Job Searching is a Job

The News Hour with Jim Lehrer aired an interesting piece last night about unemployment and the state of the job market.

At the beginning of the piece, a woman noted "job searching is a job, but you don't get paid."  I have often said this.

There are some interesting nuggets in the video.  You can watch it here.

But my main question is, why does mainstream media keep covering job fairs?  Nearly every corporate recruiter I have talked to over the past 6-7 years has told me that they don't like job fairs.  The reason?  Time, costs, travel, and once back at the office, recruiters have to sift through a few hundred resumes just to find a handful that would meet their needs.  In other words, the model doesn't work anymore.

So mainstream media, I understand you get good visuals at job fairs.  You get happy job seekers... unhappy job seekers... long lines... good soundbites... but you are promoting  a dead strategy.

Instead, find some job seekers who are thinking "outside the box" and share those job search secrets with your audience.  At least FORTUNE Magazine understands.  They wrote a great piece a few months ago. 

Have any of you ever found a job through a job fair?  I want to hear all of the "yes's" and "no's" in the comments section below.