Uncategorized | Premier Virtual

Premier Virtual’s new QR Code Generator for Hybrid Events

Gary Chambers on April 19, 2022

In-Person, Virtual, or Hybrid Career Fairs – Which Approach is Best?

When planning a career fair, the common goal is to connect employers with qualified job candidates. A secondary goal is for jobseekers to learn more about companies they may have not considered working for previously.

Traditionally, live or in-person career fairs were the best option, but in today’s world, other options should be considered. Let’s take a minute to review them all.

In-Person- All attendees are physically present in one location

Virtual- People attend the event entirely online

Hybrid- Some people attend in-person and others online. Using Premier Virtual’s new QR code generator, you can record the interactions and easily download all of the reports at the end of an event for efficient follow up.

How do you know which approach is right for your career fair?

There are different factors, such as event size, budget, timeline, the geography of attendees, and a common issue faced during the writing of this blog post – the ongoing issues due to the Covid-19 virus.

Live Events – Still considered the most effective form of communication and is perceived as more credible and positive.

It was not long ago that the idea of meeting people online was denounced. Boomers and even millennials were openly against it and had the opinion that people only chose to go virtual if they lacked interpersonal skills. In a sense, they were somewhat ‘shamed’ for not wanting to connect in person.

In large part due to the Pandemic, and also as part of the natural evolution of digital apps and platforms, virtual events are quickly becoming a perfect alternative to in-person meetings. It is said the pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation by as much as 3 to 5 years.

However, many people still appreciate and seek the opportunity to network in person, with factors such as effective communication, credibility, and overall positive experience as the leading factors.

It’s hard to argue that humans find face-to-face communication as most effective because of the entire experience it produces. Body language, postures, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements do not translate as well, even on a video call online.

Virtual Events – Faster turnaround time, reduced costs, and broader reach

The most common reasons clients choose virtual (pre-covid) include that time and money are at a premium. Virtual events allow the host to quickly create and launch an event, and depending on the size, on a much smaller budget.

Post-Covid, we see that social distancing and keeping everyone safe is the top reason organizations are choosing virtual. When it comes to virtual career fairs, the virtual options have resulted in higher attendance rates for jobseekers and more hiring companies are participating as well, due to the reduction in time and money required to do so.

Everyone who has hosted or attended a virtual event agrees it is a much more efficient process. No one has to wait in a long line to speak with a recruiter, and no company has to deal with the frustration of a poorly attended booth since they will typically receive reports with access to all of the resumes from registered candidates.

Reporting is another huge advantage to virtual events since each employer has their dashboard and is provided reports with all attendees, who attended their booth, and what resumes match their job openings.

While text/chat options or even a built-in one-on-one video interface do not compare with speaking in person, these tools do make it very easy for the recruiter to meet with candidates and get to see if they are a good fit, right on the spot.

Get the best of both worlds with Hybrid Events – Flexibility to reach the greatest number of qualified candidates.

So, while in-person hiring events remain a popular option for recruiters that enjoy face-to-face interaction, the limitation of social distancing, as well as traditional limitations of being available to travel to an in-person job fair make hybrid the best option.

Most often in-person job fairs attract the unemployed jobseeker. A hybrid event allows highly qualified candidates who are employed to also attend. These virtual attendees can quickly log on before work, or during a lunch hour, attend and apply online, whereas attending in-person might have been impossible.

Now Premier Virtual has launched a QR code generator that hosts and employers can use at live events. These QR codes enable attendees to quickly access the event and employers virtual hiring booths, which means that all of the in-person activity can be tracked digitally. Now employers can simply download the resumes they received at the event for easy follow up, and attendees can keep notes as well. This is the best of both worlds because you gather all of the data that comes with virtual events in an in-person setting.

The Pros and Cons of Hosting Virtual Events:

Pros:

Reduced Costs – The logistics of a physical event can be daunting. Renting a venue, printing badges, selling tickets, food, clean-up, etc., all drive up costs, time, and resources. These are all eliminated with a virtual event.
Broader Reach – with zero travel time, anyone from anywhere can attend. In a state like Florida which attracts people from across the U.S., many citizens that want to move have a unique opportunity to attend a virtual job fair and land a job to facilitate the move. In industries in high demand like technology and medicine, you don’t have to limit your job pool to the local population. Also, external factors like poor weather, or emergency events do not affect virtual events, so there is very little chance for interruptions or cancellations.
Increased Productivity – hiring managers can meet with multiple job-seekers simultaneously, and do not have to make the job candidates wait in long lines. Being able to view resumes and start video chats makes it easy for recruiters to choose who they believe will be the best fit.
Reporting – platforms like Premier Virtual offer detailed reports that make virtual events much more efficient as well. Each employer will know, who visited their booths, and who submitted a resume. Each recruiter can rank the candidates and easily set up follow-up interviews.

