Who’s your face of your business at a job fair? What type of person do you want to put in front of potential new employees? Pretty simple question. And the answer should be easy, too.
You’d want someone who makes your company/business look good. Someone who motivates others to want to come work for you.
Some businesses get this right and others must not be doing their homework based on recent observations and listening to speakers in public recruiting sessions. If a small sample of 10 companies is any indicator of the bigger picture, then most companies are not looking closely enough at who they put out there as their face, and how they come across.
One example: A car company had sales positions open. They sent out a man who started his “speech” by talking about how everyone needs a car: “How did you get here tonight?,” he asked the audience. “Did you walk? Did you take public transportation? Did you drive?”
His point was that everyone owns a car. Which implies everyone has to buy a car. Which doesn’t make sense. Because if you have a car, that doesn’t mean you need to purchase one. He was trying to make the connection that you can easily sell cars because everyone needs one. A tenuous connection, if you ask me, and no one visited his booth afterwards.
Second example: A guy gets up front and says to the effect, “You don’t want to be here tonight. I don’t want to be here tonight.” Hmmmm, sounds like a good reason to get up and leave at that point. He kept this train going throughout his talk, repeatedly indicating that neither he nor the audience wanted to be there.
What’s that tell the audience? That the job seekers don’t care, and that he doesn’t care. I don’t think that was his point. I believe his point was to indicate that looking for a job and getting hired is a very hard thing to do and a challenge for anyone. And, equally, hiring good people is a challenge for the employer. But he very poorly communicated this message (if that’s what he “meant”). The takeaway was “why be here” based on what he said and how he said it. You didn’t want to work for this company either.
Third example: A guy talks on and on and on about the good things his company does. He doesn’t tell the audience the name of the company. He doesn’t tell attendees what his company does. Instead, his repeated message is, “We give back to the community. Our employees care. We have great programs to help those in need.” In the last two sentences of his presentation, he finally named his company. By then, he’d lost those in attendance. No one would have interest in following up.
When you send an individual or team to promote your business to prospective employees, it’s tremendously important to get the right person with the right skills out there. Go watch the individual give the presentation and see for yourself. Then provide constructive feedback, if necessary. Perhaps video the presentation and play it back to dissect it later.
The people you want to recruit are critical to your success as a business. Make sure to put your best person forward.
You’d want someone who makes your company/business look good. Someone who motivates others to want to come work for you.
Some businesses get this right and others must not be doing their homework based on recent observations and listening to speakers in public recruiting sessions. If a small sample of 10 companies is any indicator of the bigger picture, then most companies are not looking closely enough at who they put out there as their face, and how they come across.
One example: A car company had sales positions open. They sent out a man who started his “speech” by talking about how everyone needs a car: “How did you get here tonight?,” he asked the audience. “Did you walk? Did you take public transportation? Did you drive?”
His point was that everyone owns a car. Which implies everyone has to buy a car. Which doesn’t make sense. Because if you have a car, that doesn’t mean you need to purchase one. He was trying to make the connection that you can easily sell cars because everyone needs one. A tenuous connection, if you ask me, and no one visited his booth afterwards.
Second example: A guy gets up front and says to the effect, “You don’t want to be here tonight. I don’t want to be here tonight.” Hmmmm, sounds like a good reason to get up and leave at that point. He kept this train going throughout his talk, repeatedly indicating that neither he nor the audience wanted to be there.
What’s that tell the audience? That the job seekers don’t care, and that he doesn’t care. I don’t think that was his point. I believe his point was to indicate that looking for a job and getting hired is a very hard thing to do and a challenge for anyone. And, equally, hiring good people is a challenge for the employer. But he very poorly communicated this message (if that’s what he “meant”). The takeaway was “why be here” based on what he said and how he said it. You didn’t want to work for this company either.
Third example: A guy talks on and on and on about the good things his company does. He doesn’t tell the audience the name of the company. He doesn’t tell attendees what his company does. Instead, his repeated message is, “We give back to the community. Our employees care. We have great programs to help those in need.” In the last two sentences of his presentation, he finally named his company. By then, he’d lost those in attendance. No one would have interest in following up.
When you send an individual or team to promote your business to prospective employees, it’s tremendously important to get the right person with the right skills out there. Go watch the individual give the presentation and see for yourself. Then provide constructive feedback, if necessary. Perhaps video the presentation and play it back to dissect it later.
The people you want to recruit are critical to your success as a business. Make sure to put your best person forward.
