Sardines is a game for kids, not job seekers

I recently went to a job fair hosted by a very well known online job site. I had very high expectations for this job fair. After my last experience with job fairs, how could this one be worse?

Well, here are just a few ways:

1. Only 10 employers were present. The website and e-mail registration response listed these employers and dutifully noted "and many more!"
2. Lack of direction. This job fair was hosted in a very big convention-center-like professional building. This places hosts weddings, conferences, and the city's visitor center. People in suits were wandering around in every corridor asking each other for directions.
3. Very low ROI. My return on investment was zilch. I spent $14.50 in transportation and parking fees to talk to one employer who advised me to look online for other jobs since he didn't know if his company was hiring for people with my expertise.
4. Sardines is a fun game, when you're 8. This is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this entire production.

When I was young, all the neighborhood kids would get together and play Sardines. This is basically a reverse hide-and-seek game. One person hides and everyone else counts to 100. As people find the hidden person, they hide together. The loser is the last person to find the hidden group. As you can imagine, towards the end of the game everyone looks like packed sardines in a tin can. This is a fun game, especially played outdoors at dusk, for KIDS.

The unemployed (current or future) do not enjoy being smushed together in small spaces like sardines. Rather we enjoy having the freedom to move our hands to scratch our faces or move our heads to look at the next employer that we plan to meet. Furthermore, we like to know that the host of the fair truly cares about us. One of the ways a host can show that they care is by maximizing the entire space of the conference hall.

If the conference hall is as big as a football field, it is OK to use the entire space; even if only 10 employers are present. In fact, I implore that the entire space be used. Unfortunately, the host of this job fair did not consult me. As a result, over 300 people were packed into a space the size of a Starbucks, while the rest of the hall remained completely empty.

Lines to get in to the hall trickled into the large corridor, no doubt disturbing the business meetings in the rest of the building. Once inside, it was a battle to find the right employer line to stand in. "Are you in line for Aflac or General Dynamics?" Some people were nice, but most were not. "Hey you, the line starts back there. No skipping."

Think about how edgy people are when they stand in line for a concert with general admission. Now add an extra layer of unemployment. Yeah...not pretty.

After standing in two lines for over 20 minutes, I talked to one employer for 3 minutes.

**Lesson learned: Logistics are everything.