The JobsCentral Career Fair 2011, will be held this August. It is a good event, however, does it make sense for you to attend and will it help you get a job?
Career fairs are geared towards certain types of employers and job seekers. As a job seeker, you can get some pointers from the event website, to decide if you are the type of candidate the event is catering to.
Look at the list of employers/exhibitors and see if there are any companies you would like to work for, or recruiters you want to meet. The entire list is not available on the JobsCentral Career Fair website as of now but below are a few potential employers. Check back on the event website every few days to get an updated list. Last year there were 90 employers at the career fair.
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You can also see the job listings on the career fair website, to get an idea of the types of job on offer. Most of the jobs seem to be for entry level candidates. So if you are a more experienced professional, the job fair is probably not worth your time. In addition to the amount of experience, you can also view information on the types of roles/functions and education level.
Entry to the career fair is free for Singaporeans, PRs and holders of valid Singapore work passes. For international visitors without valid work passes, there is an entry fee of SGD 10 for the second day of the fair. While the fee amount is small, I think this is an indication that the JobsCentral Career Fair 2011 is more for people already living/working in Singapore.
Over 50,000 people attended the event last year. Given the volumes, it’s not hard to imagine that a large portion of attendees do not get a job through the event. So if you’re in the midst of a job search and have been receiving a decent number of job leads from your efforts so far, then the career fair might not be the best investment of your time.
Quick tip -> I’ve attended and run a booth, at previous JobsCentral Career Fairs and it gets VERY crowded (like most such events). However, for the first few hours of the day, the crowds are much less. That is the best time to be at the job fair, so that you can get enough access to exhibitors you are interested in. Once the crowds start rolling-in expect long lines and very little face-time with employers, with many just asking you to leave your resume with them.
