New to the board and job fair question!

[kay law]

Hi all!

I was wondering what you guys have heard or experienced in regards to minority job fairs.  The chicago one is this friday.  Do people actually receive call backs or is it just for firms to "show" they are committed to diversity (without planning on hiring)?

Thanks in advance!!

[Rudy Huckleberry]

I have no way of knowing, being an incoming 1L myself, but I can't imagine that this is just for lipservice.  Firms get diversity "points" for the number of minorities they hire, not interview.  And because most Af-Am law students do not attend the precious "T14", these minority law fairs give them a chance to interview the most driven minority students outside of their select group of schools for OCI.  Good luck to you!

[A.]

Firms get diversity "points" for the number of minorities they hire, not interview. 

I read an article a while ago in which several "elite" firms were criticized for attending minority job fairs simply for the sake of saying they actively recruit minority candidates.  In reality, they hired no one from the fairs.  I'm not saying that will necessarily be the case with this fair, but it is a widely known practice.

[kay law]

I guess I can only wait and see!  Thanks for the responses!

[Burning Sands, Esq.]

Hi all!

I was wondering what you guys have heard or experienced in regards to minority job fairs.  The chicago one is this friday.  Do people actually receive call backs or is it just for firms to "show" they are committed to diversity (without planning on hiring)?

Thanks in advance!!

Actually, it may surprise you but the minority job fairs are actually legit.  I know it surprised me b/c I was looking at all job fairs sideways, esp. minority job fairs.  BLSA has one in the NE in NYC every year and a lot of employers go to it and actually HIRE students from the job fair (who woulda thought you would get a job from a job fair). 

In fact, as I understand it, its one of the best job fairs in the area, period.  The white students at my school go to the BLSA job fair and get jobs.  The Latino students at my school go tht BLSA job fair and get jobs.  And likewise for the Black students as well.  So apparently employers come to this job fair with the intention of actually pulling in some new blood to the firm b/c everybody I've talked to about it, regardless of their race, has got a job from the NE BLSA career fair.