On Aug. 7, 2017 hundreds of eager new grads and soon-to-be grads gathered in Midtown Manhattan to attend “The Face of Talent,” 4a’s Multicultural Advertising Intern Program career fair with the hopes of applying for positions at some of the biggest organizations in the advertising and marketing industry.
ConveyIQ was lucky enough to meet some of these inspiring young minds in partnership with the Dentsu Aegis Network, who used our digital interviewing platform to screen 40 candidates in just three hours during the event.
For DK Bartley, VP and Head of Talent Acquisition at Dentsu Aegis, career fairs like MAIP play an important role in the hiring process.
“Career fairs save so much time,” Bartley said. “You’re taking an entire three-week process and doing it in three hours.”
While we were there, we asked some other companies who attended the event why they choose to invest in career fairs, and how it helps their own hiring journeys. Here’s what they said:
Aligning With Company Initiatives
What type of talent is your organization looking for? When it comes to choosing the right career fairs to attend, consider your company’s core initiatives.
Lars Meiner, Recruiter at Laughlin Constable, says they chose to attend The Face of Talent to help foster their growing diversity program.
“We’re more focused than ever on diversity recruiting,” Meiner said. “We’re looking to see how other companies are making it work, and how we can make events like this work for us.”
Loryn Schiraldo, SVP of Talent Acquisition at IPG Mediabrands, has been participating in The Face of Talent career fair for several years.
“We try to partner with different diversity programs to bring in people of different backgrounds and different ideas,” Schiraldo said. “The more diverse your workforce is, the stronger your staff is.”
When putting together a campus recruiting strategy, Laura Gabriel, Talent Acquisition Associate at Octagon, suggests finding schools that have strong degree programs that best align with roles you’re trying to fill.
“We go to events that fit wherever our needs are,” Gabriel said. “We have initiatives in place to help bring in more diverse skill sets to our agency — so we focus on career fairs or host events we know are going to contribute to our goals.”
Speeding Up The Hiring Process
Participating in career fairs allows recruiters to meet face-to-face with potential candidates — something that Schiraldo says makes a big impact when it comes to speeding up the hiring process.
“It’s the ability to have conversations, it takes away that 'black hole,' and gives us the space to understand candidates quickly and answer their questions,” Schiraldo said.
Stephanie Taylor, Campus Recruiting Lead at SapientRazorfish, agrees.
“Events like this are great for the volume of candidates you’re able to meet in such a short amount of time,” Taylor said. “You can really see what type of talent exists at every level.”
Building Your Talent Pipeline
At Omnicom Corp., Talent Acquisition Specialist Mary Pace takes internship programs seriously. The strategy for their high-volume intern program? Always think ahead.
“We love to hire people with the idea that they’ll one day be full-time,” Pace said. “We always like to retain our employees.”
Internship programs are a great way to give new grads a “trial run” before they become full-time employees, while building your pipeline with candidates who are engaged and excited about working for your company.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for us,” Pace said.
