ISS Job Fair Review

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teacher920183
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Jan 26, 2014 3:11 am

ISS Job Fair Review

Post by teacher920183 »

Curious to hear anyone's thoughts from the ISS Job Fair that happened from October 15-16. Personally I was pretty disappointed. The "interview sign-up" was basically just posting your bio into a public chat room. You could also try to personally send a message to a school rep, but only if they were logged in at the time. During the first day sign-up, I saw 17 schools logged on. The second day it was 10. Interactions between schools and candidates seemed limited. I would be very curious to hear from anyone who had any success getting an interview or offer.
Banter1584
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 2020 7:29 pm

Re: ISS Job Fair Review

Post by Banter1584 »

I was an attendee of the ISS fair, it was the second of its kind I have attended in the last 2 months and to be honest like the first time, I was left unimpressed. The calibre of schools attending were also very subpar mostly tier 2/3 schools in China and the Middle east.

When I did find a position I was interested in, I just found my messages being drowned out by the many messages in the chat tab and after 20 mins of waiting no representative from the school replied, this was the case for two other schools and in the end I left frustrated.

Overall I hope the Search Online later this month fair will be better.
kellysensei
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:04 pm
Location: St. Paul, MN

Re: ISS Job Fair Review

Post by kellysensei »

I was also underwhelmed, partly because most schools didn't have many openings yet (to be expected this early in the season, I guess), but mostly because school representatives were not online much. There were two blocks of time in which ALL schools were supposed to be live, online - at least, that's what had been implied to candidates - but like the last person said, most schools were NOT online at those times.

I did get responses from reps when they were online, but it was always something like "check back with us in a few weeks and we'll know more" or "we'll contact candidates we're interested in later in the fair or maybe afterward."

It looks like there's already a different variety of schools (and growing) signed up for the November fair, so I hope they change the format a bit or at least really insist that all schools are online when they're supposed to be.

Did anyone actually get to do a video chat or an interview?
PsyGuy
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Location: Northern Europe

Comment

Post by PsyGuy »

Those underwhelming experiences are typical of virtual fairs.
kellysensei
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:04 pm
Location: St. Paul, MN

Re: Comment

Post by kellysensei »

PsyGuy wrote:
> Those underwhelming experiences are typical of virtual fairs.

There's not much other choice this year, is there? Sounds like all fairs will be virtual, at least for the next few months.
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Reply

Post by PsyGuy »

@kellysensei

There isnt. IE is going to get to really see this year just what practical value agencies and servicers bring to recruitment and what the value add of fairs really is.
mamava
Posts: 320
Joined: Sat May 11, 2013 7:56 am

Re: Reply

Post by mamava »

PsyGuy wrote:
> @kellysensei
>
> There isnt. IE is going to get to really see this year just what practical
> value agencies and servicers bring to recruitment and what the value add of
> fairs really is.

I agree. The last 2 schools I've worked for make a huge push to get as much hiring done before the fairs. I've been to 2 job fairs (Melbourne and Bangkok) and it was crazy--we got offers, but I felt lucky with all the scrabbling to get noticed and get the interviews. It would be great to continue to use an agency as a 1-stop shop for references, your CV, maybe a bio sheet, but then just apply directly to schools, which is what we've done anyway every time we've moved.
Illiane_Blues

Re: Reply

Post by Illiane_Blues »

I prefer face to face interviews but the expense of flying somewhere is too high so I hope SA finds a good format for the virtual fairs and we can do that. I do prefer a dedicated event though where schools and teachers can do a lot of interviews in a short amount of time --a weekend-- but if that event would be online I would be ok with that.
PsyGuy
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

I benefit from the fair environment, its dynamics and F2F recruiting events. However, I appreciate that the 'casting call' descriptor of such events are unproductive and detrimental to other ITs. Fairs exist because the recruiters and leadership want them, they provide an environment and dynamic that is to the recruiters advantage. If that advantage vanishes fairs will case to exit.
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