Recruitment Tactics – Doing Things Differently
When the candidate market is tight and provides limited options, we here at People Passion have decided to do things differently. We recently recruited for a role mainly aligned to a target audience of generation X graduates. We find this generation use many online social media platforms, so we utilise those to our advantage – because what better way to source candidates and make them talk about themselves than from platforms that already have their attention? As we find getting candidates to submit only a CV can sometimes provide us, the recruiter, with limited work experience to go off. To change it up we have been getting creative and attracting them to our website with various methods (we don’t give away all our secrets - 😉)
As part of this process, we asked the applicant 1 question that related to the role so they could be creative with their reply, and got them to record themselves. This showed us various things about the candidate in a 3-minute video clip, including:
Did they listen to the brief and follow instructions?
Were they presentable?
Could they communicate effectively?
Did they do their research on the company and link it into the video?
Do you see them fitting into the company culture or team?
Was the content relative to the question?
All things that you can pick up from a short video, from how they handle themselves to how they interpreted the question.
The results; AMAZING! We had over 30 applications with an 86% video return rate. So, we got watching, and the top 5 successful candidates would not have gotten through the CV reviewing selection point if based solely on their CV! Why? For various reasons but sometimes it could be unconscious bias coming into play:
They live too far away (they might be prepared to move, are using a family’s address)
CV is not presented well (this might not be their forte)
They didn’t complete a course / schooling/ university (could be a genuine reason for this that needs exploring)
Race / Age / Martial Status / Religion (this says more about the recruiter which is a real shame)
Will want too much $$ (they might be prepared to negotiate or trade off learning and development)
They come from a similar background to me so they will be good
Similar background to X who didn’t work out in our business (this is an assumption)
So what are the learnings to take away from this process; don’t assume or make judgements, be open in the recruitment process and explore all options. This recruitment process was fun, engaging and had a quick turn around due to being able to get the videos done quickly at home during lockdown! The following stages included an online interview, in which we decided to take them on a real journey / overview of the business to get their buy in – resulting in a positive, collaborative and innovative process for all parties involved.
If you want to get creative with your recruitment process to attract new talent (if the old way is just not cutting it for you) then speak to us! There are so many ways to recruit but marketing your specific role to your target audience / industry experts is key. Get in touch today to find out more!
Katie Lander
Sales & Recruitment Partner