Resources: Guide
Top Recruiting Events Trends to Leverage in Hiring Quality Talent.
Recruiting the right talent for your business has always had its share of struggles, but in today’s job market, with fierce competition and wage stagnation, it can feel downright impossible. According to Glassdoor, it takes 23.8 days to go through the interview process with your candidate and SHRM has found that it costs roughly $4,129 per hire. On top of these statistics, the biggest challenge for hiring managers is finding quality talent. In fact, 76% of hiring personnel expressed this as their largest issue!
Because of this, talent acquisition leaders are always looking for the next best source of quality talent. One of the most underused sources of finding quality talent are Recruiting Events. These are the only channel that allow recruiters to meet talent face-to-face, making the initial screening process even easier if done right! In fact, Bizzabo found that 80% of companies believe live events are crucial for their success.
Using Oleeo Technology.
NACE researchers found in 2016, the overall average annual recruiting budget equalled $480,181. But what part of that budget is really bringing in new hires and what part is serving a different purpose? It’s time to make recruiting strategies more effective and that starts with evaluating the different types of Recruiting Events available to your company and the specific key benefit each provides.
Each type of event allows your company to do two crucial things: bring in candidates who are interested in your industry and develop your reputation and employer branding to nurture promising talent. You have a chance to showcase your brand, meet potential applicants, brush up on your networking skills and get the word out about open positions and programs you’re working so hard to fill.
Networking events are great for boosting your employer brand, but that only comes with making the experience unique and enjoyable for your guests. Candidates love the opportunity to speak with real hiring managers and employees and it can serve as a slightly informal first interview when done properly. Consider that an event where the focus is not just on one person may be a better option for introverts or those who suffer “test anxiety” when they head to one-on-one interviews. Webinars can also be powerful event opportunities, in some cases, Oleeo data shows these actually helped to produce more hires per event than regular presentations.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The importance of recruiting events has changed tremendously over the years. While college career fairs are still a common practice to recruit for entry level positions, recruiters are becoming more creative with efforts to recruit for other open opportunities within the organization. Whether you’re looking for the next big thing in terms of types of recruitment events or how to make your next event better than ever, we’ll be discussing trends around:
- Pre-event
- During the event
- Post-event
- What is happening with specific events
- How different types of events are being utilized
- and more!
INTRO
Recruiting the right talent for your business has always had its share of struggles, but in today’s job market, with fierce competition and wage stagnation, it can feel downright impossible.
On top of these statistics, the biggest challenge for hiring managers is finding quality talent. In fact, 76% of hiring personnel expressed this as their largest issue!
Because of this, talent acquisition leaders are always looking for the next best source of quality talent. One of the most underused sources of finding quality talent are Recruiting Events. These are the only channel that allow recruiters to meet talent face-to-face, making the initial screening process even easier if done right! In fact, Bizzabo found that 80% of companies believe live events are crucial for their success.
NACE researchers found in 2016, the overall average annual recruiting budget equalled $480,181. But what part of that budget is really bringing in new hires and what part is serving a different purpose? It’s time to make recruiting strategies more effective and that starts with evaluating the different types of Recruiting Events available to your company and the specific key benefit each provides.
ACCORDING TO GLASSDOOR, IT TAKE 23.8 DAYS to go through the interview process with your candidate and SHRM has found that it costs roughly $4,129 per hire.
TYPES OF RECRUITING EVENT TRENDS AND THEIR BENEFITS
Each type of event allows your company to do two crucial things: bring in candidates who are interested in your industry and develop your reputation and employer branding to nurture promising talent. You have a chance to showcase your brand, meet potential applicants, brush up on your networking skills and get the word out about open positions and programs you’re working so hard to fill.
New Recruiting Event Types
Bootcamps
Professional Networking Events
Professional networking events can be the best way to attract passive candidates. Whether an event is hosted at your company, a restaurant or at your local chamber of commerce, there are many key benefits to attending these events:
1. Develop great professional relationships.
2. Boost the awareness of your brand.
3. Open up your business to new opportunities.
4. Leverage the experience of industry leaders.
Benefits: Networking events are great for boosting your employer brand, but that only comes with making the experience unique and enjoyable for your guests. Candidates love the opportunity to speak with real hiring managers and employees and it can serve as a slightly informal first interview when done properly. Consider that an event where the focus is not just on one person may be a better option for introverts or those who suffer “test anxiety” when they head to one-on-one interviews. Webinars can also be powerful event opportunities, in some cases, Oleeo data shows these actually helped to produce more hires per event than regular presentations.
