I think what’s missing here is that career fairs (of any type) are major fundraisers for the organization hosting, a mixture of PR and recruiting for the vendors (more PR now that so much of HR hiring compliance solutions are channeled through online systems), while completely recruiting for the attendees.

So the pilot attendees view them only through their lens. It’s important to step back and look at the whole picture. I was involved in running career fairs (non aviation) in a past life and they are huge cash cows for non-profit type organizations where the labor to organize them is free and the prize is valuable enough that attendees will attend regardless.