How Does Zoom Differ from a Virtual Event Platform?

As businesses and corporations in ever-increasing numbers turn towards utilizing online meetings and virtual hiring events to save effort, money, and time, it may be difficult to understand how certain events and platform functionality differ.  This is especially true when you need to deliver a great hiring event experience to your target audience.

What is Zoom Video Conferencing?

Video conferencing, as offered by a company like Zoom is a straightforward meeting format that offers video participation for those in the meeting.  It’s similar to a video call that you can make on your smartphone, but it includes other features such as recording and transcription capabilities.  Video conferencing tools typically refer to such elements as:

  • permissions and settings designed to limit participation as well as who can be heard
  • screen sharing
  • virtual whiteboards

This works effectively for remote office meetings and smaller conferences.  However, when it comes to hosting or sponsoring a virtual event such as a conference, online class, or webinar (web seminar) you’ll need to invest in a virtual event platform.

What is a Virtual Event Platform?

Virtual event platforms, like Premier Virtual are online spaces where conferences, hiring events, and other types of conferences can be held or hosted.  Granted, there are dozens of virtual event platforms available today.  However, it’s important to understand that no two are alike.  Nor is every platform suited for every type of event.  This is because some of them lack basic functionality such as break-out rooms for large-scale events.

Virtual event platforms are designed to provide digital events that your target audience would expect in an in-person trade show.  If you’ve been searching for a way to deliver a memorable industry event without spending the effort, money, and time involved with an in-person event, find a virtual platform that best facilitates your needs.  You’ll want one that is secure and readily accessible for you and your attendees. That is why it is important to have the right platform.

The Key Differences

If you aren’t sure when you should utilize virtual event platforms, here are the 5 most important differences between them and video conferencing:

  • video conferencing is integrated into virtual event platforms and enables you to use the integrated tools you specifically need
  • virtual event platforms are capable of handling the most complex agendas
  • virtual event platforms are in-person meeting simulations
  • virtual event platforms utilize automation and registration to help you understand who is attending your event
  • virtual event platforms were designed to accommodate larger audiences

To learn more about our virtual event platforms, please call Premier Virtual today at (561) 717-9717 for additional information.

Engagement & Marketing Tools for Virtual Hiring Events

About this webinar

The Engagement & Marketing Tools for Virtual Hiring Events webinar will be hosted by Premier Virtual CEO, Steve Edwards.

He will be joined by a group of panelists to discuss how to attract and engage the most qualified candidates for your virtual and hybrid hiring events.

Joining us will be Todd Goldstein and Abby Strauss of TopResume, a Talent Inc. company, the world’s premier resume-writing service, analyzing millions of resumes and LinkedIn profiles each year. TopResume has partnered with Premier Virtual the leading virtual event software platform to provide its clients and their event attendees with access to a complimentary resume review.

Learn more about this engagement tool and how event attendees will also have the opportunity to upgrade this complimentary resume review service and work directly with a professional writer and industry expert to redefine their personal brand and stand out from the crowd during the job-search process.

We will be updated our list of recruitment marketing firms that will provide you with actionable items to attract the right candidates for your open positions. These tactics continue to evolve, and if you’re not implementing the most effective ones you could be wasting a lot of time and money.

We hope to see you here on Tuesday, May 24th starting at 2pm.

Click here to register

Understanding the 4 Different Types of Virtual Hiring Events

With the advent of COVID-19 and the impact it’s had on the economy and job market, it’s easy to see why in-person job fairs have stepped aside and let virtual hiring events take center stage.  Virtual hiring events are online events that were designed and developed to connect employers and hiring managers with prospective employees.  Job candidates are allowed to learn about what jobs are available, network with company representatives, and submit resumes to the companies they’d like to work for.

Furthermore, as an employer, you have the opportunity to market your company and connect with a broad range of talent.  Because of the pandemic and the inconsistencies, it has created within our economy and the job market, recruiters and other hiring personnel have had to turn to technology to counteract its impact.  We offer 4 virtual hiring platforms for corporate CEOs, employers, human resources directors, and other hiring organizations which we’ve listed below. 

Virtual Career Days

To collect resumes, identify top candidates, and market their company brand to those prospective employees, some businesses and organizations will choose this platform for their recruitment efforts.  Those in attendance will be able to engage with hiring personnel, learn more about prospective employers, and speak with some of each company’s existing employees.

Virtual Career Fairs

Virtual career fairs usually target college graduates.  As such, they enable candidates to engage and network with several prospective employers at the same event.  In some cases, job candidates are required to create an online profile before the event.  An online virtual job fair will enable you to connect with hiring organizations and human resources directors.

Virtual Professional Development Events

Professional development is the #1 priority for the serious job candidate.  These events include masterclasses, seminars, and job training thereby helping employers attract the right candidates.  More specifically, they will target only those individuals who desire to learn new skills or want to sharpen the skills they’ve already acquired. Considering the hybrid nature of learning and working in the pandemic, virtual development events are the right opportunity.