The Cons

Less personal connection- for recruiters that put a high value on the physical handshake, there is nothing a virtual event can do to replicate that. The personal face-to-face experience is very immersive, so virtual events have to work harder to attract and keep the attendee’s attention.
Distractions – If the job seeker is at work, or multi-tasking it will be difficult to remain focused on the event. It is easy to get distracted when attending virtually, which can hurt retention or the job candidate not attending each booth that matched their qualifications.
Overwhelming – when an event has 300 or more booths, it can be overwhelming for the job seeker. This can create anxiety for a jobseeker that is trying to visit each booth to see what jobs are available. New options that allow job seekers to get a ‘matching job report’ and a job-seeker journey are being added to make their experience more positive
Downtime – although the Premier Virtual platform has not suffered any significant downtime, there is a chance the platform or the attendee’s internet connection is interrupted. This can cause a poor experience and be very frustrating if it occurs during a live interview. Technology doesn’t always cooperate and can be a bigger issue for areas of the country with less service or less broadband access.

Which Event is Right for your next Career Fair?

If you have not hosted a virtual event, here is a chart that helps illustrate the options:

	Face-to-Face	Virtual	Hybrid
Most Effective Communication	X
Faster Turnaround		X
Cost Savings		X	X
Increased Collaboration	X
Greater Reach			X
Digital Reports		X	X
Relaying Complex Info	X
Reduced Travel Cost		X	X

If you would like to get free advice on which option is best for you, or to find out more about our new QR code generator for hybrid events, please contact Premier Virtual online or at 561-717-9717 to schedule a no-obligation consultation with one of our advisors.

We have powered over 6,000 virtual hiring events, where 60,000+ employers have connected with over 650,000 registered job seekers. Our best-in-class platform and experienced success managers are here to ensure you host the most successful virtual career fair possible.

We look forward to meeting you, so you can make the most informed decision to reach your company’s staffing goals.

What Are the Benefits of Hosting a Virtual Recruiting Event?

Gary Chambers on February 24, 2022

If you want to attract top talent to your organization and keep it, you can’t go wrong with a recruiting event. These events are also a great way to brand your organization and announce it to the world.

Most recruiting events were physical. Then came the pandemic, and most events went virtual for the obvious reason that people wanted to avoid exposure to COVID-19 as much as possible. This prompted employers to allow people to work remotely. Well, this concept was soon extended to recruiting events.

There are many reasons why you should host recruiting events. For one thing, you can make your workforce much more diverse through these events. It has been observed that minority students who attend lower-cost universities are much more likely to attend virtual recruiting events. You can attract the top employees to your company during virtual recruiting events provided you do the following:

Teach Attendees About Professional Development

School’s out because of COVID-19. This means that students have much more free time on their hands. They’re using this free time to learn new and valuable skills or to brush up on skills that they already knew. A professional development session will attract lots of students because these students want to learn how to think, behave, and dress like a professional.

If you are stumped as to what you should include in this type of session, take a few minutes to think about the professional skills that your organization wants and needs. Be sure to make these the foundation of your session. You are always free to add on other professional skills as needed or desired.

You have many options when hosting professional development events. They can take place in the form of online training, masterclasses, or webinars. It doesn’t matter what form of event you host; it won’t be successful if you don’t make it interesting and engaging. Also, make sure that your event adds value for your participants. Be sure to subtly explain why the attendees should be working at your organization and only at your organization.

Include Diversity and Inclusion Panels and Presentations

Students, naturally, want to work at organizations that actually promote diversity and inclusion and don’t just provide lip service. You’re going to have to do much more than include a line that says, “We support diversity and inclusion policies on your website. You’re going to have to prove it, and diversity and inclusion panels and/or presentations are a great way to do this.

This will show potential candidates that you’re serious about diversity and inclusion in your organization. You can always take pointers for these types of panels and presentations from various employee resource groups (ERGs) near you. Company leaders and current employees are also great resources to tap into for these ideas.

Freestyle Question And Answer Sessions Are Necessary

Freestyle in this context means that the students are allowed to ask any and all questions they want. You should have a member of your executive team present to answer these questions.

Many social media and social platforms like Quora and Reddit have found these sessions to be quite useful in terms of internal communications and external marketing. Freestyle question and answer sessions put students’ minds at ease because it tells them what working at your organization is really like.

Freestyle question and answer sessions are the most successful when they focus on a particular topic. You should have a list of frequently asked questions that you can turn to in order to keep the conversation going.

Virtual Information Sessions

You always want to be building employer brand awareness. After all, you never know when you’ll need to hire employees next in the unpredictable world that the pandemic has created. This can be accomplished through a virtual information session.

You can have employees tell students all about working conditions and the corporate culture at your organization. Students love these sessions because they can ‘be themselves’ while learning all about an organization that they want to work for. Your sessions will be the most successful if you have different high-profile employees working in different break-out rooms. You can cover more topics and give the attendees more individualized attention.

