Research Proposal - Career Fair Effectiveness

Jake Ursetta

WRTG 3030: Writing/Science and Society, University of Colorado, Boulder

Due Date: March 8, 2018

The purpose of this paper is to propose a research method in order to identify how

effective the student career fairs held at the University of Colorado, Boulder are for stu-

dents pursuing an internship or entry level position. The proposal outlines and identifies

the problem that has arisen with the lack of data and resources available to answer this

question. Additionally, the proposal addresses the need to answer this question in order to

accurately gauge if student attendance to a career fair is beneficial given the ample amount

of preparation and attendance time that is required. The proposal outlines the method of

research used as well as the type of metrics that will be used in order to gauge how closely

the career fair meets its goals of supplying job opportunities to students.

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 1. Introduction

Students at the University of Colorado, Boulder actively search for both internships as well as full time

job offers before and after graduation. For students searching for these positions, the University of Colorados

career fair is a common event which they attend. This event, taking place during the day in-between students

already busy schedules, usually involves professional dress, resume revision, and hours of lines in order to

speak with representatives for companies that students hope to work for. There are mixed feelings among

the student community and general population when it comes to this career fair. Some have been able to

find internships and full time positions. Yet, others believe that the career fair is unhelpful in their job

search. With such mixed feelings on this event, a natural question arises. How effective is the career fair at

finding students either an internship or a full time position? Is the career fair a success in bringing students

employment opportunities, or does it fail students in their pursuit of a career?

2. Hypothesis

The current assumption for the results of this research will be that the career fairs offered at the Univer-

sity of Colorado offer students an insignificant advantage to locate job opportunities. The lack of student

enthusiasm and the fact that many students primarily apply online to companies is a good indication that

the career fair does not offer sufficient enough opportunity and does not serve as an effective platform for

students to find positions in the work force.

3. Motivation

The Career Fair is a well known and well attended event at the University of Colorado, Boulder. A

study published on ere.net on career fair participation found that ”84 percent of respondents stated the

type of events they participate in most are university career fairs.” Dessain [10]. The event directly impacts

thousands of students and takes hours out of their day not only for attendance but for preparation. Its

important that students understand the significance of the career fair as well as its effectiveness in supplying

opportunity. Without this information, students are unable to make an informed decision about whether

they should attend or not. Additionally, this information could have the possibility of changing the opinion

of those who are in charge of running the career fair. If the general student population is discouraged by

the career fair and feels as though it is not well structured or does not give them ample job opportunity, the

members which organize the event may be able to improve upon it.

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 4. Background

The need for students to find a well paying job speaks for itself. But the number of students who

are employed after college or are working in their respected professional area are not too high. A study

published by the National Center for Education Statistics found that 86% of students with a college degree

were employed within 3 years of graduation. For those students with undergraduate degrees, that’s about

a 14% unemployment rate[11]. Keeping in mind the national unemployment rate as of January of 2018 is

4.1%[12]. These figures point to the fact that there is likely an issue in the ability to students to find jobs.

Another study conducted by a company known as GradStaff was cited by CNBC in one of the articles

”I dont know what to do with my major”. The article, published in 2016, states that GradStaff found that

nearly 70 percent of their respondents were either unemployed or working in non-professional positions. Of

the 30% with professional jobs, 20% were looking to change to a new job. Interestingly enough, over 35% of

the respondents also said they had never stepped food into a carer services office[13]. The survey seems to

point to the fact that students lack resources or the knowledge that their exists resources to help them.

Information of career fair effectiveness is almost non-existent. There have been studies done in order

to measure attendance as well as companies financial allocation to events. A study published on ere.net

found that over 45% of companies have decreased their career fair related budget, while less than 20% has

increased it. Dessain [10] While this metric supplies a good indication that companies are devaluing career

fairs, it does not explicitly show how effective the career fair is.

Some articles online convey personal opinion or give reasons to motivate people to attend career fairs.

One article explaining someones personal opinion on job fairs states that ”Companies go to job fairs because

HR clearly has nothing better to spend its money on.” Corcodilos [8]. Additionally, the reasons supplied by

websites for motivation are rather unconvincing. The website Jobmob published an article which provides

25 reason to attend, giving their audience advice such as ”Getting out of the house” Share [7], ”Get free

stuff from company representatives” Share [7], or ”Get inspired” Share [7].

