Pulling off a virtual job fair is easy but pulling off an engaging one can be quite tricky. In a world where people are flocking towards virtual events just to stay in the game rather than to deliver real value, all you need to do to make your virtual job fair stand out is focus on the basics: deliver as many touch points for job-seekers and employers to connect in an easy-to-navigate virtual environment. Although this is easier said than done, here are the three leading virtual job fairs from the Middle East that have carved a name for themselves by consistently delivering value to both its exhibitors and audience alike. 1) Eliqaat Eliqaat is a prolific UAE-based organization that connects job-seekers and employers in the region. Their virtual job fairs attract thousands of visitors and hundreds of employers from a variety of industries. What makes their virtual job fair great: Eliqaat has an exceptionally user-friendly virtual landscape with clearly demarcated virtual booths and each virtual booth looks different from the other adding that extra personalized oomph. Their exhibit hall has ample room for branding which is useful for both Eliqaat and the fair exhibitors. The Exhibit Hall is laced with a logo display bar which makes it easy for job-seekers to pick an employer booth instantly. The Hall also shows an Exhibitor index to make employer searches that much quicker. They also have a ‘Folder’ widget that segments all exhibitors by industry. This offers a fantastic user experience because job-seekers interested in exploring a particular industry can instantly expand virtual booths belonging to it for a more relevant browsing experience. Eliqaat has also included an animated introductory video that is far more engaging than a textual introduction. This video thumbnail remains static at the top left of the screen regardless of what tab you’re at in the virtual job fair making it easily accessible for newbies at the job fair. Their platform offers job-seekers the option to run a job-search using robust filters. This enables them to reach relevant vacancies and submit resumes for jobs that they are actually interested in. This is yet another addition to the star features that make their virtual job fair’s user-experience great. To the exhibitors’ relief, their resume dashboards are equipped with search filters as well. This helps them reach the most relevant profiles from the resumes that they collect at their virtual booth. By offering employers a convenient and simple way to reach top talent, Eliqaat enables its virtual job fair to achieve its most core purpose. Their fair also has an FAQ section which is always helpful for first-time event visitors and their omnipresent social icons make it easy for visitors to reach their official social networking accounts assuring an overall immersive event experience. 2) Bayt’s Virtual Job Fair – UAE Bayt.com is the leading job site in the Middle East that connects job-seekers from the region with top global employers using a system that matches the capabilities of the former with the requirements of the latter. Bayt, being a company devoted to innovation, frequently hosts virtual job fairs across KSA, Qatar, Dubai, and Kuwait. Their virtual events are highly sought after with thousands of attendees tuning in each year and here’s why: What makes their virtual job fair great: Bayt’s virtual job fair welcomes you to a visually captivating lobby with people moving in and out of different rooms that lead visitors to the Webinar Room, an Info Desk and the Exhibitor Hall. Their lobby has ample room for branding with virtual billboards, kiosks, and banners placed aesthetically across the space. The tabs on the top of the screen further help job-seekers in navigating to these different rooms within seconds. Each virtual booth has its own ‘About Us’ and ‘Careers’ sections that direct visitors to their official website and job board. Videos and documents specific to each employer are also available for access at these booths. The booths are also equipped with a live chat that lets visitors engage in one-on-one conversations with the booth reps. The platform also hosts a video vault which contains all pre-recorded webinars and introductory videos by employers for visitors’ on-demand viewing. Their Resources section is categorized by employers which makes it easy for job-seekers to view and download content specific to their company of interest. Visitors can also add these documents to their Swag Bag for later consumption. Their easily accessible Virtual Info Desk assists visitors with manuals on maneuvering through the job fair, interacting with the exhibitors and applying to relevant job vacancies. 3) Jobs Abu Dhabi (JAD) – efair Jobs Abu Dhabi (JAD) is an e-Government initiative and a comprehensive online job market establishing connections and engagement between job seekers and employers. It’s the largest online recruitment portal in Abu Dhabi with an audience comprising of a talent base of 500,000+ global professionals and 1,030 active Abu Dhabi-based entities. What makes their virtual job fair great: Since efair caters primarily to the Middle-Eastern job-seeker base, their virtual event functions in both Arabic and English. This bilingual capacity helps expand the virtual job fair’s reach to a local and international audience. efair has a very comfortable and welcoming vibe with visuals of sofas and coffee tables spread across their lobby. Their virtual job fair has social media integration which increases event awareness and traffic through virality. efair hosts a virtual help desk that assists visitors in making the most of their virtual experience through a section dedicated to resolving their FAQs and a link to a support chat room where questions are answered in real-time. The virtual booths at efair are completely customizable with logos and color schemes of the employers’ choice. The exhibitors have the option of displaying their employer brand through image banners, gif banners and swf video banners. To keep visitors tuned into the virtual job fair, the efair platform opens external links in popups so that visitors are never directed out of the fair. efair excels at bringing about an interactive event by incorporating group chats to boost in-app networking opportunities and one-to-one chats to resolve specific queries by job-seekers. The platform also allows visitors to initiate audio/video chats with event reps without having to switch to another software. Takeaways Taking these top-performing virtual job fairs as case studies, it becomes clear that delivering a stellar user experience forms the backbone of a successful virtual event. By providing job-seekers with tools to interact with employers of their choice over relevant openings and by making candidate shortlisting convenient for employers directly through the platform, these virtual job fairs manage to rake in thousands of visitors and exhibitors year after year with no signs of stopping.
