I have been to exactly three job fairs in my adult lifetime. One was because I was helping "man a booth" and the other two were for my personal job hunting.

With the exception of the one I was participating in as a vendor, I didn't recognize any of the companies, the majority of the positions were for sales, the rest were for call centers, the company representatives were only allowed to discuss the positions they were at the career fair for, three of the listed companies (which I had heard of and were the reason I was going) weren't there and it was so crowded in those halls that it was difficult to move more than a few inches at a time.

If there was anything positive that these job fairs brought to me, it was meeting several other job hunters who I had lunch with and we were able to compare notes, read each others resume and give criticism when neccesary and brainstorm regarding our next steps.

Still, with their business cards in hand, I was able to go into their individual internet sites and some of these companies did have on-line employment screening. I did discover that some of these companies did have jobs in their adminstrative offices and I was able to apply on-line for these positions.

So, while I don't think that I will ever attend another career fair if I were ever put into that position of job hunting again, I think that it is good for a break from the ordinary round of searching papers, replying to ads, searching the internet, replying to ads, etc.

I would suggest that you leave your pocketbook at home and just carry enough cash and identification as is neccesary. At the beginning of the fairs you are provided with a plastic bag in which to carry informational handouts and business cards (plus any little extras like pencils or pens with the company logo, tiny bags of mints, etc)