# Virtual Career Fairs: Perspectives from Norwegian Recruiters and Exhibitors
## 2 Background of the Research
### Employer Branding and Recruitment at Virtual Fairs  
Employer branding is a growing field, and several definitions have emerged from academic research [8;9]. Employer branding is the \"process of building employer identity directed at existing and potential employees, in order to differentiate the firm from its competitors\" [10]. In the context of career fairs, the focus of this paper is on employer branding in relation to attraction and retention of talent (rather than specifically on other aspects of employer branding associated with brand equity, brand loyalty and employee engagement; see also [11]). The goal of the recruiters participating in these events is to initiate a conversation with potential applicants, \"either for the explicit purpose of encouraging them to apply, or to create groups associated with the company so that these connections can be used for recruitment purposes\" [12], in line with employer branding efforts to raise organizational advocacy (e.g., [13]). There are other benefits for companies to embrace the use of e-tools for their recruitment processes, and these benefits might be transferable to virtual career fairs. For example, e-tools might enable recruiters to reach passive jobseekers, may shorten the recruitment cycle, reduce employee turnover, and lower costs (a motivator for exhibitors to participate in virtual trade fairs, [14]). Smaller companies may particularly benefit from e-recruitment and online employer branding due to the lower costs [1]. A number of theoretical frameworks can contribute to our understanding of virtual fairs as a means to attract new talent. The first one is the ASA (attraction-selection-attrition) cycle, a model for understanding the person perspective of organizational behaviour. This model captures the challenges in attracting talent, selection and retention in organizations [15]. This model [16] proposes that attraction to an employer, the selection into the organization, and the subsequent retention and attrition will lead to a kind of filtering process, which subsequently results in organizational behaviour being determined by those who are retained. This model, therefore, recognizes that situations determine people's behaviour and vice versa [16]. Virtual fairs reflect the decision-making process of an organization to seek more visibility among peers and competitors, while also reaching talent across numerous alternative means (including virtual ones). Moreover, the previous experience of decision-makers with recruitment and branding activities may shape the organizational behaviour (such as the adoption or rejection of virtual fairs). The second framework is signalling theory. This theory proposes that applicants' attraction to employers is in part influenced by the signals (information) they receive about the organizational characteristics (see work by [17; 18]). Some evidence seems to support this theory. Previous research [19] reported that organizational image mediated the relationship between the perceived aesthetic website features of the e-recruitment sites and organizational ratings in a sample of undergraduates. The features of the virtual representation of organizations in virtual fairs (e.g., via virtual booth) may similarly operate as predictors of attractiveness, mediated by the information shared strategically as part of the recruiters' employer branding efforts. Applicant inferences about the employers and identification with the potential employer (e.g., achieved by exposure to the employer brand and image) may, therefore, play an important role in predicting attractiveness of organizations and job pursuit intention (see also [20]). Virtual fairs give employers a new platform to engage in employer branding and recruitment activities to attract new talent. What is more, virtual fairs may also enable organizations to be more selective in their choice of candidates.