Open Houses
Open houses let your subject matter experts (SMEs) showcase what they do. These are also great for bringing in potential employees so they can get a feel of the atmosphere and culture of your company. It is important to stage your event as if you were showcasing a home. Providing a hands-on tour can give the candidates the opportunity to see themselves working at your company.
While being courteous throughout the event, it is just as important to follow-up. When candidates get to the event, you should have an application to secure their information. Encourage your guests to provide a phone number or an email address. This will allow you to reach out and stay connected with people you meet! If you sense the crowd is not quite ready for that, ensure your social media presence and career site addresses are easy to find.
Benefits: Having an open house allows your current employees to invite friends, family and individuals from their network into a comfortable environment to learn more about your company. According to the 2016 Sources of Hire report, referral hires remained the top source for hires with 30% overall and 45% internally. Open houses are a great way to kickoff your referral program by giving current employees an incentive to invite others. Not only are referrals quality workers, they also have better conversion rates from interview to hire.
Hackathons
Hackathons have become a great source for computer programmers, coders and developers. Techopedia defines a hackathon as a “gathering where programmers collaboratively code in an extreme manner
over a short period of time.” These 24-48 hour events are not just for startups. It is a great source for collaboration and innovation because coders come together and create something new. Major organizations such as the National Basketball Association have used hackathons as a recruiting technique.
Benefits: These unique recruiting events can help showcase the potential of candidates as well help your company find a solution to your business problems or find errors in a process you may have had in place for years. An attractive prize can also help pull in participants from different diverse backgrounds helping to increase the diversity of your talent pool.
Offsite Recruiting
This trend is borrowed from retail marketing and sales, where it has proven to be exceptionally effective. Offsite recruiting can include setting up a booth at nearby commuting locations, malls, public events or near a bar/restaurant your target market may frequent. Using candidate personas and data to indicate where your top talent may be is a great way to think outside the box and bring in those passive candidates.
Benefits: Offsite recruiting is an approach to set you apart from competitors and let your target market know you’re serious about finding the best individual for the job. Going to the extent of basically creating your own type of recruiting event at one of these different types of locations let’s you recruit on your own terms rather than at a specific event.
Geolocation
Geofencing technology (another form of proximity recruiting) allows a firm to send automated recruiting or other mobile phone messages to those who enter a designated geographic zone. This can be done through various social networks as well. You never know who will be close to your facility.
Benefits: If you are in a bind, geolocation applications can help solve any time crunch hiring situation. Another benefit for geolocation is the ability to increase visibility and boost brand awareness. Placing ads or promoting an event through ads or phone messages when people are close to your office can help increase attendance at your event!
TRADITIONAL RECRUITING EVENTS AND HOW THEY'RE CHANGING
High Volume Hiring Events
High volume recruitment represents many different challenges for recruiters. Typically this refers to hiring for a large number of open positions in a given time frame, which can range from hundreds to thousands of positions a year. Common in industries such as healthcare, hospitality and retail, the need for a large volume of new hires can be due to expansion or seasonal hiring. Events specific to this can include industry specific or local career fairs.
Another form of high volume work for recruiters is not related to the number of positions but rather the number of applications. While having a large number of applicants can be a positive thing it also results in a large amount of sorting, screening and analysis for recruiting teams. By implementing intelligent automation and using a ATS and CRM this process can be managed. This is a challenge recruiters face when an event is successful.
Lastly, interviews can be large volume of work for recruiters. Super Days or other high volume interview events like career fairs can be extremely challenging. To overcome this technology can simplify the interview experience for candidates and interviewers. Critical pieces are mobile self scheduling, automated high volume itineraries, collaboration and feedback.
The following sections describe different types of these events in detail.
General Career Fairs
General career fairs allow your company to reach a lot of people from many different backgrounds. You can also build connections with different local business owners and passive candidates who are interested in your company. Engaging with these prospects can help you diversify your talent pipeline. They can be hosted in many different venues such as community event centers, convention centers, hotels, local universities, etc.
How They’re Changing: General career fairs are largely local and have a wide variety of positions offered from entry-level to management. Often sponsored or underwritten by local media, savvy companies may want to explore how they might partner on a niche specific career fair, a speaking engagement or feature article regarding the company. General career fairs are also an excellent choice for a company moving to a new location or just opening up. These career fairs can be considered a long-tail expense because employees may not immediately apply with your firm, but they will likely remember a conversation or keep a card given to them. Ensure you capture information and have benefits information and all open positions easy to access at your booth, whether you have a technology partner that offers mobile ready applications, or a link on a card you give out.
