Employees come and employees go. They get appointed for business progression, but they leave for greener 
pastures. Hiring the perfect candidate is quite a demanding task. If you think that a simple ad posting will get you what you want, then you are in need of a serious reality check.
Posting ads online or elsewhere can work for entry-level hires, but senior level professionals hardly care for such stationing. They travel companies through word of mouth, or networks, commonly known as LinkedIn in the 21st Century.
Keeping this trend in mind, companies today are trying to develop new and innovative techniques to discover, target, and attract potential employees when recruiting to fill senior-level management positions, or job profiles that require a niche skill.
Game Your Way Through
A large number of companies have started using video games to weed out the no-getters from the go-getters. The use of gaming principles, or gamification, helps in identifying talented candidates by posing virtual challenges that require a specific skill-set to win the game. This skill-set is what is required for the given job profile.
In addition, gamification helps increase brand awareness. A fun game can help associate the brand with company culture and positive values, while introducing the organization to candidates who have little or no idea about its functioning.
Some examples:
- Marriott International’s “My Marriot Hotel”
- Mitre Corporation’s “Job of Honor”
- Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’s “Virtual office tour”
Challenges & Contests
It gets very tiring to leaf through a hundred resumes when you’re looking to fill a position that requires a niche skill. In such situations, companies have come up with the idea of presenting candidates with puzzles, contests, or challenges that require the much-needed niche skill for successful completion.
The results so obtained can give quality information about the candidate and pave the way for future consideration. Some examples include:
- Quixey’s one-minute challenge – win $100 by correctly solving a one-minute computer programming problem.
- Google’s cryptic billboard – solving mathematical puzzles.
- SeatGeek’s site hacking – hack into the site (back-end) to submit your resume.
- US Department of Defense’s robotics race.
- Las Vegas – Hotel MGM Grand’s “Iron chef” competition.
Social Media Paradigm
You want to know if a candidate is worth your time? Check his twitter feed.
Social media portals have become commonplace when it comes to creative recruitment procedures. Through websites like Facebook and LinkedIn, recruiters are able to target potential candidates for hire as they can reach out to a wide audience base.
Some companies, however, have progressed ahead by discovering unique platforms that highlight their company culture or create content to establish a viral campaign. Some examples include:
- NYC’s furniture company – The New Traditionalists’ “Help Wanted” board. They used Pinterest to spread the message.
- Hard Rock Café’s “Work for us” app. They used Facebook to publicize their intent. A company that normally spends $25, 000 on recruitment campaigns, spent just $2000 this way.
Tinder of Employment
Recruiting is a lot like dating. The long and arduous process of finding the right match works in employment circles as well. Taking some quality inspiration from the online dating world, a new job search app called Jobr has hit the market.
Its interface is very similar to that of Tinder. It too flashes images for consideration, only that they show description of potential jobs as opposed to potential dates.
This app has successfully made hiring a two-way street. Both the candidate and the recruiter need to swipe right in order to demonstrate interest and create a match.
The more this app is used, the better it gets.
The Undercover Recruiter
Applicants claim they are determined, hard-working, and exceptionally skilled in niche areas.
You really can’t vouch for their honesty till after you see them perform, which normally happens on the first day of work. So how do you know whether a future employee is telling the truth and will conduct himself, while taking the interview?
Go undercover, you recruiter.
- First Merit Bank has come up with secret shoppers who patrol retail stores in a bid to seek out those with great customer service skills.
- Volkswagen’s covert job ad. It was placed on the undercarriage of damaged cars at repair shops across Germany.
In the end, in order to have effective recruitment strategies in place, identify where the current ones are lacking, the available resources, and finally, determine the kind of person you need for the smooth functioning of the company.
Happy hiring!
Latest posts by Kamlesh Gupta (see all)
- Gift Yourself a Promotion in These Five Steps - April 7, 2016
- Being Creative: 5 Ways to Land the Perfect Hire - March 4, 2015
- Changing Vista of Human Resource Management - October 23, 2014
