Careers Fairs 2012 Analysis

Posted by Daniel Purchas

AAGE Careers Fairs 2012 Wrap Up Analysis

The AAGE have recently released their extensively researched spreadsheet with all of the data on attendance numbers at the careers fairs around the country this year in March. The spreadsheet outlines every careers fair that was held and which employers went to each fair around the country, get in touch with the AAGE team if you haven't received a copy.

High level stats

  • There were 42 on campus careers fairs in the survey data
  • 711 individual organisations attended at least 1 careers fair in 2012. Of the 711 organisations, 260 of these organisations only attended a single fair.
  • The total number of individual careers fair bookings for 2012 was 2,731 which was up from 2011's figure of 2,542.
  • The number of organisations in 2012 (711) was higher than 2011 by 7.44% when only 625 organisations exhibited at careers fairs.
  • The average number of careers fairs attended by each organisation was 3.8 fairs, down slightly from 2011's average of 4.06.
  • This is an approximate figure but by rough calculations it looks like the total amount invested by organisations to attend careers fairs in 2012 was $2.8 million.

Top 5 Fairs and Employer Attendees

The top 5 careers fairs in terms of number of attending exhibitors were as follows:

  • UNSW - 139 exhibitors
  • University of Melbourne - 137 exhibitors
  • University of Queensland - 135 exhibitors
  • Monash University - 130 exhibitors
  • Curtin University  - 124 exhibitors

No real surprises there in the top 5 careers fairs, it was a close race among the top 3 fairs.

For the employers who attended the most fairs in 2012, here is the top 5:

  • Defence Force Recruiting - 37 fairs attended
  • ATO - 36 fairs attended
  • Ernst & Young - 32 fairs attended
  • KPMG - 30 fairs attended
  • Deloitte - 28 Fairs attended

Again the trend here is definitely for the employers with the largest number of graduates to recruit are attending the most careers fairs in general.

Trends for 2012

The Big Meets: With the Big Meet now being held in Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth for the first time which is a definitely becoming a popular option with employers being able to cover the whole of country geographically with a single booking.

More competition for graduates: with the increase in numbers of organisations attending careers fairs for the 4th year in a row there is definitely a trend that the market is becoming more competitive for graduate and intern hires with a lot more first timers entering the market or scaling up their promotion to graduates.

Too many options for graduates? Due to the increase in competition, graduates feel they need to apply to more positions. Another symptom of the competitive nature of the market this year that we have seen is the increase in numbers of employer opening their applications in February compared to the 2011 season as well.

Careers Fair Schedule 2013

What better way to wrap up then to look to 2013. The draft schedule for the 2013 careers fairs is available to view now on the AAGE website

Let us know what fairs you thought were good this year and we'll no doubt see you out on campus again in 2013.


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