Even with All the Virtual Tools, We Still Need In-Person Events
Hiring Our Heroes Sport Expos are hosted in partnership with the NHL, NBA, and Major League Baseball at arenas across the United States. In this episode of the Sitrep podcast, Gary Soldato, Director of Sports and Entertainment Expos at Hiring Our Heroes, explains how hiring managers can maximize their expo experience and how job seekers can use this opportunity to potentially get a job offer at an expo.
Top Takeaways from Even with All the Virtual Tools, We Still Need In-Person Events:
1. Hiring Our Heroes’ events provide in-person opportunities for veterans and military spouses to make connections that may lead to job offers.
“Even with all the digital tools and virtual opportunities out there, nothing can replace face-to-face engagement.” – Gary Soldato, Director of Sports and Entertainment Expos at Hiring Our Heroes
2. Introduce yourself to other veterans and military spouses at the event.
“Sport expos are a great opportunity to not only get connected with a great sports organization and team and community, but also a lot of local employers and potentially even other veterans, service members, and military spouses.” – Andrea Hutchins, Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications at Hiring Our Heroes
3. National corporations, along with local companies, attend sport expos because they are looking to hire military talent at all levels within their organizations.
“We try to get a great mix and we try to encourage those companies to have open reqs at different levels as well so it’s not just individual contributors and not just senior level executives. It’s a cross section of all opportunities.” – Gary Soldato, Director of Sports and Entertainment Expos at Hiring Our Heroes
4. Hiring managers are vetting resumes from job candidates before meeting them at the sports arena.
“What we encourage is that when you register as a job seeker, you post your resume and then these employers can connect with you. Then you (the hiring manager) have already vetted or at least identified candidates prior to the hiring expo. There’s an opportunity, with that predictability, for it to be treated like a second or third interview … That’s when we see the really great reception for employers because they can make (job) offers on the spot. – Gary Soldato, Director of Sports and Entertainment Expos at Hiring Our Heroes
5. Job seekers who attend the daytime event receive two tickets to either a hockey, basketball, or baseball game that night.
“It’s really great because it’s an opportunity for these professional sports teams to connect and outreach their military community and it’s opportunity for Hiring Our Heroes to leverage the amplification of these great relationships.” – Gary Soldato, Director of Sports and Entertainment Expos at Hiring Our Heroes
