When the Economy Serves Lemons…

• May 2nd, 2009
• No Comments

Today I worked a booth at a much anticipated job fair. I am sad to report it was pretty much a bust. The event was scheduled from 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. I arrived around 1:30 after working at my day job. I’ll be honest, even the selection of potential employers was unimpressive. Everyone was either direct sales like myself or they were schools. I think the schools were there to recruit students rather than staff. That was a double whammie for me because I had also hoped to pass some resumès out to some potential employers.

My director and I left between 2:30 and 3:00 and at that time I think total names collected was 20 or less! It is hard to say why the turnout was so small. It was a beautiful day so perhaps people were doing other things (although the venue is kind of a sunny day friendly kind of place). Some people speculated that perhaps people are staying in because they are afraid of the swine, er, uh I mean H1N1 flu. Apparently, a health fair was cancelled because of it. I’m doubtful H1N1 was a factor. There’s only been one confirmed case in this state…and it was in MY town. Go figure! Finally, it could be the sheer fact that the economy is in the toilet in this particular area and there just may not be many companies in the area hiring. The institution that I work for holds an annual career fair and this year’s numbers were down. Typically, there are around 120 employers present. This year there were just 98! The lesson is that you never know how these vendor events will pan out. This one is a bit of a disappointment, but it won’t get me down. More motivation to call those brides I met back in January!

One good thing that came of it was that I got to talk to a cosmetology school. I was actually wandering around to see if my radio station contact person was there, but couldn’t find her. I walked by the Paul Mitchell Academy’s booth and the girls there were eyeing me up (sound familiar, ladies? ). Then they stopped me and asked if I work in the beauty industry and I told them I’m a beauty consultant. They said I looked like I’d be great for the industry and that was really flattering to me. So, I did talk to the one girl for a few minutes because I have been toying with the idea of gettin some type of license. I was thinking maybe aesthetician, but after my conversation with this girl, I am thinking cosmetology. She said it would be more marketable. So, I had some food for thought.

Now, it’s time to try yet another strategy.

Tags: Booths, Economy, Tables, Vendor Events