Steve Edwards: Revolutionizing the Panorama of Hiring with his Innovative Virtual Hiring Event Platform

Business leaders get the opportunity to establish the foundation for creative ideas and solutions. Counted among these successful names is Steve Edwards, the Founder & CEO of Premier Virtual.

He is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker, podcast host, and is also working on his first book. A self-proclaimed sales guy, Steve worked in a variety of sales-related positions before joining a job fair company. After organizing in-person job fairs for nearly nine years, Steve saw the change to digital and came up with the idea of Premier Virtual, the most efficient online career fair platform.

Premier Virtual: Simplifying the Process to Host Virtual Job Fairs

The Premier Virtual platform allows employers and organizations to easily hold virtual job fairs. A built-in setup wizard on the platform helps job seekers and recruiters through the registration process. When the event goes live, job seekers meet employers in virtual booths in a virtual lobby.  It is a virtual version of in-person job fairs, with all the increased efficiency and convenience of the latter plus the additional advantage of being able to store and manage all the data online.

Premier Virtual’s primary objective is to reduce the communication gap between technology and people. They’ve always wanted to make this interaction simpler and more effective. The platform makes it possible by connecting job seekers with employers and improving the hiring cycle.

To date, the Premier Virtual platform has powered over 7,000 virtual hiring events, which have helped more than 60,000 companies connect with over 1 million job seekers. The company has expanded from having three people to having more than twenty, and it has won significant accolades, including Florida’s Best Companies to Work for in 2021 and 2022.

Ushering in a New Era in Job Fairs

Steve Edwards grew up in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and knew after he graduated from high school that he intended to join the Army. He clarifies, “I was in the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg because I wanted to jump out of airplanes.” He chose to leave the Army after serving for two years in the Florida National Guard and four years in the Army. I came to the realization that while the military was fantastic financially, it wasn’t what I was seeking in life.”

He and a few 82nd Airborne friends traveled to Boca Raton in 1999 to enroll at Florida Atlantic University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s in sociology. After stints in the mortgage industry and B2B sales, he transitioned into the job fair sector and began organizing events all across the Southeast and Southwest. However, Edwards soon observed a decrease in sales.

“Everybody was working; they couldn’t come to job fairs, and turnout was low.” He recalls that they were opting to apply for jobs online instead. “It was affecting my pocketbook”.

While searching for a more effective method of bringing together companies and job hopefuls so people do not have to travel, Edwards seized on the idea of virtual job fairs.  To test his idea, Steve started competing in and winning pitch contests. These initial accomplishments demonstrated that his platform had a lot of promise. Steve attended mentorship programs like Florida Veterans, Tech Runway at FAU, the VMT, and start-up incubator 1909 in West Palm Beach, Florida, to further develop his idea. All of these groups were beneficial and assisted Steve during this critical time.

By 2019, Steve decided to move forward, and bootstrapped the development of Premier Virtual himself.  A fortunate coincidence that saw Premier Virtual launch at the same time as COVID-19 gripped the world and forced many to look at virtual platforms as a solution during isolation. It brought a great deal of attention to Premier Virtual.

“We went from nobody knowing who we were to be ranked as one of the top virtual platforms out there because of our teamwork and unwavering commitment.” Steve proudly shared.

The Unique and Innovative Work Culture

At Premier Virtual, the workplace culture is centered on promoting work-life balance for employees. Each employee has access to health benefits, a workplace gym, and a health coach. There is a team meeting once a week to discuss platform issues, how to fix them, and to share updates and new features.

The input from customers and the dedication of the entire staff to making PV the greatest platform available drive their ongoing efforts to improve the platform.

Sharing about the role of diversity and inclusion at Premier Virtual, Steve stated, “We employ the most qualified individual for the position regardless of ethnicity, creed, or any other social or personal standing. We are a diverse group of people from all over the world, and because we are a small business, we truly have a family feel where everyone is supported. I really believe that diversity benefits us because we gain from the various perspectives that each person holds.”

Steve’s Take on the Gender Pay Gap

Employees at Premier Virtual receive salaries based on performance in addition to the salary required for the job. No additional factors are included in that. No other criteria play into that. Regardless of gender.

“I would be the first to congratulate my best salesperson if they made more money than I did. We discuss our equity in the hopes of setting a good example for other businesses that might be troubled by the gender wage discrepancy. I believe it’s typically a practice that has its roots in a company’s past, and at some point, you just have to decide to do the right thing and declare that it’s no longer how things are done at this company”, revealed Steve.

Awards and Achievements Along the Way

“Premier Virtual has been recognized as one of the top venues for virtual hiring events in just 4 years, and we’re quite proud of that”, explains Steve.  It has won awards from independent organizations including Select Software Reviews, G2, and Capterra.

“Without the devoted support of the team, the company could not have accomplished these feats. It’s our team that is constantly being recognized for great customer service and for creating a superior platform that separates us from our competition”, according to Steve.

“It’s what motivates me to get out of bed in the morning, and it’s the reason I want to keep improving. I want to express my gratitude to each team member for their efforts, as well as to all of our clients who choose us to deliver a crucial service to them as part of their hiring strategy”, he further added.

Future Endeavors

Weeding Through the BS for Startups is the title of the book Steve is currently working on. Leadership Books will publish it. In fact, they signed him to a six-book deal, and that will take up a significant portion of his attention in the following five years in addition to expanding the business. They have already interviewed business executives to learn how they overcame obstacles to flourish and turned the book into a podcast series. The book has also made speaking opportunities possible.

“I am grateful to have been chosen to talk at the Florida TEDx Boca Raton in May. Being asked to speak at professional gatherings, hosting a podcast, and writing a book are all part of the personal goals he set for himself, and they of course bring more exposure to his company, so it’s a win-win.”