Webinars

Where virtual hiring events are concerned, web seminars, or “webinars” as they are more commonly referred to, are less interactive.  However, they are a great way for human resource departments and hiring managers to reach a broader range of job seekers.  It’s also an ideal way for companies to market their brand and showcase the top aspects of their workplace environment.

To learn more about our hybrid and virtual event solutions, call Premier Virtual today at (561) 717-9717.

Premier Virtual Recruitment Suite

The latest acquisition by Handshake, a company with 21 million students in its database, is another example of the importance of virtual and hybrid hiring events. Their investment, estimated in the $10-$50 million dollar range in a virtual platform shows the future of hiring will remain virtual, and the sooner your company embraces this transformation the more successful your hiring endeavors will be.

But virtual platforms are much more than a place to host hiring events. By integrating the latest enhancements on the Premier Virtual platform, you literally have access to an all-in-one virtual recruitment software that allows you to do everything in one place. In addition, the ongoing ATS integrations mean you can seamlessly download and access all the data right from your own applicant tracking system.

What Does a Virtual Recruitment Suite Offer?

When you apply your Premier Virtual Recruitment Suite to its fullest extent, you are leveraging very powerful tools that give you the best opportunity to make the right hire. Features include:

  • Group Video
  • 1 on 1 Video Interviews
  • Video Resumes
  • Interview Scheduler
  • Internal Chat
  • Live Reports
  • Setup Wizards
  • Custom Lobby & Booths
  • Post Event Reports
  • QR Codes for Hybrid Events
  • 24/7 Virtual Hiring Room

Beyond Virtual Job Fairs and Hiring Events

The platform is so versatile, you don’t have to wait for a hiring event to meet qualified candidates. Now, your platform is also a virtual hiring room that can be accessed 24/7 by interested job seekers. You can also promote your virtual hiring room on job postings and on your website so candidates can ‘stop by’ certain hours of the day when your recruiters will be available to meet and answer questions.

This strategy is quickly becoming an integral tool for recruiters to pre-screen candidates. It’s also become the preferred method for job seekers who want to gather some information before applying. Giving applicants that kind of access and immediate feedback is a tremendous competitive advantage over other employers, especially in today’s labor market.

The future of hiring is virtual, and a the virtual recruitment suite by Premier Virtual is your all-in-one solution to your hiring needs. If your recruitment team is not leveraging this tool, or if your current platform provider is not delivering on your expectations, please contact us or visit www.PremierVirtual.com today to schedule your free demo.

What Are Virtual Job Fairs and Why Are They Important?

What Are Virtual Job Fairs and Why Are They Important?

f you’re an employee recruiter, you’re probably familiar with the term “online job fairs” or more specifically, “virtual job fairs.”  2021 was an extremely challenging year for these individuals where the job market was concerned, especially since the pandemic ruled out the traditional recruitment process indefinitely.  With the inconsistencies of the US economy, job recruiters were pushed over the technological tipping point and compelled to use digital technologies for recruiting purposes.

What Exactly is a Virtual Job Fair?

In the simplest of terms, virtual job fairs are similar to webinars (web seminars) wherein job seekers and job recruiters meet virtually (online) in chat rooms, teleconferences, or webcasts to exchange information about employment opportunities.  Furthermore, a virtual job fair is comprised of several virtual elements that replace in-person events.  These include virtual:

  • conference halls
  • employer booths
  • information desks
  • lobbies
  • meeting rooms
  • networking lounges

Once logged in, a participant can enter any one of the above areas, interact with a variety of employers and other attendees using different communication tools. It helps them explore the available employment options while companies can look at potential candidates online. This has been extremely useful, especially during the pandemic, where in-person meetings and interviews were not possible.

The Importance of Virtual Job Fairs

In addition to complying with safety and health guidelines, virtual job fairs offer 3 key advantages and benefits to recruiters that range from cost-effectiveness to increased accessibility.  These advantages and benefits include:

  • Cost-effectiveness and better time management – in-person recruitment fairs are very costly due to the need for accommodations, logistics, technical assistance, and more.  Additionally, organizing and setting up in-person recruitment fairs can be extremely time-consuming, depending on the size of the event.
  • Greater reach – due to their unlimited capacity, virtual job fairs can attract up to 10 times more traffic and can operate on a 24/7 basis to accommodate all time zones.  This global reach is a key selling point for job recruiters.
  • Improved analytics – analytics is reshaping the business environment and enables better decision-making.  The same is true with virtual job fairs.  Furthermore, hosting virtual job fairs provides recruiters with tons of data that can be utilized in recruitment marketing campaign strategies.