Host fireside chats

Do you remember the intimate nature of those conversations by a campfire? Well, fireside chats revolve around the same concept. In these chats, employees talk honestly with students about a specific pre-selected topic.

These informal chat sessions allow you to let the students see your employees as real kind and compassionate humans. The trick is to ensure that these chats center around a specific and relevant topic.

To learn more about the benefits of hosting your own virtual hiring events or career fairs, contact the team at Premier Virtual for a free demo.

Tips For Event Hosts On Engaging Your Virtual Audience

Sergio on February 10, 2022

There’s no getting around the fact that you need to create an engaging environment, especially if you’re hosting a virtual hiring event or job fair. Job candidates will be more engaged with the right content to access, and your employers will have a more successful event. There are certain things you can do to create this type of environment.

Have Interactive Events

You need to interact with your guests if you want your event to be successful. It doesn’t matter which type of event it is. You can do this by:

Have live polls and feedback – you can allow attendees to give live feedback regarding the overall nature and success of your virtual events. Do this in the form of live polls and feedback sessions.
Attend the live Q&A sessions that your presenters host – the questions and answers to them will give you valuable feedback as to what you can be doing better in the future. The Q& A session should revolve around a pre-defined topic. Be sure to inform attendees ahead of time for better results.
Host interactive discussion panels – make your events more engaging by allowing attendees to interact with each other in virtual discussion panels. Make sure that they’re separate from the panels that your presenters hold. It may not be a bad idea to ask the attendees the topics they want to discuss and make them the focus of your discussion panels.

Be Sure To Recreate The Hallway Track

Hallways in real events make for some interesting conversations. Make sure that your virtual events have these as well. You’ll be sure to create an interesting virtual event that everyone will want to participate in if you do this. Hosts need to make sure to offer informal networking opportunities as well.

Informal networking: Make sure that employees have the chance to connect with each other informally during your events. It can lead to great opportunities and conversations. You can do this by scheduling various breaks throughout your event.

Live chat and social forums: Continual communication will ‘break the ice and make strangers feel like comrades. Make sure to build these opportunities into your events.

Share Engaging Content

You need to deliver high-quality and engaging content if you want your events to be of any use. Doing the following makes this possible:

Pre-event content offers – engage your audience and encourage them to listen to your information even before you host the event. This will guarantee that you will have a greater turnout and interaction during your actual event. You can do this through interactive and engaging marketing emails and social media posts.
Use downloadable resources – make sure that you have downloadable content. Seeing something in writing will make what you’re discussing even more powerful and impactful.
Have an always-on environment – have a perpetual event. You’ll find that it will engage more interaction and lead to greater attendee turnout in the future.

To learn more about Premier Virtual and the solutions we offer such as virtual career fairs, visit https://premiervirtual.com/ or call 561-717-9717.

Make the Right Impression at Virtual Career Fairs

Sergio on February 1, 2022

Do you want that dream job? You’re taking a step in the right direction if you’ve decided to look for that job at a career fair. That said, attending a career fair is only the first step, and a baby step at that, in your quest to find the perfect job for you! You’re in luck if you’ve been a stellar student. Employers look for people like you when they go to career fairs. Now, you’re practically guaranteed to find your dream job if you do these 10 things.

Make sure that your profile is up-to-date – You’re wasting your time if you have an older professional profile when you attend a career fair.

Make sure that the basic information is accurate and updated. These include your graduation date, school year, major, GPA, and work authorization.
Be sure to pick only those job types, locations, and roles that you like and that suit you.
This gives recruiters a heads-up regarding the jobs and internships that will be the best for you.
Make sure that your courses, skills, and previous work experience are in your handshake profile.

Be aware of the types of employers who are attending – the virtual fairs details page will indicate this to you. Be sure to familiarize yourself with each employer by going to their handshake page. Remember that other student reviews are valuable sources of information regarding the true working conditions and nature of employers. Signing up for early sessions with these employers will guarantee you an interview spot.

Know all about the attending employers – go to the companies’ websites to learn as much as you possibly can about the employers. Don’t end your research there though. Research online to find out what other neutral sources have to say about the employers. Believe it or not, this is invaluable information that you can use to think of questions you want to ask and the subjects that you want to discuss in the interview sessions.

Have a few points for discussion ready – employers also want to know more about the students who they meet at career fairs. Prepare a brief ‘elevator pitch’ about yourself. This will include your background, education, career goals, be sure to spend plenty of time practicing before you start to talk to employers.

On the big day

Dress for the position that you want – dress up. Wear business formal clothes. Remember that you only get one chance to impress the employers and that begins with what you wear. You may not be meeting them in person, but your appearances do make a powerful first impression regarding the type of employee that you’ll make once hired. You’ll even feel better about yourself and have more self-confidence if you dress up.
Make sure to attend your virtual career fair in a place that’s quiet and has a neutral background – Employers dislike distractions. Make sure to maximize your chances of being hired by minimizing distractions as much as possible.

