insights 6 Top Tips on how to prepare for a virtual career fair

My name is Abi, and I work in Talent Attraction at AtkinsRéalis in the UK. So, why a virtual career fair? Well, we know that job seekers have busy, full lives. And we wanted to create a hassle free and inclusive way for you to meet our team and talk job possibilities.

A great way to meet us

Attending and chatting online to our team is a great way for you to find out a little more about us and for us to find out a little more about you. So whether you’re new to virtual career fairs, or would just like to know what to expect – here are 6 ways to get the most out of our online job fair:

How virtual career fairs work

Just like one of our traditional career fairs, it’s a very informal drop-in event – an opportunity for us to ‘meet’ each other and for you to talk to some of our managers and/or recruiters. The only difference is that we’ll be hosting it digitally. The virtual environment will look like a real-life career fair, complete with booths with information on the teams we are recruiting for across that business area. So you’ll be able to interact with us through chat, videos, career stories and a live webinar.

1. Think about the device you plan to use

Make sure your device can support you. Our hiring managers might want to have a video call. So it’s better to have a device with a camera. If you can’t attend from a quiet, private location, have headphones at the ready. If you don't have a camera, or can’t take calls, no problem. You can use our chat functionality, which is also supported on mobiles. Other than an internet connection, you won’t need any special software or equipment to take part, just log-on via your browser.

2. Decide if this virtual career fair is right for you

We host a range of virtual careers fairs throughout the year and each one focuses on a particular area of our business or a particular discipline or job type. At each fair we’re particularly interested in meeting people who align to the sectors and disciplines for that careers fair. So please read the event information thoroughly to check its right for you and matches your interests. If you’re looking for a career outside of the careers fairs’ focus you can keep an eye out for future events being advertised, and also take a look at our careers site to see all our current live vacancies and register for job alerts.

3. Do some research on AtkinsRéalis

After registering, explore our website to find out about our projects and culture. Think about the top questions you would like to ask us, the positions that you’re most interested in, and where you’d like your career with us to take you.

4. Register early

To help us plan appropriately, register well ahead of time.

Once you’ve registered, you’ll get an email with the login details. You’ll receive a reminder to attend a week before, and the day before. All you’ll need to do on the day is log in at a time that suits you, between the hours the event is listed to be live, and start interacting with our hiring managers in the booths. You’ll be able to dip in and out of the virtual fair around your work and life commitments.

5. Preparing for video chat

Once a hiring manager starts a chat with you, the ball is in your court. Be ready to introduce yourself and ask any questions about us and our open positions. Our virtual fair and office vibe is smart-casual.

6. What to do if you can’t make it on the day!

If you can’t make it on the day you can search and apply directly to any of our open roles here. If you have any questions around our future careers fairs, send us an email to recruitment@atkinsrealis.com You can also sign up to our Talent Community to be contacted about relevant opportunities for you, and to receive periodic emails about life inside AtkinsRéalis.

Good luck and we look forward to meeting you!