National Career Fairs February 18, 2009 Fair was horrible!!

National Career Fairs held a career fair in Plano today and it was, by far, the worst career fair I have attended to date. Of the 17 companies who were supposed to attend, several didn't attend, nor did they make arrangements to have anything but an empty table. There were several companies who were looking for students not employees, and several looking for customers. There were several companies who were looking for outbound telemarketers, even though their company sign announced other positions were available. I discovered that the other positions had been already filled, but neither the company attending the career fair or National Career Fairs had taken the time to notify the job seekers attending this career fair. But, my favorite was the company who had a person at the table handing out pieces of paper that told the job seeker, that all of their jobs were listed on their job website and that no information would be given out at the job fair.

Additionally, the room was too small for the number of people attending, it was hot in the room, it had inadequate ventilation, and the lines for the companies that had positions were so long, that it was confusing as to which line you should be standing for what company. The longest line in the room was the "Free Resume Critique".

It took far longer to stand in line to sign in than it did to make the rounds of the companies who were actually hiring. What I heard about National Career Fairs was wonderful and I expected more than was delivered. If I were asked how I would rate this job fair, I would not! It was poorly organized, and, even worse, poorly managed. Had I know in advance, I would not have wasted my time, energy or gasoline to attend, nor would I have dragged friends along to this supposed career fair.