Tips during your virtual session

Show up on time – time is money in the business world. Recruiters are very busy. They’ll appreciate it if you show up to your virtual session on time. It will show them that you respect them, their time, the employers that they work for.

Maintain eye contact and be an active listener – be sure to smile and nod at least occasionally. Maintaining eye contact is necessary. It shows the recruiter that you care about him or her and what he or she has to say. It also shows the recruiter that you respect him or her. Recruiters look for these characteristics in employees when they are hiring. Since distractions can take your attention away, be sure to keep them to a minimum when you are attending the virtual session.
Ask questions – have a list of prepared questions that you can ask the recruiter. Have several questions on the list. This will help guard against the employer answering any questions that may be on your list. Keep a pen and pieces of paper by you. It will help you jot down any new questions that may emerge during the session.

The next day

Apply to as many open jobs and internships as possible – doing so will help keep the momentum that you created between yourself and the employers (during the virtual career fair) going. Check profiles regularly for updates on jobs and internships.

To learn more about Premier Virtual and the solutions we offer such as virtual career fairs, visit https://premiervirtual.com/ or call 561-717-9717.

Top 20 Virtual Hiring Event Platforms for 2022

Sergio on January 25, 2022

List of Top 20 Virtual Hiring Event Platforms

Premier Virtual – Hiring Happens Here!

Already the preferred platform for nearly 200 workforce development boards across the U.S., Premier Virtual is an award-winning platform, specializing in hosting virtual job fairs. In fact, they have powered nearly 5,000 virtual hiring events, that have connected 50,000 employers to over 500,000 registered job seekers. The platform received a Top Performing award from Select Software Reviews and continually receives 5-star ratings from their clients on review sites like G2 and Capterra. Its customer support reputation is second to none with ratings that top the industry, and it’s something that Premier Virtual takes a lot of pride in.

With the release of 2.0, the entire hiring process has become more efficient and more effective. A new set-up wizard quickly guides you through the set-up process so you can have your event live within 24 hours. Each customer is assigned a dedicated Success Manager so that everyone is trained on how to use the platform and familiar with all the features and benefits. 24/7 Tech support, live reporting, video interviews, an interview scheduler and so much more, while still keeping it easy to use for the host, employer and job candidate.

Best of all, Premier Virtual offers flat-rate pricing, so there are no hidden fees, or extra costs for additional booths or resumes downloaded. The more events you host or attend, the more value you get! See how easy and affordable it is to host a virtual job fair or add a virtual option to an in-person event by scheduling your free demo today.

Others in the top positions are:

Easy Virtual Fair – With EasyVirtualFair’s online career fair software, we provide a sophisticated job fair simulation that enables real-time interaction between recruiters and candidates. Our recruiting event software enables you to find top talent while facilitating a better job hunt experience for potential candidates.

vFairs – vFairs is a virtual & hybrid events platform that helps organizations reach global audiences. Start hosting amazing online conferences, trade shows, job fairs & more.

6 Connex – We harness the power of imagination and technology to help companies grow in a digital age. Change the way you see events; transform the way you do business.

Brazen – Virtual hiring events, virtual career fairs, video interviewing, live webinars, live chat, recruiting chatbots, interactive networking events, and so much more. Brazen’s software is the perfect solution for companies, universities, associations, workforce development organizations, and more!

CareerEco – CareerEco virtual events connect students and alumni with employers & grad schools. A new job, a new degree, a new way  to get where you want to be.

XOR – Achieve Hiring Goals With Ease – What if you could spend 100% of your time speaking with amazing talent and forget everything else? With XOR’s talent platform, we automate the most repetitive tasks so you can focus on hiring.

GR8 People – GET ON THE PATH TO PRODUCTIVITY WITH THE GR8 PEOPLE ONE-EXPERIENCE TALENT PLATFORM AND POWER RECRUITER PERFORMANCE ACROSS THE ENTIRE HIRING LIFECYCLE—NO MATTER WHERE THE ROAD LEADS.

Eightfold.ai – Transform how you hire and retain a diverse global workforce with the AI-powered Talent Intelligence Platform.

Hopin – is an online events platform where you can create engaging virtual events that connect people around the globe.

Our complete list of the Top 20 Virtual hiring Platforms

Premier Virtual
vFairs
Easy Virtual Fair
GR8 People
Hopin

6 Connex
CareerEco
Brazen Virtual Career Fair
XOR
Eightfold.ai

Communiqué Conferencing
Paradox
Eventxtra
Handshake
Symplicity

Lee Hecht Harrison
Zoom
TextRecruit
Brandlive
Bizzabo

Virtual Hiring Must be Part of your Digital Transformation.

Sergio on January 11, 2022

Digital Transformation is not a new thing. In fact, it began for many companies long ago as they realized the importance of data. By digitizing information, you can easily gather, sort, and create reports to analyze.

