It’s that time of the year.  The weather is getting colder, the leaves are changing and carved pumpkins are standing in front of many homes.  It’s officially Fall and we all know what that means: College Recruiting!

It is at this time every year that companies flock to the best colleges & universities across the US and try to find the best (cheap?) talent they can find on the college recruiting circuit.  Today is the day to make sure everything is ready for those college trips.

The Career fair table has been reserved – CHECK

The SWAG is packed – CHECK

Employees who went to the alma-mater are confirmed to attend – CHECK

Sign up sheets and marketing materials have been printed and shipped – CHECK

And a number of additional tasks are complete – CHECK

There is a lot to think about and do before the Career Fair actually happens.  And most of the work is just preparing for the event.  But that’s not why you attend Career Fairs, is it?  You attend to create awareness for your company and engage with potential candidates in a forum that is conducive to meeting as many potential candidates as possible.  You also go to stand out from the crowd as anyone who’s been or presented at a Career Fair knows is a tough task but something that you need to focus on.

Value comes not just from being there but from the engagement you have with qualified candidates that interact with your representatives.  So the real question is how do you improve your Career Fair experience when you’re there?

Here are a few ideas that could help:

Use lines as an opportunity to educate:  When I was at HR Tech a few weeks ago, a company called RMS was doing something pretty simple but very innovative at Career Fairs.  In order to give candidates something to do while waiting to speak with a rep, they provided QR Codes that candidates could scan with their phone.  The codes would play recruitment videos aimed to educate candidates on why RMS was a great place to work and the opportunities that were available at the company.

Don’t let candidates wait at your booth without using that opportunity to educate.  Whether it’s recruitment marketing videos, brochures or opt-in (which I’ll touch on below), use this time wisely to enable your company to stand out from the clutter.

Add candidates to your Opt-In Talent Network: Gone are the days of a sign up sheet or the Apply Online talking point for Career Fair visitors and now it’s time to use technology to easily collect and engage with candidates you meet at your events.  Two technologies that could help in this process:

• Resume Scanner: The ability to scan resumes directly into a database.
• Mobile recruiting: The ability to have candidates use their mobile phones to automatically enter their email and other contact information via SMS.

Both resume scanning and mobile recruiting provide a simple way for candidates to simply add themselves to your Talent Network without the hassle of having to read bad handwriting or remembering where you put the contact list.

Hold a [INSERT COLLEGE NAME HERE] Bootcamp before the event:  One of the best ways to provide a great presence at a Career Fair is to have Alumni attend the event to interact with current students.

If you can’t get alumni to the event, ask employees that have attended the university to run a 1 hour bootcamp for your recruiting team.  Find out what teachers are the best, classes that were push-overs, clubs that are popular and other important things to know about the school.  Being educated on the school will always be seen as a plus to students visiting your booth.

Career Fairs are a great opportunity to not only engage with top collegiate talent but it’s a great way to build your Talent Network with college students that could be good fits for positions now and in the future.  The best ways to impress students that attend your booth is to think differently.  Make it easy for candidates to learn about your company, the opportunities that are currently available and ways to receive information on future opportunities.