can be interviewed or receive a job offer on the day of the event.
• The solution keeps candidates who RSVP in the loop through automated text and email reminders; it also provides metrics on attendance for employers. The offering is available in several countries, including the U.S., U.K., Canada and Ireland.

Dive Insight:

The value and purpose of the job fair is under debate. To some, conventional career fairs now seem outdated. "Consider the amount of time and money that is typically spent on a traditional career fair," Mike Cooke, enterprise account executive at Montage, previously told HR Dive, citing such expenses as travel, sponsorship fees and recruiters​' time spent at the event. "Additionally, if a company isn't able to engage candidates' pre-event, the recruiter could very well be spending face to face time with a candidate that isn't a fit," Cooke added. Some of Indeed's offerings seek to ameliorate those issues, particularly the screening and pre-engagement tools.

A combination of technology and tradition could help employers make better use of hiring events; virtual job fairs may be more practical and less costly overall in some cases, especially in the digitized era. An example was the National Youth #HiringDay in 2019, a week-long digital job fair that connected employers with young would-be hires for entry-level positions. The virtual job fair was designed to be simple and youth-friendly, with an applicant coaching component, to make the process easier for applicants. 

Job fairs, also, can serve as valuable ways to drive brand awareness.​ Large employers like Lowe's may hold walk-in hiring events, which serve as in-person job fairs for hiring applicants on a massive scale. These types of events can be efficient ways of connecting employers with applicants for entry-level or hourly positions.