10 recruitment campaign ideas from the best

A recruitment campaign could be just what you need to capture the attention of those talented individuals you want to work for your business. But it’s also something that requires a great deal of thought and planning to ensure your efforts aren’t all for nought.

In recent years, we have witnessed a multitude of recruitment campaigns that make for great food for thought, when it comes to inspiration for your own. Here, we’ve highlighted ten of the most interesting, thought-provoking and insightful campaigns from the very best out there, to consider before planning your own.

 

1. The Amazon job day

A focused event that is free for all to attend, could encourage potential candidates to consider your roles if they hadn’t before. Amazon hosts job days that showcase what they can offer in terms of a career path and their 2017 event saw 200,000 people applying for roles in the business. The company provided guided tours of its working locations and informal interviews were held in tents outside the building.

It gave them the opportunity to show people the more human side of the business and where the magic happens. Details of career opportunities were of course also pushed heavily throughout the day, as well as company incentives. Of course, Amazon’s name helped when it came to interest and so for smaller companies investment in advertising before the event can definitely support such a campaign.

 

2. The brick factor – LEGO

Working for LEGO must be great fun, right? Well, if their recruitment drives are anything to go by that idea is definitely true. TheirLEGO Brick Factor competition is regularly used to find a Master Model Builder, someone who is an ambassador for the company, creating new designs and talking to children about the wonders of LEGO.

The competition involves potential candidates being tasked with creating something amazing out of LEGO and children come to watch them build. They’re not only judged on what they create with the bricks but also how they interact with the little ones, as this is such an important aspect of the role. These events take place around the world as the company attempts to find Master Model Builders for major cities to spread the word and joy of playing with LEGO. Competitions do well when candidates are invested in what you do and is definitely a recruitment tactic to consider.

 

3. Millennials in the British Army

The Army recruitment drive in recent years has pushed the idea that if you sign up you could be doing incredible things every day, as part of a team that supports and embraces you. While this concept is still very much alive in their campaigns, they took another route in a recent recruitment push, honing in on the concept of millennials.

It’s latest recruitment campaign jumps on the many stereotypes and misconceptions about this generation and re-brands them to convey a positive message and highlight the sort of individual they’re looking to recruit. It comes at a time when the army is falling short by 8,200 on its basic requirement of 82,500 troops.

Using vintage style, wartime recruitment posters they suggest that narcissistic, selfie-obsessed millennials are who they want, as it means the individual is confident. Other posters convey the message that those who binge play games are actually very focused and driven and that millennials who perhaps have more liberal political beliefs are the compassionate people the army needs. It’s an interesting concept and while it has beenmet with some backlash, they say any PR is good PR.

 

4. Current employees do the hard work – SALESFORCE

Creating a great company culture that others want to share is important and can actually be used to your advantage when it comes to recruitment. Salesforce adopts this concept and it’s career focused social channel on Instagram regularly ‘regrams’ posts that its employees put up about the great time they’re having working for the company. For those following the business’s channel, it conveys a human side to what it does and pulls in those potential employees looking for a new role in a company that cares.

The company’s career-focused Instagram has 14.6k followers, suggesting that what it’s doing is right. But when you’re showcasing that your company allows you to bring your dog to work (and they get a name badge), that you regularly organise charity events and promote health and wellbeing with company lead exercise classes, recruitment should be easy from there on.

 

9. Igniting interest – BURGER KING

When you think of Burger King, you perhaps don’t associate the brand with political messages and anti-establishment ideas. But the German arm of the brand decided to go down this tact with a recruitment campaign that attempted to appeal to younger people’s fiery passion, drive and bold ideas.

The campaign saw a series of images printed featuring young people fire breathing, throwing fireworks and hurling firebombs in protest. Text on the images read: ‘Love fire? Contact us.’ and then directed people to the Burger King careers page. It resulted in a great deal of discussion in 2018, with many reacting to this new edgier side of the brand. But it was covered by a large number of publications and advertising specialists, spreading the word far and wide that Burger King was recruiting and those who aren’t afraid to get up close and personal with the heat are the type they want to apply.

 

5. Teachers as lifesavers

We all have one teacher we fondly remember. This could be a teacher who pushed us to work harder to meet an important goal, one who didn’t give up on us when we were struggling or a teacher who was simply kind and believed in our potential. This is the concept the Department for Education took into consideration when creating their ‘teachers shape lives’ campaign, suggesting that by becoming a teacher you have the opportunity to truly make a difference.

It’s a message that spurs many individuals to consider teaching and with a current shortage in teaching it could encourage some to put themselves into training for such a role. The campaign was said to be aimed at recent graduates, students and those looking for a career change.

 

6. Only 99.9% need apply for the Marines

A recruitment campaign that claims 99.99% of people need not apply? Not exactly the message you’d expect to convey, right? Well, it’s a message the Royal Marines have been putting out there since 2009.

The idea behind the campaign is to hook in those who like to be challenged. It’s no secret that it is a gruelling process to become a member of the Marines and those who attempt the initial testing fail 99.9% of the time. It’s a hard-hitting message and overall campaign but sends the right message for those who don’t want an easy career path.

 

7. (Wi-Fi) networking at big awards shows

The best place to look for potential talent is an industry event, where like-minded people working in the same field gather. But you’ll need to be subtle about it. BJL – a marketing agency based in Manchester and London – used a popular awards event to their advantage to let potential candidates know that they were recruiting. It was so successful, they claim that they received CVs that very same night.

The agency set up a free Wi-Fi service called #JoinBJL that could be accessed during the awards and when people joined this they were taken to a login/landing page that let them know the agency was hiring. Those who discovered it also shared the campaign on social media, spreading the word even further beyond those attending the awards. It’s a campaign that definitely thinks outside the box, piquing the interest of those it intends to capture the attention of and convincing them that the agency is a creative thinker they want to work for.

 

8. Cracking the career code

Applying for a role with the British intelligence and security organisation GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) isn’t as simple as sending over a cover letter and CV. For such an important role, the employer needed to know that candidates were up to the task and so created a ‘competition’ to pit the top talent against one another to find the very best code breakers and problem solvers.

Those who took part in the competition had a task to crack a code but out of 400,000 contestants, only 1% actually managed to do it, creating a pool of candidates to then put through the interview and hiring process. Competitions, again, are a great way of whittling down the potentials to find the people who would really help your business thrive. It’s of course also beneficial when it comes to reducing the amount of time wasted interviewing unsuitable candidates.

 

10. Swiping right on candidates

Tinder has an estimated 5.7 million users around the world, so it’s safe to say those potential candidates you’re looking for could be on there. That’s the thinking behind the Airline Eurowing’s 2018 recruitment campaign, encouraging candidates to swipe right and put themselves forward for a position with them within the app. They set-up dating profiles that advertised roles within the business and interacted with those who wanted more information.

The campaign won two awards for its innovation and originality and visits to its careers page increased by 40%, suggesting that Tinder is an unlikely but surprisingly successful platform for engagement with potential candidates.

These innovative and exciting recruitment campaigns can change how you bring in that all important talent in 2019. Which one do you think is most inspiring?