Recruitment fairs and graduate exhibitions are brilliant ways to engage with a talented pool of candidates willing to provide your business with the new skills and innovation to continue development and commercial growth. At these fairs serious planning can be required to ensure you stand out and business is marketed in the right way to attract top talent. Does size matter? Definitely not, small companies have their advantages in this market place and despite large assumptions; people are not necessarily lured to big global brands, as there are plenty of things you can do to attract people on a slimmer budget.
Display Company Cultures
Talent is devised between those that are attracted to the ethos of your company and those that are lured into the company’s aura. Often small companies appear to be more laid back and the global brands are gleaned with polish and corporate responsibility. Allow the heat of your culture to be displayed in tandem with the work ethic to attract a wide mix of people. If you are targeting graduates include both somebody who recently succeeded on the graduate scheme and a senior manager twenty years on to display both the cultural present, and the prospective future.
If character is dominating your choice of a hire then present personality at every available opportunity. Dress in casual attire and engage the public to chat with you over coffee and assess personality and positivity. This is a great authentic way to understand the people who may be working for you.
Flexibility
Working arrangements and company satisfaction are defined by the flexibility provided in employment and the world is filled with people seeking that flexibility. Design and promote different roles within the company that allow you to maintain a social life and mix the professional with the personal. There is no hard advertising with the main job role at a fair and intertwining the mechanics of the position. Company perks including holidays and cars always go down a treat.
The Stand
Don’t underestimate the number of variations a recruitment stand can have to engage your audience. The exhibition stand design can incorporate digital technology, portable displays, advertising and social media. Encourage people to Tweet their experience in real-time and continue to publicise the event socially prior and post the exhibition day. This is excellent publicity that will likely go a significant way to helping the recruitment process and is an excellent public relations exercise.
At your stand why not provide industry resources as an incentive for people to visit and take something else away from the experience. Live demonstrations or interactive media of your companies working life is likely to go the extra mile to impress people and never fail to communicate by starting up the initial conversation.
Social Media
Promote the event on social media by creating a timeline an event on Facebook, Twitter and your company’s newsfeed and newsletter. Build excitement based around the additional opportunity provided by people able to take to company senior and professionals about the industry and jobs. Don’t forget the global online community is massive and the needle in a haystack is more likely to be found by media publications of all employer engagement then targeted streams of communication.
Related: How Social Media Can Help You Find Graduate Jobs
James Barnett is an author on behalf of Nimlok providing research articles into innovative business strategy and recruitment methodologies.
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