When you think about using tech tools in recruiting, what comes to mind? Easing the flood of resumes through an applicant tracking system or scouring LinkedIn for intel on potential recruits?
With competition soaring for the best employees, it’s time to think more creatively. Companies are pulling out all the stops to attract top-tier candidates, and experiences and appearances are everything — selling the “sizzle with the steak,” so to speak.
In fact, 62 percent of global recruiting leaders cite employer branding as their top priority, according to LinkedIn’s 2016 Global Recruiting Trends report.
Check out how these somewhat unexpected companies are using technology in fun, creative ways to recruit top employees.
Citi Snaps Up Spectacles
Spectacles by Snap (the parent company of millennial fave and soon-to-IPO Snapchat) were all the rage this summer, sold via Snapbots, vending machines that would pop up in locations for a day or two. When they came to New York, Citi had to work fast to get their hands on them for a recruiting effort. They collected 14 pairs during three visits to a New York City pop-up store; with limited numbers sold to each customer, they had to enlist the entire social team – and one member’s parent – according to this news article.
The resulting videos, posted on all Citi’s social channels, will give candidates a peek inside life at Citi. What an on-trend way to demonstrate you speak the language of prospective young hires.
Goldman Sachs Makes Sweet Music With Spotify
Since millennials make up almost 75 percent of the audience of streaming service Spotify, it seems like the perfect place for a fashion or food brand to advertise. But Goldman Sachs, one of the leading global investment banks?
Yep, you’ll find Goldman recruiting ads on Spotify. The brand has also advertised on Snapchat, targeting students at 50 colleges.
“Spotify and Snapchat are unconventional media choices for us,” Amanda Rubin, global co-head of the company’s brand and content strategy, said to Bloomberg. “We’re trying to be valuable and help young people understand Goldman.”
The Spotify ad was designed to highlight its diverse workforce and the ability of employees to make a positive impact on society – elements that are important to millennials in considering a company.
GE and General Mills Take a Dive Into Virtual Reality
There’s never a perfect substitute for “being there,” but virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) can be the next best thing.
GE and GM are just two of the companies using VR to give candidates an up-close and personal experience.
GE uses a VR headset at career fairs to allow potential recruits to ride on a new GE locomotive and to explore GE’s subsea oil and gas recovery machines. “Virtual reality has let people experience GE and its technology in a way that would otherwise be inaccessible,” said Julie Grzeda, a director of global leadership programs and university relations at GE, in a Wall Street Journal article.
General Mills uses VR via a GoPro headset to give candidates a virtual tour of the workplace, so they can, say, wander up and down company hallways and see what the gym is like.
“It shows General Mills as an innovative company,” said Leo Timmons, General Mills’ information technology director/application development to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “We are always trying new things and trying to be different. … As soon as they see it, they recognize it and come over and want to try it.”
High tech can never replace the importance of high touch, but it can be one more opportunity to stand out in a crowded, competitive field.
What changes are you seeing in your company’s recruiting? We’d love to hear about your advances — high or low tech – in the comments below.
Lindsey Pollak is the leading voice on millennials in the workplace, trusted by global companies, universities, the world’s top media outlets — and, most importantly, by millennials themselves. A New York Times bestselling author, Lindsey began her career as a dorm RA in college and has been mentoring millennials — and explaining them to other generations — ever since. Her keynote speeches have audiences so engaged that, in the words of one attendee, “I didn’t check my phone once!” Contact Lindsey to discuss a speaking engagement for your organization.