From the migration of paper to digital and written forms into online forms, digital transformation continued to expand. E-commerce has taken front and center as Covid-19 completely shut down in-person access to many businesses and events.

All around the globe, organizations have had to suddenly reevaluate their business plans. The need to create a memorable digital experience for your customers has never been greater. Having the luxury of delaying your digital transformation is gone and could mean falling behind your competitors while they fully embrace theirs.

This has never been truer in the world of recruiting and staffing. The evolution of hiring has taken us from classified ads in the newspaper to online job boards and ATS systems that filter and track applicants. The next stage that was accelerated by the pandemic is virtual hiring and hosting online job fairs or hiring events.

Not that this strategy is completely new, but the tools and platforms to do so have evolved tremendously. For example, on the Premier Virtual platform recruiters can host and attend a virtual job fair from the comfort of their desk. Applicants can participate from anywhere in the world. Recruiters can quickly glance at resumes, enter a chat, and invite job applicants into a video interview, in a matter of seconds.

The platform streamlines the screening process and reduces time to hire from an average of over 30 days, to under 7 days in many cases. That type of functionality was not possible before platforms like Premier Virtual when all companies had access to was MS Teams or Zoom.

Maybe the most crucial feature of remote hiring events is again the data that brings us back to digital transformation. At one time, resumes were collected on paper at these events and taken back to the office to sort. Now all resumes can be downloaded with a click of the button. Recruiters can keep notes during the event and download reports to follow up accordingly.

Businesses and organizations continue to recognize the importance of virtual hiring but have fluctuated from in-person to virtual based on the current climate. If there is a new variant, and covid cases spike, we see an immediate return to virtual. One recent Forbes article according to Burbio, a firm that monitors school data, more than 2,000 schools were prepared to close for at least one day, due to Covid-19 concerns for the first week of January. There are about 21 states with at least one school district closed or transitioning to remote learning this week. Reuters reports that thousands of U.S. schools have delayed this week’s scheduled to return to classrooms, following the holiday break, or switched to remote learning, as the Omicron variant spread.

As 2022 begins, many New Jersey school districts are going virtual to deal with the ongoing spike in Covid-19 cases and the staffing shortages it has caused. The data shows that the vast majority of these are poor, underserved children. This is a disaster for both the children and parents.

Just in the last week, we had 3 schools, Richland School District 2, District 5 Lexington and Wade County Public Schools that had to pivot from in-person job fairs to virtual. Because they have a license with Premier Virtual, they had the virtual job fair set up and ready to go in the event they would not be able to move forward with the in-person event, and that’s exactly what happened. The results were extremely positive with hundreds of applicants attending virtually and many new hires and connections were made at each event.

The stark reality is that Covid is here to stay. We must plan for a world that mitigates this challenge the best way possible, and integrating virtual hiring is a key component. There is no more time to wait or consider if virtual is right for you, it is right for everyone.

We see more and more candidates choosing to apply and attend virtually and looking for remote or virtual job opportunities. The better prepared your company or organization is to offer these options, the more talent you will attract and retain.

If you are still wondering if you need to add virtual to your hiring strategy, do not delay the decision any longer. The sooner you put a platform like Premier Virtual in place, the sooner you will set your company staffing needs up for success.

To schedule a free demo with Premier Virtual please visit our website.

Tech Tuesday: Top-10 Recruiting Trends in 2022!

Sergio on December 20, 2021

Hiring Trends for 2022

While some recruiters have faced hiring freezes and work has slowed significantly, many are busier than ever as the economy rebounds, and unemployment hits a new record low. We have not seen unemployment records this low since 1969. While the data might not be 100% accurate, it reports a jobless rate of 4.2% in November 2021. At the same time, there are 11 million job openings and Americans quitting their jobs at near-record rates, so what gives in 2022? Here are the top 10 recruitment trends you should consider as you put together your 2022 hiring strategy plan.

It’s a Labor Driven Market – The bottom line is that candidates now hold all of the power. There are more available jobs than candidates, and that crunch becomes even more significant when you drill down further to high-skill jobs. Candidates are no longer jumping to that first open position or offer, but they are willing to jump much faster if they get a better offer or more flexibility with remote work.

Improve the Quality of the Candidate Pool – Over 52% of recruiters polled said that improving the quality of hires is their most important goal in 2022. Achieving this goal is a slight shift from simply increasing the number of applicants in the talent pipeline to increasing the quality of that talent. Typically, the better the talent, the better the fit, which leads to higher retention rates. The goal is a better hire, with a higher likelihood of staying and producing at the new job over the long term.

Balancing Talent Acquisition Technology with Traditional Methods– Amidst changes in the HR space and the disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 Pandemic, technology has given birth to a new breed of recruiters. These technology-empowered headhunters are pro-active, savvy, and highly strategic in hunting down the right talent for the job.

