What is the usefulness of a job fair ?
Has the only thing that has ever happened to you at a job fair is being pointed to the company website and told to apply there?
Has the company or career counselors simply handed you a brochure about the company, and nobody there can talk about the company or a position, and won’t screen your resume. So what is the point of a job fair then?
Honestly I can understand your frustration with them. They are loud, crowded, overwhelming, and usually lead to nothing. But with that being said, I think they are really important because the teach you how to practice getting a job. There is no better skill than learning to sell yourself and job fairs are literally an opportunity for you to do that over and over again. As you go to more and more of them you will learn to get better at doing the 30 second pitch. You will also start learning how to prepare which is a really underrated part of job interviews. You will start learning the right things to say that will differentiate yourself from the masses. Eventually you will suddenly start surprising yourself that the company reps are interested in chatting with you longer than the normal 2 minutes. And eventually you will start landing interviews on the spot. To be clear, the percentages are still going to be really low but once you get “good” at job fairs then you should be able to land yourself an interview every once in a while. Usually it’s time better spent that blindly applying on the internet.