The University of Colorado, Boulder offers different types of career fairs throughout the year. Each career

fair is specifically designed to cater to different students and different disciplines. The following outlines the

options which are available to students.

Mountain Sports Networking Night

An event focused on networking for individuals who are interested in mountain/outdoor sports as well as

the tourism and recreation industry in Colorado. [1]

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Health Professions Expo

The main career fair for individual interested in pursuing a career in health. This includes professions in

areas such as public health, nutrition, sports medicine, physical therapy, and many position which require

students to attend medical school. Companies involved in pharmaceuticals, research in medicine, or public

health outreach programs attend this career fair. [1]

Technology Fair

This career fair is specifically for students looking for job opportunities in the tech industry. The main target

market for this event is students currently in the arts and sciences or applied sciences majors. Companies

looking to hire engineers or other types of technicians are generally in attendance. [2]

Impact Fair

The impact fair is directed towards students who are searching for positions in volunteer work, public

outreach, or other non-profit organizations. The fair is for general humanitarian efforts such as the Peace

Corps. [4]

Just in Time Fair

The Just in Time Fair is a more general career fair aiming to find students a last minute offer before they

graduate. This career fair is placed close to graduation and is primarily for seniors or graduate students who

are hoping to land a full-time position as soon as possible.[1]

The University of Colorado, Boulder also offers some career fairs through specific majors such as business

[3] or different disciplines within engineering. From the list above, it is apparent that students in a specific

discipline are likely to only attend one or two career fairs within a given school year.

In addition to the career fair events held at the University of Colorado, Boulder, students are also

supplied information and helpful tips and tricks in order to successfully navigate the big event.[5] These tips

include dress code, items and information to have readily available, as well as the best way to approach

company representatives. The website also provides a list of helpful topics to discuss and how to interact

with businesses after you have spoken with a representative.

5. Knowledge Gap

While the University of Colorado gives students and the public information regarding how to succeed

at the career fair, they do not supply students with information which shows how effective the career is at

offering students job opportunity. There is no information which indicates that companies at the career fair

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actively hire students, or if the career fair is successful in accomplishing its goal. Metrics which measure

how well the career fairs have not been obtained and as a result, students are unsure at just how effective

career fairs will be for them. To fill this gap in knowledge, research will be required in order to measure the

amount of students who attend career fairs, as well as who has been able to obtain internships or full time

positions at career fairs.

6. Proposed Research

The goal of the primary research will be to obtain data which can accurately measure how effective career

fairs are for students at the University of Colorado, Boulder. The research will be divided into two separate

surveys which can be administered to students both in person, as well as online. The surveys will include

the following questions in order to obtain data which will accurately represent a students background and

ensure that other factors are not skewing data.

Year of Study

This question will help give the data context for which year of school gives students the best chance at being

offered either an internship or a full time job offer.

Major

The question of a students declared major will help give an indication on if there is a specific major or type

of discipline that benefits more or less than average at the career fair.

GPA

Collecting information on GPA will allow the study to investigate whether or not GPA gives students an

advantage at the career fair and if it gives students a different perception on the effectiveness of the career

fair.

Preparation time for career fairs

Preparation time will be researched in order to determine if the preparation time before attending a career

fair has an impact on the students success in obtaining an offer.

Name of Career Fairs attended

This question will serve the primary purpose of the survey, to determine how many and what type of career

fairs that students have attended

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Offers received at above career fairs

This question will work in conjunction with the proceeding questions to determine the total percentage of

the student population that has received an offer from the career fair. It will be the primary metric on the

effectiveness of the career fair.

General opinion

The general opinion question will allow students to voice their personal opinion of the career fairs in order

to supply data which will indicate the overall feeling towards the career fair and how effective students find

it.

The above questions will be placed in a survey which is given to students at the University of Colorado,

Boulder. The survey will be given to all ranges of age, majors, and years in school. The survey will first be

administered as an online voluntary survey which is posted to each Facebook class page at the university.

If additional information is needed, surveys can be administered in person via tabling on campus in the

University Memorial Center. The data will then be compiled and graphed in order to measure the following

metrics.