Campus recruiting efforts are a great way to target college prospects for entry-level positions. In fact, 74.9% of employers that responded to a 2018 NACE study had focused their recruiting efforts on U.S. colleges. On average, employers attended 41 college fairs last year and 88.8% of these said identifying talent early is extremely or the most important through internships or co-ops. Career or job fairs were used by 97.1% of respondents as a branding technique and was ranked first as the most effective technique by 80%.
How They’re Changing: Using a blend of the traditional campus career fair combined with fresh ideas will help you yield the best results. New ideas include:
- Curriculum extensions
- Meet and greets on campus
- Retargeting around the schools you visit
- Technology support to help you capture information about your entry-level and student prospects, before, during and after the event is a must now-a-days. Ideally, you should select a system that has up-to-date Events Management capabilities like a fully functioning mobile app, real-time data aggregation that integrates with your ATS and CRM, on-site self check-in and intelligent automation for optimal candidate engagement
It’s important to set expectations as to what you will gain from a career fair. For example, Oleeo data has identified that the most successful career fairs can be as little as just six of the 100+ career fairs – producing aroundeight eventual hires. While this may seem like a low number, take into consideration the exposure your company is gaining as well. Keep a tally of the amount of candidates spoken to and the contact information gained. Building your employer brand is also part of the recruiting event process. Typically, candidates are likely to attend more than one event so it is good practice to run many events and then measure success at the end of the campaign.
RECRUITING EVENT TRENDS
Once you’ve determined which kind of events are right for you, it’s time to make it incredible. These emerging trends for before, during and after the events will help you rise above the competition and make events one of your primary recruiting channels.
Before the Event
Trend #1: Engage Recruiting Event Attendees via Text Recruiting
According to Trumpia, 97% of text messages are opened and millennials usually send 67 text messages per day. Undercover Recruiter found that 89% of job seekers believe that a mobile device can be critical to your job search as a tool with 45% of people searching daily. Nexxt discovered 68% of millennials, 73% of Gen Xers and 75% of baby boomers said they are willing to receive a job opportunity over text.
Today’s candidates want you to text them. Texting is a fantastic way to remind job seekers of your events, help them know what to bring, answer questions about what the event will entail and to engage and nurture them once they’ve walked out the door. While email addresses might change with a new job and home phones rarely get answered, texts are undeniably read and responded to.
Even better than using SMS within your recruitment and event strategy? Use one that integrates with your ATS or CRM. There are tons of platforms now that will allow you to automatically manage multiple texts from candidates, write out standard answers to FAQs and add to a candidate record if a phone number changes.
Trend #2: Email Automation
The use of automated marketing is an effective way to spread the word about an upcoming recruiting event. 40% of event marketers believe that email automation is the best outlet when promoting an event. Having an automated channel allows your recruiting team to be more prepared for the event with less work. Candidate engagement and logistics are managed on cruise control. Your firm can also track metrics such as open rate and if they followed a link within the email in an attempt to predict whether they are going to attend your event or not.
Trend #3: Use of Online Platforms (Social Media and Career Sites)
LinkedIn researchers found only 30% of possible employees are actively searching for a job, which means CRM efforts must be expanded. Expansion of your program can reach current, past and potential future candidates. Using tactics like text recruiting, email automation and Internet based platforms can coax passive candidates into attending your event. In fact, SHRM found that 82% of companies use social media to attract these passive candidates.
94% of companies use social media to network before their events and post job listings. Furthermore, 59% of employees said they were attracted to that company because of its social media presence. Promoting your employer brand via Snapchat and other social media networks has become increasingly popular in terms of recruiting and distributing content. There are 173 million users worldwide with 3 billion snaps sent daily. Snapchat can be used to promote events, stream events and disseminate blogs and other information about your company. The sheer reach of social media alone has become an ideal form of promotion for your recruiting events.
Many companies use their career sites as well. Posting to event reminders or adding popups to these sites produces rich and engaging content to attract already interested individuals to your event.
Benefits: With 61 million Gen Zers entering the workforce, social media can help attract the future of your company. Gen Z enjoys having constant communication and instant answers for questions they have. In fact, 90% of candidates that are between the age of 18-29 are on social media, which makes promoting your event via social channels is ideal. Gen Zers want immediacy in communications. Therefore texting and communicating consistent messages and values via Twitter and other social media outlets can be beneficial for your company!
During the Event
Trend #1: Have a Mobile Application On Hand
Using an events mobile app, can help your talent acquisition team manage recruiting events on the go. According to the State of Mobile Event Technology Report, 91% of event planners have seen a positive return on investment from event apps. Gone are the days of the business card fishbowl. Today’s recruiting events offer mobile devices integrated with HR technology, so crucial pieces of information don’t get lost.
