According to the Hamilton County Workforce Recovery Task Force, the county’s first-of-its-kind virtual job fair was a huge success – pairing 45 Hamilton County companies with 334 job seekers. The event was hosted by the Task Force on July 9 in an effort to connect those who recently lost their jobs with Hamilton County companies looking to hire.
Sergi
“We’re thrilled with the success of this first virtual job fair,” said Carol Sergi, Executive Director of the Hamilton County Economic Development Corporation (HCEDC). “On average 100 job seekers visited each employer booth and 356 job applications were submitted.”
A post-event survey shows 75 percent of employers surveyed were either satisfied or very satisfied with the number of job seekers. One hundred percent of the employers who participated said they would participate in future events, and 75 percent of job seekers shared that sentiment.
“I really enjoyed the experience,” said one of the survey respondents. “I didn’t know what to expect and in a weird way I felt like I was at an actual in-person job fair.”
Participants uploaded a resume before the event and then chatted virtually with a variety of companies on the actual day. Resume writing assistance was also available – all online.
Kneberg
“This event was such a huge success we’re already planning future events,” said Rob Kneberg, a member of the Workforce Recovery Task Force and Executive Director for the Hamilton County Workforce Innovation Network. “Through data driven decision making, we are planning to make the future of job fairs industry specific in order to best support the needs of both employers and job seekers. For example, a future hiring event might consist of Hamilton County employers only within the healthcare, hospitality and tourism, and human services industry sectors.”
A generous grant by Duke Energy’s Economic Development Relief Fund underwrote the cost of the virtual job fair. To learn more about future fairs, please contact Kneberg at rkneberg@hcwin.org or (317) 914-0171.