Nowadays, recruiters use social media posts, web-based job boards, and online job portals to tout their company’s culture. However, some traditional recruiting methods continue to be effective today, such as referrals and job fairs. Yes, we’re now in an age where AI, augmented reality, and ATS machine learning rule. But finding the right balance between digital and traditional channels is key to accomplishing recruitment priorities such as improving quality of hire (52%) and time-to-hire (23%) (HRD America, 2020, 2021). Virtual hiring event platforms like www.PremierVirtual.com have dramatically improved candidate and recruiter experiences at virtual hiring events, resulting in better results in both of these metrics.

Increased Outreach Through Social Media and Employee Referral Programs – Many companies have recognized that the opportunity to find the right candidate outside of the company is becoming more complex. Hiring for soft skills and training for hard skills means you can grow more people within your organization. This strategy is being promoted in company social media networks and reinforced in their internal referral programs, making growth within the company take priority.

Compete on Non-Traditional Benefits. There are too many jobs and not enough qualified candidates. The competition for small business owners with giants like Facebook and Amazon only makes it more difficult. Amazon alone was hiring a record-shattering 2,800 employees per day at the start of 2020, and that has only continued in 2021. These large corporations immediately take top candidates, leaving smaller companies to pick from an even smaller pool. You can’t compete on name and prestige, so you have to compete on flexibility and the ability to engage with employees on a more personal, one on one level. Being smaller might mean employees have more responsibility and decision-making. Make it clear from day 1, that performance is valued and there is a clear path to grow. Foster opportunities for employees to provide ideas and give feedback. Offer remote work and hire remotely whenever possible. Today’s job seeker is looking for more than money. They want to have a purpose at their job and understand their worth. Smaller companies that focus on this will be able to provide that culture that will attract more candidates.

Remote Recruiting will Continue to Grow – We see virtual hiring events platforms, like award-winning Premier Virtual, continue to be a vital asset in every company. This technology is not just for the large it becomes a way for smaller companies to compete for top-rated talent. The trend to remote hiring, video interview, and virtual job fairs continues to grow. 61% of recruiters believe it will be the default interview and pre-screening mode moving forward.

While some platforms position themselves as ‘Virtual Hiring Event’ platforms, very few deliver on the key features recruiters are looking for. Premier Virtual continues to stand out by providing hi-tech that is easy to use. They continue to win awards at G2 and Capterra for their ease of use. The platform accomplishes this in many ways, including its setup wizard, one-on-one chat and video interview technology, and easy-to-download post-event reports. We also see companies using the Premier Virtual platform to host ‘Virtual Career Days’ and ‘Open Houses’ to meet and greet potential new hires without the pressure of scheduling interviews or hiring on the spot. It’s a great way to get your company in front of employed candidates who keep their options open and want to see what you have to offer without committing to an interview upfront.

Attract, Hire and Retain! – Write these 3 pillars down (yes again!) and make a checklist under each one. There should be a strategy in place so that each pillar of recruiting is sufficiently supported. As we already mentioned, the workforce has always wanted a quality of life balance. Still, it has never been a better time than now to deliver! Your competitive advantage to attract more candidates can easily be to offer remote work where your competitor does not and offer health benefits that include mental health. Times are complex, and the Pandemic has raised stress levels to new heights. These two benefits in combination can be the difference between hiring or not. Yes, wages and health benefits are always an essential part of hiring, but remote work and mental health continue to be the top reasons candidates state their decision to accept an offer or not. The 48 hours after a hire is made are probably the most crucial. Don’t let your new hire sit for hours in an empty cubicle. Have a full-blown onboarding plan, throw a new hire party, give them the royal treatment and let everyone know about it after all isn’t this what you worked so hard for and invested so much in?

AI is your Friend! There is no stopping tech, and the more you can embrace it and leverage it, the better you will be. Ultimately nothing replaces a hiring manager’s understanding of the job at hand and their ability to spot talent beyond the resume but getting that right candidate in front of you is increasingly becoming the role of your tech tools.

AI is best for job candidate matching, candidate screening, and recommendation for job descriptions. Now Smart ATS is increasingly being used to get suitable candidates in front of the recruiters. The caveat is that these systems can also kick out plenty of qualified candidates, which is why hosting virtual job fairs is so essential. Adding virtual to the AI means your company will continue to offer access to candidates that might not have reached your desk if you only used an ATS system.

The Rise of Recruitment Marketing. With top graduates quickly getting gobbled up by the largest corporations, keeping your brand’ top of mind’ with passive job seekers is critical. These employed job seekers casually look around, waiting for the right opportunity to come their way. Using platforms like Premier Virtual to host and ‘Open House’ or ‘Career Day’ is a great way to offer this audience an opportunity to get to know you on a casual basis. Customize your lobby with a booth for your Sales Department, Marketing Department, IT Department, etc., and give visitors an opportunity to get to know the culture and who they might be working with. Provide them an opportunity to sign up for a ‘Company Culture’ newsletter that keeps you in touch with them, highlighting all of the great things your company offers and is accomplishing throughout the year. You can build your relationship with this potential candidate until they decide it’s time to take the next step, and you’ll be their first option. Make sure to share these experiences on social media, newsletters, and your website. Share your culture as much as you can, and you will build genuine interest in your workplace.