- If you have a link for participants to use on their phone, you have the information to retarget them. In addition, by giving candidates the ability to use their own device, companies can provide a stronger, more engaging experience for them.
- By entering their information at the event, your system can go to work matching and using predictive analytics right away, so you can identify top talent and accelerate them using a high touch experience.
- Having complete records of a candidate’s information allows you to tag them with special notes you might otherwise forget.
- Intuitive self-service tools can give candidates control and free up booth attendees to focus on conversations.
Did you know that SHRM found that 60% of applications are abandoned when they are filled out on a mobile device? Avoid candidate attrition by offering quick and easy guidance through your process. Leverage social platforms as a way of speeding up the application process. Break your application process into smaller, bite size chunks for a more mobile-friendly experience and greater candidate engagement.
Another bonus for busy recruiters is by having candidates place their information into an app, they can easily sift through the hundreds of applications they’re likely to receive at an event much faster than manually sifting through resumes, CVs or business cards. AI tools can also help focus recruiters’ attention on top talent first.
Glassdoor found that 69% of active job seekers are likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages its employer brand. The tools and solutions you use are a direct reflection of your company, your brand and even your culture. Integrating intelligence-based recruitment is a surefire way to make your process easier and see the best results when it comes to recruiting and hiring that new talent.
Trend #2: Candidate Segmentation
Researchers have found 86% of HR professionals believe recruiting has turned into recruitment marketing. Much like creating customer personas, companies must begin making candidate personas to help with candidate segmentation. As with any hiring initiative, implementing a recruiting event strategy requires a deep understanding of the unique candidates you will be meeting. Whether you’re targeting a diverse segment, a specific veteran group or college students, it’s crucial you have an idea of the values they hold and the messaging that will resonate best with them. Additionally, you should have an idea of how they want to communicate with your recruitment team.
Candidate Segmentation Steps
1. Identify the key individuals and groups that you will be interacting with who have the skills you want to acquire.
2. Build a profile or persona of your current employees and top candidates to use as a guide in messaging.
Hint: Using your top performers will make this a more discerning baseline!
3. Research challenges and learn the barriers of the specific group and address these with company policies and messaging. This could mean adjusting how you communicate benefits, photos on career sites or which company programs you highlight.
4. Build relationships with individuals and groups that represent the candidate segment to better understand what resonates with them. While you may not always hire these people right away, they can be great resources to understand where your messaging is right on target and which elements should be changed or eliminated altogether.
5. Develop partnerships through your firm to benefit specifically targeted talent pools to show candidates your firm’s support. Whether you decide to underwrite a specific scholarship or sponsor a series of events the group is holding, ensure you speak with them about what this alignment means and how you anticipate being involved.
6. Eliminate or minimize barriers that may prevent your candidate segment from applying to the position. For example, if you’re targeting working mothers in an industrial area, check to ensure public transportation is available, focus on local school schedules and alter shifts if they conflict with either or your target talent pool will potentially feel unsafe. If you cannot alter schedules, consider providing safe transportation or a childcare subsidy.
7. Offer specific services and resources that align with the issues and interests of the candidate segments. In the example above, a company shuttle for late-night workers, or subsidizing a local after school program could be the difference between an engaged and loyal workforce and severe turnover and retention issues.
Identify prominent trends in the segmentations you’re targeting, then address how your company solves for these within your recruitment messaging and include these in follow ups to attendees. From there, you can select where to attend or host your candidates.
Trend #3: Integrate Augmented & Virtual Reality
By next year, there will be 171 million virtual reality users. With that many users, implementing this technology at your events is a must. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are technologies that have been applied to everything from video games to real estate, so it’s no wonder the recruiting industry has started adapting their own uses. These two forms of digital experience can both garner interest in your upcoming event and enhance the candidate experience and your employer branding during.
For example, creating a VR tour of your company’s offices will help potential applicants place themselves in the environment they might work in. It is a great way to sho your candidates a virtual tour and also a day in the life of employees at your company.
Companies are also using AR and VR technology to impart meaningful employment to future employees. In many cases, it’s hard to show the impact of work within a cafeteria or hotel (where many events are held), but if an agricultural giant can show how modified crops are helping to feed those in need or a mutual fund can “offer a tour” through the high-tech investments they support, prospects are more likely to understand how their work will impact the world around them.
This technology can also help career event attendees see company benefits like corporate philanthropy initiatives, what work from home looks like or meet with their future colleagues across the globe!
