How to Host a Virtual Diversity Hiring Fair

Want to expand your employee base globally and capture a wider candidate pool? A virtual diversity hiring fair is a great idea. It will not only widen your hiring net, but also build your employer brand and improve your company performance. This is because diversity helps you understand customer pain points from different perspectives. Let’s see what a virtual diversity hiring fair is and why you should be hosting one. 

What is a Virtual Diversity Hiring Fair?

A virtual diversity hiring fair is an event where you actively involve job seekers from different backgrounds and abilities. These differences include race, gender, class, sexuality, and geography. What makes these events diverse is that you’re actively looking for candidates from these groups specifically. This removes the hiring obstacles and biases against these groups. A diverse workplace cultivates a vibrant and high-performing workforce. 

Therefore, a diversity hiring fair is inclusive and it offers opportunities for often-ignored people. If you host such an event, you not only get to grow your company with the right kind of talent, but also get to support diversity and inclusion recruitment initiatives. It is a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Keep scrolling as we go through all the amazing benefits that you reap from hosting a virtual diversity hiring fair. 

Why Should You Host a Virtual Diversity Hiring Fair?

There are numerous reasons why you should host a virtual diversity fair. After all, if you have employees from different backgrounds, you are more in tune with what different audiences want. Then, you can develop your products and services to cater to a wider audience. This will expand your customer base, and diversify your revenue streams. There are also a number of other benefits you can enjoy. 

You Can Expand Your Talent Pool

Widen your hiring net with your event. When you host a diversity fair virtually, you can target the groups you want in a more specific manner. So, you have access to a large  pool of candidates. As long as you target the right sources, you’re sure to find the best people to fill your vacancies. 

So, you need to explicitly mention you’re hiring from underrepresented groups. This way, you can get more populations from these categories at your event. In addition, a specifically targeted diversity hiring fair ensures that these groups are not competing with others who have traditionally beat them out for similar roles. 

You Get Different Perspectives

A diverse employee base means that you won’t be stuck in an echo chamber. If you only hire people who are similar to you, you’ll be stuck in a rut. Different people bring different experiences and a diverse point of view with them. This way, you can get a wider perspective about the world and create products and services.  

You Can Tailor Your Event for Specific Needs

When you’re trying to diversify your workplace, you need to accommodate everyone’s needs. This should be a no-brainer for any event, but a diversity hiring fair should particularly be more inclusive. 

So, you can tailor your event for a wide range of specific needs. For example, if you’re hiring people from minority groups, they may prefer communication in different forms or languages. This fair will let you offer the relevant support for these needs. So, they’ll be able to get the information they need in a format more legible for them. 

This will improve your company culture immensely. Not only will you have a positive workplace, but you also get a chance to do your part in making the world a more inclusive place. If you hire inclusively, you’ll get a fresh breath of air, and everyone will learn from each other. 

How Can You Host a Virtual Diversity Hiring Fair?

There are a few simple steps you can follow to host your own virtual diversity hiring fair. These will help you host the best diversity career event possible. 

1. Set Your Budget

Create a budget, and decide how much you can spend on your virtual event. Also factor in event marketing costs in this budget. Make sure you share this budget with the relevant team members to stay on the same page. 

2. Decide Your Goals

Choose the sources you want to target and figure out your goals. Quantify your goals and define who you want to target with your event. Then, write these goals down, and plan the event around them. 

3. Identify Your Target Audience

Make sure you know who you’re targeting with your event. You don’t want to simply have this event as a checked box or afterthought. Instead, put thought into who you’re reaching out to and plan your event features accordingly. For example, if there are people with vision impairment in your target audience, then you’ll obviously go for options like text-to-speech, color contrast, and large text. 

4. Figure Out Your Messaging

When you’re hosting a diversity hiring fair, you need to get your messaging right. Your messaging should be very intentional and your hiring goals should be clear. So, from the words used to the visual representation at the event, you need to stick to a theme. Your marketing materials should also reflect this message of diversity and inclusivity. Thus, you should also reach out and look up organizations which support your target audience. 

5. Create an Agenda

Create an event agenda. This must include any webinar sessions and talks you’re hosting. Gamification and allowances for networking are crucial elements of the event that must be accounted for in the agenda. Once this agenda is confirmed, you can start putting your fair together. 

6. Find the Right Platform

Next up is finding the right platform for your event. Choose one which not only makes things convenient for you, but also offers excellent customer support. See what features you need to accommodate your audience, and make sure the event hosting platform has them. You should also consider whether the platform you choose is compatible with the event’s values. So, ensure that it has a diverse employee base as well. 

