Maximising your opportunities for finding great talent at recruitment events
You’ve probably all heard the good news by now that Wired Sussex are running Talent2017, a skills festival for the digital sector, of which the first event will be a Jobs Fair.
You might think these type of events just benefit jobseekers, but there could be a whole lot more important opportunity than you imagine for unlocking and safeguarding your talent and future business!
Here’s a few tips on how you can maximise your time and investment in recruitment events to help protect your talent pipeline:
Plan your staff time
If you hear of events that could attract your potential talent, then make sure you plan to attend or follow them. This could mean making sure that the HR person or recruitment decision maker is free on the day. You may think that taking a day out of the office to talk to jobseekers is waste of a senior member of staff’s time, but if they’re the ones that really know best and the skills to look for, then they’re also the best talent spotters to deploy!
If the right staff are present at recruitment events they will also be able to ‘sell’ the roles, company and opportunities available. What’s more is they can directly probe potential talent and even conduct on the spot mini interviews. If you have spent a huge amount of time looking for a specific skill set which might be holding the business back, then any opportunity to find talent should be taken seriously.
Top things to consider to get the most out of the event
If you’d like tips on how to plan your stand, then maybe consider the following questions to help with your planning:
- Do you have all the business cards you need?
- Have you got those flyers printed yet?
- Are you going to order any branded merchandise?
- Have you ordered that exhibition banner you wanted?
- Do you have someone set up to run the social media surrounding the event?
- Has another member of staff been given the responsibility to market your attendance?
- Do you have those iPads ready to use?
- Have you set up that bespoke newsletter subscription form?
- How are you going to record details of the people that you speak to?
Making your stand ‘stand’ out
Some recruitment events like ours allow for you to have your own company exhibition stand which is a great way to get your brand seen and to be able to interact with jobseekers directly.
Make sure that you plan for your stand to be as attractive as possible and to catch the eye of the talent you are seeking. Think about who your market is and what might appeal to them. Consider eye catching displays, giving away branded items, sweets, or even create something interactive that attendees can get involved with.
Make it fun but don’t be intimidating either (remember not everyone likes chatting to strangers but it doesn’t mean they’re not the awesome technical genius you could be looking for). Run competitions, maximise your use of social media, use your creativity and have a varied set of staff for people to talk to.
Getting your brand seen in other ways
Recruitment events aren’t just about exhibition stands and many like ours have programmes of talks and workshops.
Offering to do a talk is a great way of promoting the business, describing roles and ultimately showing personality. By taking part in talks you’ll likely get a lot more free marketing too as it’ll be promoted by the event organisers and seen in programmes and well as your logo possibly being present on stage too.
Otherwise your company could become an official sponsor for the event meaning your branding will be seen in partnership with all the event marketing! Sponsorship is generally a more expensive option but if the need for talent is there and the event is hitting the right audience, then sponsorship could be the very best way to heighten your brand presence.
Don’t forget to make sure any vacancies you have are being advertised. The Wired Sussex Jobs Board attracts over 60,000 unique visitors a month to the showcase of jobs in the Digital, Media & Tech sector, so that’s probably the first place to start! Check out details here.
What else can you do to maximise your time at a recruitment event?
Recruitment events attract a variety of businesses so they’re also a great way to mingle and network. Generally you might be able to:
- Gain business contacts
- Check out what your competitors are up to
- Follow trends
- Collaborate
- Network (many events have networking or drinks opportunity for exhibitors)
Make sure you take plenty of business cards!
After the event
It goes without saying that all your efforts shouldn’t go to waste and need to be utilised further.
Make sure you have a strategy in place to gather the conversations you’ve had, follow up on them, ask them to join mailing lists; maybe even invite potential employees to your own open days or assessment events!
We hope this guide gives a few ideas of how to make the most out of recruitment events. If you would like further details about Jobs Fair we’re running on March 15th please see the link for more information and online booking form.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to email us via support@wiredsussex.com or speak to Laura by phone on 01273 692888.