State of Michigan to host virtual career fairs

LANSING —The State of Michigan, one of the first states in the nation to bring job seekers and employers together in an interactive virtual environment, has scheduled two new dates for MiVirtualCareerFair in 2012.

The first MiVirtualCareerFair event on July 25 will feature a variety of business services occupations including marketing and communications, logistics, accounting and finance, legal services, human resources, management and more. The second, scheduled for September 26, 2012, is a general career fair open to any Michigan industry or economic sector.

“Many Michigan businesses have an urgent need for top talent,” said Amy Cell, Senior Vice President for Talent Enhancement at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). “MiVirtualCareerFair events allow individuals from anywhere in the country to connect with Michigan employers, and provide busy business professionals an easy, cost-effective way to review dozens of talented job seekers without ever leaving the office.”

MiVirtualCareerFair is aimed at finding specialized, hard-to-find talent for Michigan companies, and provides a live, interactive platform to review and recruit skilled professionals from anywhere in the world within a 3-D virtual environment. The next two MiVirtualCareerFair events will be live online Wednesday, July 25 and Wednesday, September 26 from 10 am to 4 pm each day.

The deadline for employers to reserve a booth at the July 25 event is July 9. Employers who reserve a booth for the July virtual career fair before June 30 will receive an early bird discount of $100 — 33 percent off the cost of a standard booth. In addition, employers who reserve a booth for both events now will receive a 50 percent discount on a standard booth for the September event. The deadline for employers to reserve a booth for July and receive the discount for a booth in September is Monday, July 9.

The first two MiVirtualCareerFair events attracted more than 2,300 job seekers and dozens of Michigan employers with hundreds of jobs to fill. The two upcoming MiVirtualCareerFair events provide an opportunity to:

Connect and interact with recruiters and candidates from wherever you are, avoiding the time and expense of traditional career fairs.
Upload position descriptions and submit resumes for multiple job listings.
Meet other job seekers and employers in the Networking Lounge.
View informational videos in the Auditorium.
Use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to search for connections and update your status from within the event.

At MiVirtualCareerFair events, employer representatives host exhibitor booths customized with logos, links to company profiles, job postings, employee benefits, and employer contact information. Post-event, employers will receive in-depth analytics including candidate resumes, applications, chat transcripts, and booth visit data. All job openings posted during the fair will be accessible to participants for 30 days after the live event.

Employers can access information about registration for one or both of the upcoming career fairs, view a demo video of the online environment and access a list of exhibitor rates and benefits. Participation is free for job seekers, who can register, view informational videos on the virtual environment.

“We are committed to finding and utilizing the best, cutting-edge tools and techniques to help Michigan businesses overcome their talent challenges,” said Amy Cell. “MiVirtualCareerFair is a unique way to help deliver talented job seekers right to an employer’s doorstep from anywhere in the world.”

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