Dept. of Sneaky Stuff

I was excited to learn that Good Morning America was bringing a special job fair to South Florida. The traveling event promises to help those out of work get back on a payroll. This sounded like good news as the Florida economy has been very troubled in recent months and many employers are laying off staff.

But to my surprise I learned about the hours of the event: 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Three hours hardly seems to be enough when you consider the amount of people who will likely attend. Also, many of them will have to fight heavy rush hour traffic to get there. Most other job fairs are for a good chunk of the day. You want people to have time to chat with perspective employers and not throw a resume at them in a rush to get to the next booth.

Then I realized there may be other motives for the short time frame. Good Morning America is on from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. By limiting the hours of the job fair, the program is assured of having big crowds in the background for its live reports. If I'm right, then this is a pity as it's more important to help people than it is to make it look like you're helping.

The Wall Street Journal has taken a much better approach to job fairs. It has held several that are totally virtual. To attend you log in through your computer. You have the ability to take part in a live chat session with employers, research open positions, and submit resumes. While this approach may not get the newspaper a ton of publicity, it's a much better model for the job seeker.