Woman Attending Job Fair Realizes None Of The Companies Are Hiring
"Just apply online."
StockLite | Shutterstock Job hunting is hard enough. Between sending resumes into the bottomless void of the internet and getting one response for every thousand applications (and then getting ghosted days later), it can be discouraging to say the least.
One woman looking for employment thought she might've found a glimmer of hope at her local job fair, but turned out to be seriously disappointed when she discovered that it wasn't quite what she thought it was. She took to TikTok to share her experience after attempting to be proactive in her job hunt, only to be faced with the reality that companies really aren't hiring and things are as bad as everyone keeps saying.
A woman attended a job fair where none of the businesses were actually hiring.
Liz Brown posted a video on TikTok describing her horrible experience at a job fair in Burbank, California. She said she was one of roughly 2,000 people who showed up with resumes in hand, only to find out that the businesses weren't accepting them.
Brown said that when she approached a representative at the table for the Burbank Library, she was told they were only there to answer questions about the library. When she asked if they were hiring, the woman said, "I don't know. Apply online."
She even revealed that the company that had just laid her off was there too, with about 100 people lined up to talk to them. Liz said they were telling people they couldn't leave a resume, and to "go online, it's all online."
Despite the experience being 'awful and demoralizing,' the woman was still proud of herself for trying.
Though the experience was terrible, Brown said she was staying positive and she'll continue putting herself out there. She also called for the city of Burbank to do better, because there are a lot of people like her in need of jobs who were likely very disappointed by this "job fair."
Commenters were angry for Brown, with many saying they missed the point entirely. One user wrote, "Did they think a job fair was just a field trip to go brag to unemployed people about how they have a job???" Some shared similar experiences, with another user saying, "I recently went to a PA commonwealth state job fair. Thousands of people showed up with business cards and resumes. We were all told to go online. Why did we waste our time?"
Others mentioned how ridiculous the situation was, and that having an in-person job fair is a waste of time if companies will only tell people to apply online. A third user joked, "This job fair could have been an email."
The fact is, the job market is not good, and the unemployed populace who has been shouting that sentiment for quite some time is finally getting acknowledged. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ preliminary annual benchmark review of employment data, as reported on by CNN, there were over 800,000 fewer job openings in March of 2025 than previously reported. Danny Court a senior economist with Scottsdale-based Elliott D. Pollack and Company, told KJZZ Phoenix, "We went from, you know, May and June initially reporting, you know, 140 to 150 thousand jobs, down to just 19,000 jobs and then 14,000 jobs. So, you know, as close to zero as you could possibly get," he said. "We haven’t seen this low of employment gain basically since the pandemic."
Job fairs can be impractical and are quickly becoming outdated.
The idea of a job fair is good in theory, but there are a lot of disadvantages. Most job fairs feature businesses in a wide range of industries and fields, making it hard to determine exactly which ones are most relevant to you and your background.
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Everyone at a job fair has the same goal: to talk to as many recruiters as possible. However, there's only so much time available, and you may not have nearly enough time to promote yourself and learn about the company. Additionally, it can get hard to communicate properly in a loud, crowded room.
Was it a bad decision for Brown to explore the job fair? No, but in this current job market, her time would be better served sprucing up her resume and networking with people she already knows both personally and professionally.
For now, the best advice when it comes to this bleak-looking job market is to keep applying. Call on the people you know to help. Lean into soft skills that you might normally overlook when applying in a regular market, and consider branching out into fields that you wouldn't normally apply.
Kayla Asbach is a writer currently working on her bachelor's degree at the University of Central Florida. She covers relationships, psychology, self-help, pop culture, and human interest topics.
