Event-Based Recruiting Cathlene Johnson bio l email

Event-based recruiting targets events with demographics of the talent that an employer is interested in attracting to their organization. Because these events are traditionally none recruiting, none resume events a customized recruitment strategy is important to generating results from this 100% passive audience. Developing a recruitment strategy that considers how you attract this audience before, during and after the event is the key to ensuring your success. Event-based recruiting presents an opportunity for you to:

Create a greater impact than conventional forms of advertising.  

Create mind share about your organization by cultivating your company’s brand image within the event.

Deliver your message face to face to your targeted demographic.  

Source talent creatively in a less competitive employer marketplace.

Use multiple recruiting strategies to engage talent in new and unique ways.

Selecting An Event

Spend some time getting in touch with what is happening in the communities of the demographics you want to reach. Look for events that have an established local or national reputation.  Consider these questions before selecting an event:  

Will this event give my company access or increased visibility to the targeted demographic?

How does the income demographic compare to the salary ranges of positions currently open within our organization?

Is the income demographic characteristic of a professional audience?

What opportunities are available for my organization to become a part of this event?

What recruitment strategies and messages work best in this event environment?

Talk with the event sponsors to get insight on how you can develop recruiting strategies within the context of the event. Many events will have existing ideals about opportunities for you to partner in the event. Examples of these partnership opportunities might include:

Banner advertising online/onsite
Sponsorship opportunities
Co-branding opportunities
Display Exhibit opportunities
Seminar Presentation/ Speaking
Public Announcements
Hospitality
On-site Signage/Display Rights
Use of Recruitment Marks & Logos
Tickets

Additionally, before the event you must have a well thought out recruiting process in place. Remember these events are traditionally none resume, none recruiting passive events. You must establish a format that allows you to have current and future contact and conversations with the participants. Answer the following questions about your recruiting process:

How are you planning to engage participants about opportunities within your organization during and after the event?

How are you going to get participants to approach your booth or notice your presence at the event?

What type of information will you collect from participants?

How do you get enough information from the participants to engage them in a conversation about opportunities within your company?

How do you follow-up with the participants after the event is over?

How do you use the information you collected to create networking and referral opportunities in the future?

Lessons from the Road

Don’t be afraid of associating your organizations with events that don’t have a clear recruiting context.  Cisco Systems Events based recruiting participation in one of San Francisco largest wine tasting events gave them access to a passive talent pool that they were not able to reach in other recruitment efforts. If you are concerned that there is a lot of risk in this type of recruitment strategy, event based recruiting is a more cost-effective solution than search firms charging a per capita or headhunting fee. Additionally, one way to substantially minimize your cost is to capitalize on existing ethnic marketing strategies, community relations or consumer promotions that your organization may already have in place.

An on-going feature of the web site will be to high-light diversity focused marketing events and give examples on how to implement an event-based recruitment strategy to attract diverse professional passive candidates.