Total career fairs attended from sample group in percent

This metric will serve as a baseline for the amount of students who actively attend the career fair throughout

the year.

Percentage of Job offers given to all of those who attend

This metric will give the primary data for the question presented in this proposal. How many students are

offered internships or full time position from the career fair. This will give an accurate gauge on how effective

the career fair is at presenting students with job opportunities.

Histogram data for the Year, Major, GPA, and Preparation Time of each student who received an offer

This metric will give insight into trends that may make students more or less competitive at the career fair.

7. Ethical Implications

The study is not expected to have any ethical implications which would hurt students or those admin-

istering the test. The survey is completely anonymous, voluntary, and does not have to be finished once

started. The metrics itself should only serve to aid students in their decision to attend the career fair, and

give members who organize the career fair insight into its effectiveness. It is possible that if the career fair

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is found to be ineffective, it may deter students from attending career fairs in the future. While this conflict

may hurt the university’s public opinion with businesses that attend, it will give the university an incentive

to improve the program in order to help students find job opportunities and more effectively allocate the

money spent on the program.

8. Proposed Schedule

Research will consist of a total of 5 weeks starting March 19, 2018 and ending April 20, 2018. The research

will be divided into 5 phases. These phases will consist of the survey creation, Online Survey Collection,

In-Person/Tabling Collection, Data Review, and finally Data Processing. The following gives more detail on

each phase previously mentioned.

Survey Creation

This phase will include creating and revising the survey in order to ensure that the questions placed on it

are unbiased and will yield accurate results.

Online Survey Collection

This phase will be used to deploy the previously created survey onto an online survey collection website.

The survey will then be posted onto class pages of students at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

In-Person/Tabling Collection

This phase will involve In-Person and Tabling events on campus with paper version of the surveys to collect

additional information and reach wider audiences.

Data Review

This phase will review the data collected to insure it appears accurate. This will be a quality assurance type

phase before processing the data.

Data Processing

The final processing phase will take the data and compute results as well as create graphs in order to visually

represent the metrics and their results.

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The following Gantt chart outlines the progression of each phase by date.

Figure 1: Research Schedule

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 Bibliography

[1] Fall Career Fairs, Career Services Available: https://www.colorado.edu/career/events-programs/career-

fairs/fall-career-fairs.

[2] 6 ways to make the most of the Technology Career Fair, CU Boulder Today Available:

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2018/02/01/6-ways-make-most-technology-career-fair.

[3] Impact Job Fair for CSR-focused students, Leeds School of Business Available:

https://www.colorado.edu/business/CESR/cesr-blog/2017/03/01/impact-job-fair-csr-focused-students.

[4] https://www.colorado.edu/career/sites/default/files/attached-files/career fair networking quick

tips august 4th.pdf

[5] Career Fairs, Career Services Available: https://www.colorado.edu/career/events-fairs-programs/career-

fairs.

[6] Share, J., 25 Reasons Job Fairs Are Not a Ridiculous Waste of Time, JobMob Available:

https://jobmob.co.il/blog/job-fairs-reasons-to-go/.

[7] Corcodilos, N., The Truth About Job Fairs, Ask The Headhunter Available:

https://www.asktheheadhunter.com/10112/job-fairs.

[8] Should You Recruit at Job Fairs?, ZipRecruiter Available:

https://www.ziprecruiter.com/blog/should-you-recruit-at-job-fairs/.

[9] Smith, J., 4 Reasons Why Job Fairs Aren’t A Total Waste For Companies, Business Insider Available:

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-employers-can-benefit-from-job-fairs-2014-3.

[10] Dessain, N., Why Career Fairs Need a Makeover, ERE Media Available: https://www.ere.net/why-

career-fairs-need-a-makeover/.

[11]LaBombard, R. J., ’I don’t know what to do with my major’ and other reasons college grads can’t find

jobs, CNBC Available: https://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/15/why-college-grads-cant-find-jobs-commentary.html.

[12]Bureau of Labor Statistics Data, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Available: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS140000

[13]The NCES Fast Facts Tool provides quick answers to many education questions (National Center for

Education Statistics), Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary Education: School

Year 2001-2002, E.D. Tab Available: https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=561.

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