Planning and Organisation Practice Activity

Planning a Jobs Fair Scenario

According to CIPDA (15 November 2021), 47% of employers have vacancies that they are finding hard to fill, and 27% expect the number of hard-to-fill vacancies to increase in the next six months. A jobs fair is an increasingly popular way for employers to fill job vacancies. Usually, jobs fairs are held over the course of a day in large indoor spaces. Employers set up stands and talk to potential recruits. If an employer is impressed, they may invite the potential recruit to an interview or offer them a job there and then!

Jobs fairs take a lot of planning and organising; you need to manage the people attending, which means getting the logistics right and ensuring clear communication. There are also important health and safety considerations, along with key organisational tasks such as deciding upon and then keeping track of who has been invited and who is attending, as well as bringing along any equipment employers may need. It is also important to capture feedback from everyone who attends to determine whether the event was a success and how it can be improved to navigate future events.

You are invited to plan a jobs fair for your school – this could be for pupils from year 11 up to year 13, or for your college.

Testing Specific Skills

1.4 – Schedule activities and tasks.

1.5 – Select and utilise appropriate project management techniques and/or tools.

Tasks 1 and 2

Task 2

1.6 – Define priorities and success criteria. Task 3

Tasks

1. Organising a successful jobs fair requires attention to detail, creativity, and strategic planning. There are many decisions that will need to be made:

• Date/time

• Venue/location

• Marketing

• Equipment

• Catering

• Staffing

You may wish to gather research by collaborating with other students to help you determine a list of all the activities and tasks that will need to be completed before and on the day of the jobs fair. Don’t forget to include essentials such as carrying out a risk assessment, setting up tables for the employers and providing name badges.

2. Using project management tools/techniques, create a project plan that clearly prioritises and schedules your activities and tasks that will support the project being completed.

What project management tools/techniques could I use?

3. To determine whether your jobs fair is a success, come up with three key performance indicators that you hope to achieve from running a jobs fair. Create a way to measure whether your jobs fair has achieved its key performance indicators.

What are key performance indicators?