As a result, virtual job fairs have become extremely popular and are now included in many HR processes on a global scale.  Businesses and corporations that never imagined the need for virtual job fairs before are now reaping the benefits of them.  Are you interested in hosting a virtual job fair? Call Premier Virtual at (561) 717-9717 or send us a message by clicking here.

What Are the Benefits of Hosting a Virtual Recruiting Event?

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.

Build A Corporate Culture Using Virtual Event Platforms

People were beginning to work remotely even before the pandemic, but COVID-19 accelerated this trend. The latest research shows that employees who want a completely virtual or hybrid work environment tend to make for better employees. Global Workplace Analytics did some recent studies. According to its findings, 43% of workers who were forced to work at home during the pandemic want to continue with this.

Remote working is never going away as it benefits companies because it allows them to access more talent in a global workplace.

How To Turn Work from Home Challenges into Opportunities

Working from home is not without its issues though. There are challenges present both for employers and employees. Companies that want to give their employees the work-from-home option must make sure that employees have the right technology and uninterrupted space to work in.

Parents with small children may face many interruptions and overachievers may spread themselves too thin in terms of workload versus time available to do it in. Also, with video conferencing. Both employers and employees must learn new etiquette and skills in terms of interpersonal communication, soft skills, and emotional intelligence.

Supervision issues emerge in a remote workplace. Employers are forced to devise new and creative ways to reward good and productive employees. They also have to deal with HR issues much differently.

If companies want to do remote working successfully, they have to make sure that the managers are good listeners in a virtual work environment. They also have to ensure that their managerial practices are in sync with remote working and the remote office. Managers have to strengthen their relationships with remote workers to ensure that they create a bridge for better and stronger communication in the future.

Companies can seek help from a virtual events company for pointers and help, such as:

Make A Virtual Event Platform Work For You

Companies can build a great reputation and attract more employees if they build a great and reputable work environment and a working virtual venue platform. This type of infrastructure can make an already good physical workplace great.

Employers rely on great software programs such as virtual venue software programs. These give employers they need to create a successful virtual workplace and culture. This is important because it allows employees and employers to interact with each other as many times, as they want in any virtual environment.

Ways You Can Improve Your Remote Working Culture

Celebrate milestones

Remote employees work without social contact or opportunities for social interaction with others. That’s why celebrating certain accomplishments like work anniversaries, onboarding new employees, and landing a new client virtually is vital.

You can do this in the form of virtual parties that employees can participate in from their homes. You can mail goodies like cakes, candies, and cards to make the events more personalized, impactful, and meaningful.

Build virtual teams

The pandemic made team building a vital part of any organization’s work culture. This is especially true for organizations with virtual work environments. That’s why these organizations need to hold regular team-building meetings. Employees can participate in fun activities like yoga, online scavenger hunts, and bingo, to name a few.

These will make remote employees feel more valued. They will also enjoy working at your company. They can also be rewarded with paid time off or gift certificates to famous restaurants for their participation.

Have a buddy system

Create opportunities for people to interact with and befriend other remote or hybrid employees. You can also create a buddy system where employees check up on each other by phone call, text, email, and more.

Hold virtual happy hours 

The happy hour has always been the favorite after-work gathering for employees. It can have the same effect when taken virtually. But fun at the office after hours doesn’t have to end there. Employees can also enjoy themselves at lunch groups and other outings.

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.

 

 

Virtual Hiring Must be Part of your Digital Transformation.

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: Virtual Hiring Events are the ‘New Norm.’

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.

The Benefits for Choosing Hybrid Hiring Events

The world is going hybrid. Are you ready? 

Premier Virtual is, and with its future-focused technology, its team plans to lead the charge. 

Talking in-person or virtual. Which one do you want to do? There’s no need to choose one when you can do both.

Why? Because the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. 

Future-focused technology company Premier Virtual supports the push for hybrid events, meaning, in-person events should also incorporate a virtual platform for the best of both worlds. 

Premier Virtual recently executed a case study to see how many people would show up for an in-person versus virtual hiring event at South Florida Tech Hub.  

There were less than 100 in-person attendees, but there were more than 500 virtual attendees. By offering both options, they were able to expand their candidate pool and employers were able to meet candidates in person and on the virtual platform.

The benefits don’t end there. Choosing a hybrid route when it comes to the hiring process prevents ATS systems from weeding out qualified candidates. 

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

By ranking 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. This becomes an issue because some applicants can get lost in the ample applications that are coming through the system. 

A hybrid option resolves these issues by allowing hiring managers to take matters into their own hands. They can meet candidates in what Premier Virtual calls a “virtual hiring room.” 

With the company’s technology, recruiters are able to schedule an ‘open-house on set days and times where candidates can meet and chat with recruiters.  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.

Given the circumstances of the past two years, we can no longer solely rely on in-person hiring career fairs and events. Virtual hiring is the future, and companies should start preparing for it. 

Choose Premier Virtual for Online Hiring Events

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.

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