The student recruitment fair was organized twice in 2022. In January, we were looking for the right summer job, and in September the theme of the fair was part-time work. Both recruitment fairs, however, offered a wide range of different jobs for students in different stages of their studies. A total of over 100 employers and tens of thousands of students from all over Finland participated in the recruitment fair.
Tuudo’s digital recruitment event was launched in January 2021. Physical recruitment events are organized annually on almost all educational campuses in Finland. However, due to the corona pandemic, large public events had to be cancelled, which is where the idea to organize a digital event on Tuudo app was born.
The first event pilot was a great success, so the next recruitment fair was organized already next autumn with the theme of part-time work. Since then, we have developed the recruitment fair concept further and the event has grown steadily both in terms of recruiting employers and fair visitors. Sari Mattila from the City of Oulu feels that events like this are needed in the future as well: “Digital recruitment fairs are a permanent part of the modern age, which you have made good use of, taking into account employers and job seekers/students.”
Tuudo’s digital recruitment fair has received praise from employers for its ease. Recruitment expert of Espoo city, Tuomas Liikola, especially praises how easy it is to participate in the fair. Sari Mattila from Oulu city is on the same lines in terms of ease and unobstructed implementation. HR and financial management expert of Oma Säästöpankki, Maria Tersa, on the other hand praises Tuudo’s contact persons for the good service and clear instructions regarding the fair.
With Tuudo, employers can increase their visibility nationwide and reach new students. Riikka Fagerström from Eaton mentions that they took part in the Tuudo recruitment fair specifically to increase employer image and recognition among new students. Katriina Kukkonen from Ramboll is particularly pleased that Tuudo is a channel that covers almost all of Finland.
We also asked students for feedback on the recruitment fair, and we received praise especially for the layout of the fair view and ease of use: “It was well done and clear! The dating app-like feature was a lot of fun.” “Easy, fast and simple to use.”
In addition, through Tuudo it was easy to get to know the workplaces in more detail and approach employers: “I got information about different workplaces in one place and was able to contact them easily.” “I think this was a very timely way to approach employers.”
January fair focused on finding a summer job
The first recruitment fair of 2022 was organized on January 17–23 with a summer work theme. This fair was the third recruitment fair hosted by Tuudo.
The recruitment fair was implemented in cooperation with Oikotie and the Responsible Summer Job campaign. A total of 80 employers and almost 20,000 fair visitors participated in the event, which is a significant increase compared to the previous year. So overall, this was one of the largest individual recruitment events in Finland.
During the recruitment fair, students were able to swipe employers and jobs right and left according to their interest like a dating app. Jobs swiped to the right are saved in the My selections section, where they can be easily browsed later. At January’s recruitment fair, participants swiped jobs and employer profiles almost 70% more per day than in January 2021, a total of 340,000 times.
During the fair, students were able to get to know interesting employers in more detail via chat or by making an appointment for a 15-minute quick interview, the so-called speed dates. Chat and speed dates give fair visitors the opportunity to connect with interesting employers quickly and easily just like in physically organized recruitment events. In addition, a working life webinar was again organized at the fair, where speeches from dozens of employers were heard over the course of four days. You could listen to the webinar either live or afterwards as a recording.
In the autumn, we continued with part-time work
The second fair of the year was held in September 13-16 with the theme of part-time work. Also at this recruitment fair, a significant increase in both employers and visitors was noticeable compared to the previous year’s autumn fair. A total of 63 employers participated in the recruitment fair, which is more than 30% more than in September 2021. The event gathered more than 18,000 fair visitors, which means almost a 50% increase compared to last year.
This year, we wanted to make swiping more efficient and user-friendly, so we enhanced the filtering of jobs and company profiles. This way, fair visitors swiped even more relevant jobs and employer profiles. Users swiped actively and almost 200,000 swipes were made during the fair.
A two-day working life webinar was organized at the recruitment fair, where we heard more than dozen employer representatives. In addition, chat and speed dating features were once again available at the fair. These features were first used in the autumn of 2021. Oma Säästöpankki’s Maria Tersa felt that chat was an easy-to-use and quick channel to get in direct contact with students.
Employers can decide for themselves whether they will use chat or speed dates during the fair. They are also free to define the opening hours of the chat to suit their own schedule. At the autumn recruitment fair, 29 employers offered the possibility to chat, and speed date times could be booked from 20 employers.
Are you looking for summer employees? Tuudo recruitment fair will be held again in January, 16.-22.1.2023. Book your place!