Retention, Retention, Retention. In the past, if an employee left, there might be another 100 ready to apply, but that is no longer the case. While you should always do everything in your power to retain and cultivate the talent you have, you can no longer get away by ‘winging’ it. If you don’t have fundamental procedures to engage and empower your people, it will likely result in higher turnover, and those losses take much longer to fill. Your best bet is a phenomenal employee retention program, invest in your people, and the benefits will include lower turnover, higher referrals, and increased productivity – but you already knew that!!!

If you have other trends to share or are interested in integrating a virtual hiring event platform into your recruiting strategy, please contact us for a free demo.

Tech Tuesday: Virtual Hiring Events are the ‘New Norm.’

Sergio on November 4, 2021

As Covid-19 and the social distancing epidemic has entered a less severe stage, hiring is increasing, but the talent pool is still lagging.

A trend that has not changed is that virtual hiring events and career fairs continue to grow and establish themselves as the new norm as a hiring strategy for many organizations.

According to Handshake, a career networking platform aimed at college students, 80% of hiring will remain virtual for the foreseeable future. A Gartner poll of 334 human resource leaders recently found that 86% of organizations incorporate new virtual technology to interview candidates and onboard new hires. While virtual hiring existed before the pandemic, employers have seen COVID-19 as a means for accelerating virtual recruiting overall.

Despite the obvious advantages of pre-screening candidates from your desk, why are virtual hiring events so effective?

After powering more than 3,500 events, Premier Virtual has proven to its clients that virtual hiring events are much more efficient than in-person events. Being able to connect with candidates in our virtual platform increases the intention and maximizes the use of everyone’s time. Being able to communicate with multiple candidates simultaneously and invite the right prospects into a one-on-one video interview, accelerates the pre-screening process and increases the odds of finding the best candidate for the position.

Our mobile-friendly platform allows candidates to attend literally from anywhere in the world. As more jobs offer remote access, hosting a virtual hiring event positions your organization as forward-thinking, and candidates appreciate the flexibility; in fact, offering flexibility has quickly become the number on ‘perk’ your company can offer.

The physical cost-reducing benefits are a big win for many companies. The cost associated with venue or travel becomes $0, plus the reduction in travel time often increases productivity.

Job seekers that have had the experience of waiting in long lines to speak to an employer love the ability to avoid all lines in a virtual event. Now they simply register, log in, and go directly to the employer’s booth they are interested in. On our platform, they can research the company, view all the job openings, and enter into a chat in a matter of seconds. If the employer wants to know you better, they can invite you into a video interview right then and there! We’ve seen job offers made and accepted on the spot!

A recent event for Spokane Workforce, which is traditionally held in person, was moved to virtual instead. The director Mandy obtained 81 organizations and 387 attendees for this event with almost perfect attendance. There were also 272 resume submissions. It’s why we like to say that ‘Hiring Happens Here’. Achieving these results in an in-person event is nearly impossible to recreate right now, and with this kind of success, why would you?

As Mandy tells us, candidates could easily register, log in, and ‘move about’ the event freely with no concerns about their safety or social distancing. They could engage with employers, learn more about the openings and quickly enter into chats or video interviews. The employers were thrilled with the results, many of which attended a virtual hiring event for the first time.

The Premier Virtual platform includes a dedicated Success Team to ensure your event runs as smoothly as possible. Your company is trained on the platform and best practices to host and market your event from day one. Premier virtual also offers live training for employers attending and a complete training video library. It’s all there in case you need it, but the platform is so easy to use and intuitive it only takes a few minutes to become a pro.

The results that we’ve seen from powering this many job fairs prove there is no need to go back to in-person only. Some of our clients offer hybrid events that offer in-person access and leave the virtual door open for everyone else who prefers the convenience and efficiency of attending online.

No matter the option, it’s clear that virtual hiring events and career fairs are the new norm, and if your company wants to remain competitive in the job market, you need to add this tool to your hiring strategy today.

For more information or to schedule a free demo, visit PremierVirtual.com.

Where are all the workers, can remote work bring them back?

Sergio on October 26, 2021

Workers are quitting their jobs in record numbers. As the economy rebounds and more jobs are available, the competition for those workers continues to increase.

What is your Human Resources department doing to get and stay in front of the hiring curve?

As a virtual hiring event platform, we’ve seen a massive difference in companies that have quickly pivoted and added virtual job fairs to their hiring strategy.

Not only is virtual hiring more efficient and effective, but it also provides an option that today’s workforce is demanding, and that option is flexibility.

