Employer Hosted Career Open Houses- your thoughts?
Sorry for those that may have already read this on my blog: www.recruitingfrontlines.blogspot.com.
As I spend more time focused on the processes and strategies that the best local businesses use to attract the best local talent, and how the best local talent finds the best local career opportunities, it's clear to me that a face time is one aspect of the recruitment process that is absolutely vital, and cannot be replaced with technology- no matter how fancy, shiny, user friendly, or cutting edge.
That being said, I also see more and more people relying more heavily on the internet and placing less emphasis on this valuable face time. Face Time does not include video conferences, as a two dimensional image cannot substitute for three dimensional body language. So, if we generally agree that the most valuable form of connecting with other people and identifying the right fit for ourselves and our companies, why this decreased engagement with on-site or in-person career events?
There are some very good reasons, actually. Many feel that job fairs only attract a certain demographic, and if the jobs you have aren't in that demographic, it's perceived to be a waste or time. On the job seeker side, many people see the "same old" companies represented time and again at career events and job fairs, which normally consist or larger national organizations with larger recruiting budgets. Rarely will you find a career fair filled with great, small to mid-sized, privately owned, profitable, growing organizations from a variety of industries. I certainly understand these objections and concerns, and am willing to acknowledge their validity on some level. So, how do you attract the right kind of candidates to fill your current needs, increase your pipeline of talent for future important placements, and identify the next wave of hires for any revolving positions you have?
Have you ever hosted your own career event? If so, did you track your ROI?
What concerns do you have about hosting a career open house?
As I spend more time focused on the processes and strategies that the best local businesses use to attract the best local talent, and how the best local talent finds the best local career opportunities, it's clear to me that a face time is one aspect of the recruitment process that is absolutely vital, and cannot be replaced with technology- no matter how fancy, shiny, user friendly, or cutting edge.
That being said, I also see more and more people relying more heavily on the internet and placing less emphasis on this valuable face time. Face Time does not include video conferences, as a two dimensional image cannot substitute for three dimensional body language. So, if we generally agree that the most valuable form of connecting with other people and identifying the right fit for ourselves and our companies, why this decreased engagement with on-site or in-person career events?
There are some very good reasons, actually. Many feel that job fairs only attract a certain demographic, and if the jobs you have aren't in that demographic, it's perceived to be a waste or time. On the job seeker side, many people see the "same old" companies represented time and again at career events and job fairs, which normally consist or larger national organizations with larger recruiting budgets. Rarely will you find a career fair filled with great, small to mid-sized, privately owned, profitable, growing organizations from a variety of industries. I certainly understand these objections and concerns, and am willing to acknowledge their validity on some level. So, how do you attract the right kind of candidates to fill your current needs, increase your pipeline of talent for future important placements, and identify the next wave of hires for any revolving positions you have?
Have you ever hosted your own career event? If so, did you track your ROI?
What concerns do you have about hosting a career open house?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Gireesh Sharma on -
Hi Jason,
As you mentioned face-to-face meetings like in an open house are better option, I do not disagree with you. However, there is lot of hassle in it and it takes resources too, especially if you get a lot of candidates. You need to have space, need people to interact with them and take care of them. I think cost, management and hassle are there things that discourages open houses.sometimes it may not be fun but a nightmare...
-
Permalink Reply by Ron Ulrici on -
When I worked in Silicon Valley, we used this method a lot. The advantage in the valley was that there were hundreds of electronic companies, so that it was easy for candidates to drop by after work. Yes, it took effort and time to organize it, but a big upside was that it was visible to the managers on how much work HR was doing for them. We also involved the managers who did on the spot interviewing.
-
Permalink Reply by JayB on -
Thanks Ron! I'm curious about how you went about promoting the event as well- did you advertise? How did the right people find out about it?
-
Permalink Reply by Ron Ulrici on
-
Jason,
This was some time ago, so we did that old fashioned advertising in the paper thing. We had the San Jose Mercury News which almost every electronics engineer read on Sunday morning. We talked about flyers on cars in the parking lots of the big electronic companies which I think is still a good idea...remember our employment candidates were close by. Many times my recruiters would call all of their contacts. We asked our engineers to invite their friends in other companies. We actually did some direct mailing campaigns too. Today, I would think that all of the social networks on the net would be a method to pass the word.
© 2010 Created by Erik Samdahl.
Powered by 
.
