How to Hold a Neighborhood Job Fair

Job fairs place job-seekers in face-to-face A How-to Guide for neighborhood contact with employers. leaders working to make life better for people in Battle Creek How to Hold a Neighborhood Job Fair

Long-term unemployment can Getting Started Recruitment be devastating both financially o hold a one-day job fair, you Recruit volunteers and form and emotionally. With a little T will need a few months to organize planning committees all the details. help from area businesses and Call community-based groups such as others within your community, One of the most important steps neighborhood planning councils and is contacting businesses, ranging block associations to gauge local you can do something about from the mom and pop store on the interest. The city’s Neighborhood corner, to the Federal Center, to large Partnerships office can help you find unemployment — hold a corporations. Encourage these these groups in your neighborhood. neighborhood job fair. Job fairs employers to participate in the fair you Hold a meeting with the groups that are are organizing. At the same time, let interested in participating to discuss the place job-seekers in face-to-face community organizations and individual local unemployment problem and the contact with employers in the residents know about the upcoming job prospects of sponsoring a job fair. Make fair. sure everyone’s opinion is stated and neighborhood or from other groups agree on their goal. Find out Provide everyone you contact ample which local groups will help by co- parts of the city who have job notice so job seekers will have enough sponsoring the effort — such as local openings or expect to be time to prepare their resumés, attend neighborhood planning councils, block workshops on interviewing skills, and associations, local churches, etc. hiring soon. otherwise prepare themselves. Your group should meet regularly — once every two weeks. Form small Contact STRIVE and EmploymentGroup planning committees to: for advice and support (contact • Recruit employers, trainers, and job- information on back). seekers

Job fairs can be organized by • Notify the media and coordinate volunteers with minimal funding if you community outreach tap into your community’s resources. • Locate and set up a site Ask local schools, churches, or other • Create an agenda for the job fair community organizations to donate space — if it’s a nice day, you can hold Recruit job-seekers and the fair outside. You might be surprised understand their needs about just how welcoming organizations can be once you tell them about the job Ask community organizations and local fair and invite their members to take businesses to run workshops on part. interviewing techniques and tips for successfully getting a job. On the back page you’ll find some great local resource groups who can sponsor these workshops in your community.

Use flyers, media, neighborhood planning councils, and block associations to reach out to job-seekers.

During training sessions, collect information on the education, skills, and goals of the job-seekers to better match them with prospective employers. “ Job fairs can be organized Locate and Set Up a Site Supervising on the Day of the Fair by volunteers with minimal You will want to consider the following funding if you tap into your suggestions as you select and prepare Here are a few tips you will want to the site of your job fair: consider on the day of the job fair: community’s resources.” • Ask institutions such as schools or • Make sure one person is in charge of churches to donate space. supervising the events of the day. • Find a large, accessible site that is • Arrive at least one hour before the fair Recruit employers well known in the community. opens to make sure the tables are set • Make sure restrooms will be available up, the food has arrived, and the Canvass your community’s businesses. and check the cost of maintenance. restrooms are open. Contact both small and large businesses. • Make sure enough tables and chairs • Provide attendees with employers’ are set up for employers and addresses, but not their phone • Walk door-to-door to check registration desk volunteers. There numbers, for follow-up queries. employers’ interest and hiring needs. should be one table for each employer • Send letters to employers inviting and his/her display and job A Job Fair in Battle Creek them to attend the fair. applications. • Follow up the letters with telephone • Have plenty of refreshments. See if Summer is the time for days at the calls to confirm attendance. local businesses will make donations beach, trips to Cedar Point, hanging out with friends at the mall, and getting a • Send thank-you letters to employers toward the refreshments that you will job so you can pay for all those things! who agree to participate. provide. In order to help young people from • Follow up the thank-you letters with • Have a registration desk or a sign-in Battle Creek connect with employers another phone call. sheet for attendees. with summer job openings, Yes we can! • Follow up with a reminder call as the • Be sure to have plenty of pencils or sponsored a job fair attended by over day draws near; confirm details. pens for job applications. 150 local youth. The event featured applications from area businesses, help • Send thank-you letters after the job with filling out applications, as well as fair and invite participants to any presentations from community future fairs. organizations such as STRIVE and the EmploymentGroup on opportunities with Media and Outreach their organizations. Job applications were available from 10 area employers and Develop a flyer that clearly displays the completed applications were delivered date, place, event, sponsors and an to those businesses the next day. explanation of the job fair. • Advertise through this flyer, public service announcements, and a news release you may create to give the media further details. • Try to get as many people as possible to hand out and post flyers around the community. The more the word gets around, the more people will be interested in attending. How to Hold a Neighborhood Job Fair

Local Resources Feel free to share this guide with friends and neighbors. STRIVE – is an employment and training Call 269-969-2228 for additional program that uses a “tough love” copies and for other guides on approach to help people develop both a variety of how-to topics. hard and soft skills needed to gain and maintain employment. STRIVE also provides training in resumé writing, interviewing, and other job search skills. Rose Miller 964-6762 EmploymentGroup – provides job placement and other employment services for Battle Creek Area employers. EmploymentGroup also accepts applicants for positions with many different local businesses and can hold a training session for a group of job fair attendees to help them with interviewing skills (dressing for success, job interviewing, job preparation, etc.). 979-4343

Holding a neighborhood job fair can make life better for your family, your neighbors, and your community.

© 1996 Citizens for NYC. Revised and reproduced with permission. “Holding A Jobs Fair” is one of a series of Tip Sheets in Citizens for NYC’s New York Self-Help Guide. For more information, go to www.citizensnyc.org or call 212-989-0909, ext. 320.

Yes we can! is a collaboration among Battle Creek residents and organizations working to help kids achieve in school and build a solid economic future for the people of our community. Yes we can! is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

For general questions about Yes we can!, call 269-969-2228 or visit www.wkkf.org/yeswecan. To apply for a mini-grant to support your neighborhood or community project in Battle Creek, call the Battle Creek Community Foundation at 269-962-2181.