7. Choose Your Event Features

This is where you’ll choose the features you want at your event. Talk to your event provider, and see what features work best for your needs. Of course, candidate profile search, matchmaking, meeting schedulers, and chat features are no-brainers. The same goes for accessibility features. You can also add numerous others for a great event experience. Custom avatars are a great way to reflect the diverse nature of your event. 

8. Invite Your Attendees

Once you have things planned out, invite your attendees. Approach various sources like diverse colleges, inclusive career agencies, and youth talent organizations. You can also look at hiring websites which specifically deal with different minority groups. This will help you get the talent pool you want. 

9. Market Your Event 

Now, you can move on to event marketing. You need to get the word out about your diversity hiring fair through multiple avenues. Of course, an email campaign is one of the first steps to take. You should also make use of your social media pages and regularly post updates and reminders about the event. 

10. Consider Hosting Options

You have numerous options for how long you want your event to be up. Whether you want to set it up for multiple days, or want a one-day event, it’s up to you. You can also leave it up for a while after the event days for people to access later. 

In addition, you can attract visitors with notifications and welcome videos. Furthermore, interact with your attendees through chat, virtual booths, and webinars. 

11. Gather Data Insights

When the event is over, you can get data insights into the whole thing. You can see which groups showed the most interest and how many interviews took place. In addition, you can even calculate how successful your diversity career event turned out to be. You can also track individual user journeys, chats initiated, documents downloaded, and sessions attended. Then, you can derive insights out of these metrics. These insights will be valuable for your hiring procedures and future marketing efforts. 

We’ve sorted how to host a virtual diversity fair. Now let’s see what features can help your event stand out. The features you use to bring your event together will help decide if your event was memorable or not. We’ve put together a list of features that allow you to stand out. Keep scrolling… there’s more to come! 

What Features Work Best for a Virtual Diversity Hiring Fair?

Now  is the time to  iron out all the finer details. One of the most important things you need to do is figure out what features you should include. Here’s a list to start you off with. 

1. Virtual Venue

A 3D environment, with interactive features and  custom avatars is the perfect platform to welcome your candidates. These avatars should reflect the groups you’re hiring within the event. You can choose from a wide variety of designs for your booths, lobby, auditorium, and exhibit hall. 

2. Interactive Exhibit Booths

Assign different booths to various departments in the exhibit hall, and make sure candidates can easily navigate through them. They can also find the one for them using other features. You can customize the booths according to branding requirements and client demands. Furthermore, exhibitors can upload documents, brochures, and other resources they deem fit. They can also link out to their social media and landing pages. Visitors can even engage in one-on-one or group chats at these booths. 

3. Candidate Screening

Have your attendees fill a form with their details at registration for profile search capabilities. They should upload their resumes as well. Then, use these details to create an inventory which your hiring teams can use to find the right candidates for various positions through specific filters and keywords. Furthermore, let your candidates apply for open positions and upload any supporting documents. You can also use audio or video chat to screen or interview potential candidates. In addition, both sides can make notes, add tags, and view each other’s profiles while chatting. Once you’ve shortlisted a candidate, download chat logs, notes, and transcripts. 

4. Content

Your virtual diversity hiring fair definitely needs some content. Start off with a welcome video to greet your attendees. You should also host webinars, whether they’re live, semi-live, or pre-recorded. Furthermore, you can upload documents and videos to the resources vault for visitors to download later and fill their swag bags. Keep your event up for a while even after it’s over with on-demand hosting. 

5. Engagement

Promote attendee engagement with live polls and Q&A sessions. In addition, you should also enable in-event alerts and notifications for visitors. Also let visitors network via chat and matchmaking tools. Furthermore, make the experience enjoyable for candidates with various gamification features and prizes. 

6. Accessibility

It goes without saying that your diversity career event should have accessibility features for job seekers. Add in color contrast, closed captioning, text-to-speech, and other such features. 

In addition, simply having the event virtually makes it easier for people with disabilities to attend. So, include as many accessibility features as possible to accommodate your diverse candidates.

Conclusion

To sum up, a virtual diversity hiring fair is a great way to expand your talent. It not only widens your employee base, but also lets you get a wider perspective on customer pain points. This way, you can work on inclusive and innovative products and services. Then, your business will be equipped to deal with more concerns and will also have more revenue streams. So, host your own diversity hiring event to reap all the benefits involved.