6 New Recruiting Event Trends You Need to Know

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.

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.

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

While 97.9% of the respondents in the NACE Recruiting Benchmarking Report from 2017-18 said traditional schools were the main places they search for new talent, companies have begun to target trade schools, alternative MBA programs, coding programs and technical bootcamps. While not as traditional as campus events, these intensive programs allow employers to get qualified talent much faster and with more focused skill sets that are directly related to the jobs they want to occupy. Recruiters and talent acquisition professionals are always looking for highly qualified technical talent and these intensive programs and their students have started to meet that need.

Benefits: Because the students of these programs have spent 12+ weeks completely submerged in what they love, non-traditional graduates of these programs tend to have a higher level of engagement. The time frame to complete these programs is generally less than a traditional associate or bachelor degree. Some larger companies spend a great deal on specific campuses, edging out companies with smaller budgets or less name recognition; these bootcamps and technical programs can level the playing field. In fact, some employers are even offering scholarships and guaranteed positions.

The NACE study found that companies have increased diversity efforts by 24% from last year. Those who have implemented a diversity effort have targeted specific schools as a technique of doing so. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are a great source of diverse talent for companies. In fact, such companies have favored HBCUs with 83.5% doing so.

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!