MODS: please don't move this thread. I'd like to hear from other regional guys and this is the forum they come to first.


I've never been to one, but feel like I should go. Anybody have any stories, suggestions, results?

 

I never got a job from a job fair... always thru networking and knowing people on the inside.... job fairs = rip off.....

 

I have been to one. Didn't get a job. I have a friend who has been to 2 and got a job both times.

 

I think it's a good idea. Treat it like an interview. When I was at 9E, I went to the Spirit job fair in Oct 2011. No matter what job fair you go to, if any big players are showing up (Spirit, VA, United, US Airways), there will a huge attendance. Waiting in line was the hard part. You overhear some other pilots' qualifications and might even think 'I don't stand a chance.' But it's a great opportunity to meet/greet the pilot HR team and the pilots on the recruitment team. Keep your contact professional, and don't babble on and on as if they're your best friends (and likely they'll make you feel so comfortable that you feel like they are your best buddies). You could dig a hole if you're not careful. Goes back to that advice, treat it like an interview. At the Spirit job fair, all the pilots I saw had a suit on. You can't go wrong with that, but at the very least, have a shirt and tie. Make sure you have several copies of your resume printed on RESUME paper, and bring any LORs.

My result was a little disappointing, I met the right HR person and the ACP who was involved with hiring, I had two good LORs, and at the end I heard nothing. Which is sad, because later I found out that almost everybody who went to the Spirit job fair who had the minimums or higher did get a call to interview. I didn't, but one closed door eventually will lead to an open door, and I landed my current job without attending any job fair and no internal recs.


Good luck!

 

OK MunkyButtr - but did you type 'Fair' into the search box first and read the 28 other threads with Fair in the title to try and have some of your questions answered first?

Those other threads abound with "stories, suggestions, results"

USMCFLYR

 

I've been to a few. The companies or airlines that you'd like to fly for are never hiring at these fairs, it's more "face-time" to "get to know" them, so the company can promote themselves. If a company is looking for people to hire, it's usually just bodies at the regional airline level, with people literally "lining up" at the ones that are hiring. They have no problem attracting people, yet unless the company you want to work for is actively doing interviews AT the job fair or as a result of it, I would skip it and focus your energy on really figuring out how to target a resume or application to a specific job. That's the real skill, and that's what gets you hired. None of my interviews were results of job fairs, even for aerospace companies that were at job fairs. If you are only looking at pilot jobs, it's hours that get you hired, not fairs (unless they are desperate for bodies and doing the "interview at the fair" thing). If you are looking at anything else, it's skills related to resumes and answering application questions that gets you hired. For a few uneducated (on the real hiring process) people, the job fair can fill you in on "what they are looking for" to some extent, but I've found that some companies aren't exactly forthcoming either. They make it a "game" sometimes, because they don't really send anyone to the fair that can tell you exactly how to promote yourself properly for the position. From their point of view, they don't have to do anything, just let people come to them and they get to sort out all the resumes later.

I'd say for the most part, aviation "job fairs" are for one of a couple reasons: To make money (the pay-for type). For face-time and promotion of the industry/company (arranged by universities or industry). Desperate attempts to get bodies for jobs that aren't getting many results online. There seems to be less and less correlation these days between the companies at the job fair and hiring as a result of it. Remember that everyone is connected online these days. The reason that job fairs existed 30 years ago is probably not the same reason they exist now. How many people out there are scouring the various job-boards and sites daily waiting to pounce on an opening as soon as it shows? If anything, it's probably to generate more online applications that aren't directly related to the fair ("did you hear so and so was hiring?" "oh yeah! john went to the job fair!").

 

James

Apparently , quite a few are oing just that! We posted an opening on company website--107 resumes. Did it again, over 200.

GF

 

[QUOTE=USMCFLYR;1268569]OK MunkyButtr - but did you type 'Fair' into the search box first and read the 28 other threads with Fair in the title to try and have some of your questions answered first?

Those other threads abound with "stories, suggestions, results"

USMCFLYR[/Q

If im sittin in the cockpit killin time between flights sometimes it is nice to be able to get some info without 9 clicks. I have the regional forim bookmarked on my phone for some free entertainment. Im not tech savvy and have fat thumbs so k.i.s.s. is my motto.

 

Thats exactly the kind of info I'm looking for. Thank you, sir.

 

I got my job as the direct result from a job fair.

I think they arew worth it. Its only like a hundred bucks.