Job fairs are a pageant for the demimondaines, a parade for the isolated. We see the Associated Press photos of the huddled masses outflanking informational booths and the available hiring opportunities those folding tables represent, nonetheless showing up for face time with recruiters and first-line interview specialists as a palliative plug in the drain pipe of their self-esteem for as long as disbelief can be suspended and the odds ignored.
Employment fair participants have a bond of shared hardship, yet they realize some must lose for their fellow pavement pounders to win. Queue coordinators and booth staffers promote civility and calm among displaced employees with disrupted lives. Those burdened with representing their organization to the unemployed legion must be cordial while maintaining psychological distance, lest they get caught up in the maddening plight of a zero-sum game for which they influence who escapes their predicament and who remains damned: no matter who they help, someone will be worse off (in lost time and renewed disappointment) due to mutually exclusive payoffs for the job seekers.
Hence, many employers prefer job placement by referral because it greatly softens this psychological dilemma due to making it clear who the "good guys" and "bad guys" are among equally qualified applicants. But if you decide to partake in a job fair, then commit to enjoying the experience or at least to making cathartic comments to recruiters and fellow contestants. You might disarm the recruiter with your unpretentious honesty or befriend a soon-to-be-hired applicant who could be in a position to recommend you -- be sure to exchange contact information.
No matter how many contacts you make, always strive for more. The unpredictability of personalities means that finding compatibility is a numbers game requiring enormous resilience to wade through the illusory opportunities and arrive at the real portals. Such a far-reaching vetting process requires resilience to the extreme in essence and attribute.
Making your networking rounds and personal pitches week after week, month after month requires commitment to getting your name in the minds of corporate HR personnel. To do so involves legendary dedication such that you become known as someone who persistently pursues your goals with 100% of your being and NEVER-NEVER-NEVER gives up!
Cheers to those laboring through the job fair circuit, and be sure to comment here for a dialogue!
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