Because AR can use mobile location technology, it is a great tool for day-of attendees. For instance, your team can build a geolocation social app filter for an in house event which will allow attendees to share their experience with followers in an engaging way. Or, even an interactive map can help candidates easily find your location within the event space.
Trend #4: Social Media at the Event
Social media can be used at all stages of recruiting events. With 92% of companies tweeting at least once per day, Twitter has become a great way to advertise and promote. 68% of adults use Facebook, making it the most popular social media platform by far, with Instagram second at 21%. How can you use these platforms at the event?
- Facebook and now Instagram allow you to livestream video, so streaming speakers or contests at your event can help generate attention to your booth and social media channels.
- Creating a catchy hashtag can help boost awareness and engagement during the event as well which can then be used across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and even LinkedIn.
- If you are promoting a sweepstakes contest or giveaway at your booth, you can announce your winners via social media during the event or let attendees know how they can enter.
- You can utilize Snapchat by creating and sponsoring specific geofilter for attendees to use and share at the event.
After the Event
Trend #1: The Use of Your ATS and/or CRM
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) systems are frequently used by recruiting teams. The difference between ATS and CRM includes an ATS’s ability to track submissions of those who have applied and a CRM services the relationship between the company and the applicant. According to Capterra, 75% of large companies use an ATS, therefore this is an extremely popular trend. However, effectively tracking candidates with an ATS is the problem. If used correctly, these systems can save a company thousands and thousands of dollars! For example, a company with eight people can save $10,000 and it only increases when the companies get bigger. ATS software is capable of providing the user experience needed to keep candidates engaged after the event as ended. Maintaining constant communication will also help your talent pipeline and eventually your workforce!
Trend #2: Automate Your Follow-Up
Trends important in the “Before the Event” stage can also be implemented when the events are over.
Text Messages: Texting is a great way to keep in touch with your candidates. In fact, with 81% of adults texting regularly, any form of outreach via their smartphones is a great tactic. Some questions you can ask can be about their experience at the event, if they had any further questions or if their opinion of your company has changed after the event. Using text messaging to follow up after the event also makes your event more personal and capitalizes on one of the key things you need in today’s candidate driven market – speed!
Imagine having a wonderful hiring event on Friday and calling and emailing throughout the following week to try to schedule an interview, just to find out your dream candidate accepted a job elsewhere. Instead, you can send an SMS Monday morning to schedule an interview and be his or her next employer in days. Texting not only optimizes your recruiting event spend, it allows you to cut your time to hire significantly, saving you internal resources as well.
Social media: Social media such as Twitter and Facebook can be used to post information about what candidates need to do after the event. Companies are also using it to field questions candidates have about an interview question or where to find information.
Email: Email automation is another highly effective and popular medium companies use to remind candidates of steps they need to take about the application process.
Trend #3: Measuring Data and Metrics From Your Event
The use of applications and on-site software can allow you to collect data and analyze it for future events. From the data based on attendance and applicatio submissions (to name a few), you can determine ROI, turnover rate, interviews per hire at each event, how many application submissions you receive per event and the cost per hire. Taking this all into consideration can help you measure the success of your last event campaign and plan for your next one so your not wasting precious recruiter time.
Using these trends, it’s time to evaluate your own recruitment program and the areas that could be improved upon. A few questions to ponder include:
1. Where are you looking?
2. Do you prefer a smaller in house event or larger campus event?
3. How can you make high volume hiring events more effective?
4. What tools do you use at your events?
5. What kind of data do you collect from your candidates?
6. How often do you follow up with candidates?
7. What tools do you use to follow-up with your candidates?
8. How important is maintaining a relationship with your candidate after an event?
CONCLUSION
Are you currently doing enough to keep up with current trends and the changing environment of the candidate-driven market? If you’re ready to beat out the competition for top talent at your next recruiting event, download the Oleeo Event brochure to learn more about how our product allows events to be less stressful and more eventful.
From informing your candidates about upcoming events and giving them the ability to RSVP, upload information and check-in on the mobile app to allowing event staff to see assignments, automate follow-up and more, Oleeo Event Management can help you attract, engage and hire the right diverse talent faster than ever before.
What is Offsite Recruiting .
Offsite recruiting is an approach to set you apart from competitors and let your target market know you’re serious about finding the best individual for the job. Going to the extent of basically creating your own type of recruiting event at one of these different types of locations let’s you recruit on your own terms rather than at a specific event. These unique recruiting events can help showcase the potential of candidates as well help your company find a solution to your business problems or find errors in a process you may have had in place for years. An attractive prize can also help pull in participants from different diverse backgrounds helping to increase the diversity of your talent pool.
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