If you’re like most companies, recruiting events take up only a small slice of your total recruiting budget. But because they allow for direct contact between your company’s representatives and prospective employees, hosting a recruiting event or participating in a larger event such as a career fair can be a valuable way to promote your employer brand and make great new hires.
Match events to your 2016 recruiting plan
To get the most out of your recruiting events in 2016, start with a plan. First, consider your hiring goals for the year. Will you need to make a large number of hires in a specific role, division, or location? Events can help you meet aggressive hiring goals for roles like sales, engineering, or customer service. Research recruiting events that fit your goals in the locations that matter most to you.
Decide on the type of events
Second, consider which type of events you would like to participate in. Will you attend already existing career fairs, host your own events, or both? A career fair has the simplicity of allowing you to show up with your recruiting materials and staff, while hosting your own event has the added complexity of negotiating space, food, drink, swag, signage, etc. For a primer on hosting your own event, read this article. You also might consider participating in events that piggyback on large conferences, such as the SXSW Job Market, or hosting your own event that targets attendees of an industry trade show.
Event promotion
Third, consider how you will promote the event. Career fairs have the advantage of doing much of the promotion for you. If you host your own event, you’ll need to to do all the promotion yourself. Use social media, press releases, and advertising when necessary to promote your event. Your candidate database is also a great source for reaching prospects: contact applicants for top positions and let them know where and when they can meet your company’s representatives face-to-face.
Event activities and staffing
Fourth, determine how will you connect with candidates at the event, and who will represent your company. Will there be hiring managers and staff members present, or just recruiters on site? Will you have screening questions prepared for staffers, or ask candidates to fill out questionnaires? Some companies provide computers or tablets to capture applicant information and questionnaire responses. At your own hosted events, you might consider a speed-interviewing approach, or feeding interviewers with icebreaker questions to make candidates feel comfortable. Also consider how you will convey your company’s mission and employer value proposition.
Measure your success
Lastly, make sure you have a plan in place to track applications so that any hires can be attributed to the event after the fact. This will vary depending on the system you use. When conducting the final analysis, divide the total cost of the event by the number of hires to get an event ROI. Use the learnings from the performance of each event to make better decisions next year.
In the digital age, it’s easy to get lost in the stream of online applications and phone screening. Whether in-person events make up two or 20 percent of your total hires for the year, they help keep your finger on the pulse of the candidate landscape by enabling live conversations and allowing you to test out your employer brand message with a live audience. With these five steps, you’ll be sure to have a successful recruiting event plan in 2016!
