If you are considering hosting a virtual career fair, it is crucial that you choose the right virtual career fair platform. That can go a long way in making the fair successful. However, choosing the right platform can be such a challenge because there are plenty of them in the market, offering different features at different price points.
If you have never hosted a virtual career event, you may be stuck on where to start from. First things first, you need to choose a virtual career platform. To help you get the right one, here are some of the top questions you need to ask the vendor when choosing a particular virtual career fair platform.
- How easy is it to use the platform?
First thing first, you need to ask the provider how easy their platform is to use. No recruiter or job seeker has the time and patience to navigate through the pages of a platform trying to find the information they are looking for. No matter how attractive the features of a virtual platform are, if the platform is difficult to use, the features will be of no use and the platform may cause unnecessary headaches. When reviewing a platform, one of the crucial things you need to pay attention to is ease of use. How easy a platform is to use is solely up to you to find out.
Ease of use is paramount for the success of your virtual fair. If your recruiters and job seekers are finding it hard to understand how the platform works, your event might turn out quite annoying. If you find it hard to implement the platform, chances are that indeed the platform may not be easy to use. So it would be best to choose another one.
- How will recruiters or employers communicate with job seekers?
A good platform should offer easy-to-use features that allow job seekers to initiate conversation with recruiters or employers. In addition to that, there should be an integrated video chat and an option to add a video platform your company is currently using. This is particularly important for government agencies that may have firewalls that don’t allow third-party teleconferencing access.
Additionally, it is crucial to understand whether the chat is a group chat or one-on-one chat. The best platform should offer a one-on-one chat that allows the recruiter to quickly access a list of pre-programmed answers in order to chat with as many applicants as they can.
- What level of customization is possible?
While cheap solutions are quick to launch, they rarely perform as well as modified solutions. Your organization is unique and probably has a way of measuring the success of its career fair. So you should be sure to check with your vendor if they can prepare a tailor-made solution that fits your organization needs and incorporates features that promote the success of your event.
Make sure you discuss with the provider whether the extent of customization is limited to design or if you can incorporate features, such as CV short listing, on-spot interview scheduling, database sharing, etc.
Doing that can help ensure that you are not paying for the features that your event doesn’t need and also not missing out on the features that are crucial for your event.
- How long does it take to set up the platform?
This is a crucial question that you shouldn’t fail to ask the provider. Since you want to ensure that you are up for the event, you need to start using the platform as soon as possible. Premium providers usually make it easier for their clients to host their event even within 24hours. While many people would prefer this kind of flexibility, if you want your event to be successful, you will want adequate time to promote your event and get everyone trained in advance.
- Do they offer training?
It would also be helpful to know if the provider offers training. You may be wondering about how the host, recruiters, and the candidates will be trained. This is why it is still crucial to choose a platform that is easy to use. A good platform should offer a library of comprehensive training videos for each type of attendants. Participants should access these videos as soon as they register. Additionally, a good platform should have a dedicated account manager who schedules an onboarding call to show participants just how exactly the platform works. Besides, you can also ask if the provider offers any other live webinar or group training options for the job seekers and employers or recruiter, which could be helpful on the event day before it goes live.
- How many people can be on the platform at the same time?
Different virtual career fair platforms can accommodate a varying number of attendees. That’s why it is crucial to know in advance the number of participants the platform will accommodate. There are platforms that cannot accommodate many people- they can crash or lag and that will interrupt the event because it may make candidates leave or lead to poor experience. You wouldn’t want your platform to experience such issues. The best thing is to check out the platform reviews on their site or on review sites. Some platforms can accommodate up to 10,000 job candidates and over 30 employers or recruiters at the same time with no downtime. This is the kind of reliability you want your platform to provide.
- Can the platform be used for any other type of events or purposes?
Once you have the platform, you may want to know other purposes or events you can use it for. Ask the provider if you can use the platform for things, such as onboarding, webinars, trade shows, internal training, etc. The moment you start using the platform for other purposes, it can help increase the return on your investment.