I think it's sometimes a little hard to put in words what you are saying, and I think that I feel the same thing. If I go to a job fair, I want those companies to be hiring. I don't want them there because they *might* need new pilots in a year, or if they are a major airline there just to prove that they still exist or something, I want it to be a real job fair. I want them to at least be interviewing (not necessarily at the fair, but that's a bonus and possibly a deciding factor of whether to attend) and calling back people that handed in resumes/did face time at the fair. All too often it seems like 2-3 airlines are "hiring" and the rest are just there as "fluff", especially the bigger or better ones. There are sometimes several government agencies or industry entities that have no idea how to help you get a job with them, they are just there to say "go to our website", as if we can't find fbi.gov on the internet or something.

They can be beneficial, you can get lucky, if you are just looking for any job at all, it could be worth it, but I echo the idea of if they are worth it knowing the beginning salary of an airline pilot.