Have I ruined my chances of getting invited to another fair?

[yelsol]

I spent a good part of the year prepping for going abroad for the 2013-2014 school year, signed up with SA, got an invitation to the Cambridge fair and within the span of a week before the fair had an extended family crisis (that required all hands on deck) and was offered another position at my school. Although I've wanted to leave for awhile it seemed like being in the States for another year was probably the best way to deal with the family crisis so I took the position at my current school. Two nights before the fair I emailed SA and let them know that I would not be in attendance. This summer I plan to begin the IS job process over again and would like to use SA but am worried that my short notice cancellation will hurt my chances of getting invited to another fair. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about this?

[National]

My situation isn't exactly the same, but might ease your mind. We were signed up for both the London fair and the Cambridge fair. We forgot to cancel the Cambridge fair after deciding on the London fair. We had two days to cancel the cambridge fair without the fee. We decided to stay signed up just in case we did not land a job in London. We discussed it with our associate and basically said we were not canceling Cambridge in case we needed a backup. We asked him about this -- were we being selfish to keep the spot and cancel if we got the job in London. He told us to keep our place since we pretty much already had to pay the fee.

We ended up getting our job in London and canceling the Cambridge fair about two weeks before. Our associate made it seem like it was not a big deal. Since we paid the fee we could cancel without any further penalty. We got no communication from the people running Cambridge on our cancellation.

Granted, our associate wasn't the one running the cambridge fair, but he does run another major search fair,so if he didn't think it is a big deal, probably isn't. Also they said that there are always candidates that don't show up.

I'm sure you're not the first to cancel last minute and you seem to have good reasons. I would follow up with your associate about your reasons for the last minute cancellation and then not worry about it.

[durianfan]

It won't matter. It would be a problem if you accepted an offer and then backed out, but I don't think they'll care about you not attending a fair, and they certainly won't ban you. In fact, (to the OP), since you accepted a position after paying their fee, you will have to pay the fee again if you decide you want access to their database next year.

[bish180b]

will not matter one little bit...relax

[PsyGuy]

Its not probabley going to effect your chances with Search. The only real problem MAY be with your associate. Unless its that associates fair, other associates only get a limited number of invites for their candidates. With such a short notice, its unlikely that associate would be able to fill your slot with a candidate from their roster, and since your not looking for an IS position this year (youve accepted a position at your current school) they basically lost out on a placement fee for you that they cant "make up". That may sour the relationship with your associate, though everyone understands that emergencies happen. Their are two main action paths for you:

The "GOOD":
Contact your associate let them know your no longer looking and deactivate your profile, understand they may charge you another $225 to rejoin next year Touch base with them over the summer when your looking again and make sure you two are "good". If you do have to pay the enrollment fee again, at least your first fair will again be free. If your associate does not charge you, your going to have to pay $75 to attend a fair.

The "BAD":
Dont deactivate your profile and dont let your associate know your staying for another year. You will still eb able to access the database for a total of three years and so you wont have to rejoin next year (which really is this summer and were talking 6 months). You will of course have to pay for your next fair, but your associate is likely to have gotten over any hard feelings, which are likely to be minor if anything.

(There is no UGLY option for this scenario).

[yelsol]

Thank you everyone. This is very reassuring!

[vitaminz]

Interesting that everyone has responded in such a positive manner. I signed up with SA 3 years ago and got in to the Bangkok fair. 1 month before the fair I was offered an admin position by my employer and I took it. When I informed SA the recruiter that got me the spot in the fair was angry with me. I have emailed her several times over the past few months to try to reactivate my account so I could get ready for the 2013/2014 fairs and she won't email me back. I called but she hasn't called back.

[BookshelfAmy]

Was it Marie, by any chance? She's been unwell.

[PsyGuy]

You know there are good recruiters who support their candidates, and then there are recruiters that just collect their money. Its a bit early though for next year, though being unreachable for months is not acceptable. Id contact SA directly at admin@searchassociates.com and see what the issue is and go about resolving it.

[shadowjack]

vitaminz, I would contact a different associate. Try Harry, Michael, Ray, or Gez.

[Rover]

Getting a job at a fair is only one of numerous ways that you are expected to look for a job. All of them know that candidates might get a job before the fair. In fact, it even has the school contact details on there for you to be contacting them directly. Seeing as only about half - at best - candidates at a fair actually get a job there and then at a specific fair, it is only one aspect of finding a job for many.

It would be nice to know which associates might do this, so as to avoid. In my experience, speaking with a dealing with a couple of associates, they were both very nice.