Companies that host virtual hiring events show candidates that they are, first and foremost, more innovative than the competition. We’re not talking about a video interview on Zoom; we’re talking about an actual online job fair, where candidates get to learn more about the company, see all of the jobs available, and meet with their local recruiters.

Hiring virtually and offering remote positions shows that the company is setting a foundation for the future and not just reacting to the social distancing forced by the Pandemic.

The Pandemic proved that remote workforces are as much, if not more productive than the in-office culture, and workers don’t feel the need to rush back to the office. The reduction in commute time, travel and meal expenses, and less need for childcare are huge benefits that will make the difference when a candidate has those options.

As the workforce considers their options, it’s the flexibility they want most, even more than the typical benefits package that was once the lure to attract qualified workers. The work-life balance has never been more important than it is now, and virtual hiring and work have proven in many ways to increase that.

Employers competing for labor have raised wages, offered additional bonuses and added benefits. These measures are working, but when combined with the flexibility of meeting recruiters online and offering remote work, the results have been highly positive.

What plans do you have in place as the workplace demands continue to evolve?

If your company or organization is struggling to hire, it might be time to look at those key areas and see if you’re competitive.

Salary
Bonuses
Flexibility / Remote Hiring and Remote Work.

If you do not set your company up now for remote hiring and to facilitate a remote workforce, you may soon be obsolete.

Employers do not hold the cards anymore, the weight has shifted to the workforce, and the pendulum is not likely to come back anytime soon.

Before the Pandemic, this change was in the making, but the Pandemic accelerated the adoption rate by 3 to 5 years. If your company has embraced this change and pivoted to accommodate the virtual world we live in, it will be in a much better place to succeed moving forward.

If your company is fighting the change and believes it will all ‘return to normal’ be forewarned, you are making a mistake and you will continue to lose out to the competition on the most qualified candidates for your positions.

The time to go virtual is now; let us show you how.

Premier Virtual – ‘Hiring Happens Here!’

Is your ATS System Blocking Qualified Candidates?

Sergio on October 12, 2021

A recent Harvard Business report revealed that ATS, which is an applicant tracking system, is responsible for blocking or disqualifying many qualified applicants.

This system, which ranks relevant keywords, skills, degrees, credentials, responsibilities and other qualities that indicate to a hiring manager or recruiter that the applicant is qualified for the position has been deemed impersonal, and quite frankly unfair to applicants who don’t know how to use such keywords.

The online virtual job and career fair platform Premier Virtual has an innovative solution to this complex problem.

Virtual hiring rooms. That’s right. The future-focused technology company has positioned itself as a go-to company to help employers create virtual hiring rooms to make job hunting more personal and fair.

Now, hiring managers can meet candidates in a virtual hiring room. Think of it as a 24/7 office that can be linked to your company’s job listings. This allows company recruiters to schedule an ‘open-house on set days and times where candidates can meet and chat. If there is a fit, the recruiter can enter into a pre-screening interview, and then decide if the candidate should be scheduled for a more formal interview.

This tool has proven to reduce time to hire from an average of 30 days to just over 7 days.

What’s included in a virtual hiring room? Here’s what you can expect:

Fully Customizable Hiring Room
Live Reporting During Events
Video Interviews
Candidate Matching Based on Experience
Registration Setup Wizard
Ability to Host Webinar
Built-in Text and Email Reminders
API to Integrate with Current ATS Systems
Candidate “Journey” with Ability to Rank Companies and Track Their Progress in the Event
Organization ability to tag candidates before an event to show interest and schedule interview

Premier Virtual is the no. 1 virtual career fair platform in the industry, with nearly 200 Workforce Development Boards choosing the company for online career and hiring events.

Don’t let the ATS systems choose your candidates for you, take back control of the hiring process with your own virtual hiring room.

Host Virtual Hiring Events With Premier Virtual

Premier Virtual fosters innovation and strives to provide solutions to complex virtual problems. Through building relationships based on integrity, trust, honesty, transparency and teamwork, the tech-forward company always gets the job done.

If your company would like to host a virtual hiring event, contact Premier Virtual today.

561-717-9717

Premier Virtual’s new QR Code Generator for Hybrid Events

What Are the Benefits of Hosting a Virtual Recruiting Event?

Tips For Event Hosts On Engaging Your Virtual Audience

Make the Right Impression at Virtual Career Fairs

Top 20 Virtual Hiring Event Platforms for 2022

List of Top 20 Virtual Hiring Event Platforms

Virtual Hiring Must be Part of your Digital Transformation.

Tech Tuesday: Top-10 Recruiting Trends in 2022!

Tech Tuesday: Virtual Hiring Events are the ‘New Norm.’

Where are all the workers, can remote work bring them back?

Is your ATS System Blocking Qualified Candidates?

Why PV

Resources

About Us

Copyright 2022 Premier Virtual. All Rights Reserved.

Privacy Policy and Website Terms of Service

Request Pricing

Request a Demo