HKAAA's First Virtual Career Fair -
Empowering the Arts and Cultural Industry
Quick Facts
Career Fair 2021 for Arts and Cultural Industry
Job Fair
22 May, 2021
395
Hong Kong
HKAAA
The Hong Kong Arts Administrators Association’s (HKAAA) mission is to promote good arts administration practice through advocacy, professional development, communication, networking support, and collaboration amongst arts managers and other stakeholders.
It serves as a platform and representative voice in order to support the advancement of a flourishing arts scene, bringing social and economic benefits to all sectors of Hong Kong society.
Event Goals
For several years, HKAAA Recruitment Days have been an important and popular event for the arts and cultural industry, receiving great reviews from local arts organizations and job seekers alike. This was the first time the Career Fair for Arts and Cultural Industry would be held virtually.
The event would serve as a platform to bridge the gap between employers and candidates, enhancing public understanding of arts administration and the arts industry among art students, arts administrators, fresh graduates, and general jobseekers. It would increase public interest in applying for jobs in the arts and inform potential applicants of the necessary job requirements to help them eventually gain employment in the industry.
Event Elements
The online event featured a range of activities to inform potential job applicants
Virtual Booths
Virtual Booths brought potential employers and job seekers together via virtual interaction and networking. Attendees could obtain information on arts organizations and jobs, chat with professionals and schedule a meeting instantly.
Job Matching
Attendees were able to chat with one of the arts and culture headhunter agencies that serve government bodies and various art galleries and organizations. By submitting their CV, an agency would be able to identify the companies and positions that they thought are most compatible and make recommendations via email.
Arts Admin 101 Talks
Finding Your Path in Arts Administration—HKADC Arts Administrators’ Training Scheme
Guest Speakers: Ms Angela Yu, Research & Development Senior Manager, Hong Kong Arts Development Council
Diversity and Versatility: The Challenges of Transforming Cultural Heritage into a Performing Arts Venue
Guest Speakers: Sheryl Lee, Executive Director of Programming at Haw Par Music Foundation
CV Clinic by Alexandra Choa Tan, Director of FR[A]MED
Alexandra Choa Tan, Director of FR[A]MED provided CV consultation for participants.
Career Coaching | Speaker: Alexandra Choa Tan, Director of FR[A]MED
Alexandra Choa Tan, Director of FR[A]MED provided career coaching for participants.
Challenges
Compared to a traditional job fair, a virtual job fair event seemed to present limited interaction between speakers, booth representatives, and participants. While participants could type questions for speakers through Q&A functions, they could not interact with the speakers directly. Engaging attendees through virtual meetings was also seen as more difficult, requiring creativity in comparison to physical networking. Fortunately, the chat, video call, and meet-up functions on the EventX platform allowed participants to interact with booth representatives in a range of ways.
Another concern was the unfamiliarity attendees might have using the EventX platform. There was a worry they could encounter technical issues during the event that would be difficult to provide instant solutions and support for. Fortunately, EventX provided live support and could be reached anytime during the event, offering a quick response. In addition, follow-up surveys found that most event participants felt that the online platform was user-friendly and that the provided instructions were clear.
Achievements
The event’s attendance exceeded HKAAA’s expectations. Original estimates were for around 200-300 registrants, while in actuality 395 people registered for the event, with 219 attending. EventX delivered on the elements that had made it HKAAA’s platform of choice for the event. HKAAA were especially pleased with the platform’s email functionality and how it was able to handle the uploading of images, text, and other customizable features.
Feedback From HKAAA
Greatest Strength
HKAAA greatly appreciated EventX’s live support and how user-friendly the platform was for booth representatives.
Something to Look At
The platform’s chat functions might need to be expanded to include the ability to export the chat history, delete messages, and allow hyperlinks and text formatting.
Learning Outcomes
We assisted HKAAA by taking an event, that had previously only been run in physical space, virtual. EventX did so with great success, maintaining our reputation as a well-developed platform. But in addition, we discovered that our chat functions can be further developed and will look to make an already fantastic experience for attendees and organizers that little bit better.