As we talk with our partners about their events, one thing keeps coming up: “We’ve decided to keep them virtual, at least until the end of the year. You know, some guests may not be able to come, we don’t know what’s going to happen yet.” Rightly so, virtual events have undoubtedly become the safest choice. Not just in terms of health precautions but out of fear of the unexpected. We’ve learned that in order to secure our businesses, it’s better to go to the virtual sphere and stay there. The question is – will we, or should we, stay there forever?
Keeping it remote
Let’s imagine we are all vaccinated, Covid-free and got a green light for a career event. Would you go? We’re facing the same issue as going back to the office. Given that 72% of workers would like to keep working remotely, chances are that a similar percentage of companies, schools and talent would rather opt for a “remote” career event. It’s not just about staying in the comfort of your own home or wherever you want to be – it’s because we’ve seen the perks.
No more… and the perks of staying virtual
When it comes to career events, the virtual option has become much more appealing for both organizers and attendees. No more running from one end of the building to the other to catch that opportunity to talk to a recruiter, career services or talent. No more awkward, hunched down crawling out of the conference room half-way through a presentation to go to another meeting. No more queuing in lines and wasting valuable time. Those days are gone.
From the business point of view, however, it’s much more than the mere case of mirroring career events without the burden of physical inconveniences. Virtual career events are an easier, more efficient and effective way of connecting, for everyone involved. By now we’ve had enough time to find the best technical solutions to carry them out and enhance user experience, to make it simple yet satisfying for all parties.
One platform to rule them all – no third party
For employers as well as schools, this means they can now carry out all of their recruitment and careers initiatives on one platform, without the need of using third party systems. During a virtual event, talent can navigate between webinars, live chats and job postings. There are plenty of other perks that help them get from point A to B quickly – from preparing for an interview, through reaching a recruiter and applying for a job, right there on the spot. For companies and institutions, it’s a much easier and faster way to not only run an event but to achieve their goals.
Cracking the numbers
Of course, there are the obvious advantages the virtual sphere allows to utilize. No geographical borders and ability to connect globally is one of them, and a crucial one to say the least. Looking for international talent or opportunities abroad would not have been possible to do on such a big scale if we hadn’t gone virtual.
But let’s take a look at the computerization of career events. With physical events, we wouldn’t have even imagined the information we can access to enhance our recruitment or career services strategies. It is outstandingly simple to retrieve live data and insights. Recruiters and career services can access instant reports on all sorts of information – from the number of participants, to the most popular job postings or webinars, nationalities or graduation date of the most engaged participants, and more. Cracking the numbers to truly get the most out of organizing an event has never been this easy.
So… would you go the conventional way?
The idea of career events being held virtually, has grown onto companies, schools and talent, alike. We miss concerts, comedy shows and dinner parties – things we used to do for fun. That’s not equally true for events with business or career agenda behind them. Sure, we all miss the awkward laughs from the audience during a presentation. We miss the goodies and the catering. We can still network to the best of our ability, but extroverts may not be truly satisfied.
But let’s think about how much more we can achieve. We can use integrated one-platform systems that are easier to use than ever before, and more efficient than physical events ever were. We can bring recruitment and career services to the next level. We can connect with global talent, international companies and multilingual schools. Isn’t it just more rewarding to be able to accomplish so much during just one event?
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