Creative Recruitment Campaigns: 5 Examples and How to Succeed

Table of contents:1. 5 creative recruitment campaigns2. How to create a creative recruitment campaign?3. ConclusionThe trend is clearly toward creative recruitment campaigns which, when well executed, have numerous positive outcomes for companies.This type of campaign can indeed create an atypical environment conducive to identifying the best candidates for a position. It can also help attract employees who are truly aligned with the company.Captivating recruitment campaigns offer many other advantages. Companies that take this gamble generally stand out from the competition, particularly in the job market. They also benefit from significant employer brand visibility.Are you also planning to try this type of campaign? Discover here 5 creative recruitment campaigns you can draw inspiration from, along with a mini guide to get started.

5 creative recruitment campaigns

Every year, new creative and sometimes unconventional recruitment campaigns are implemented to recruit effectively.Indeed, many companies are riding the wave of originality and the results are generally very impressive. The human element is increasingly highlighted and even recruitment tests are evolving. For example, discover a new style of recruitment test here.Here are 5 creative and ingenious recruitment campaigns carried out in various sectors in recent years.

1 - Burger King reverses the roles

The world of food service and fast food in particular is known for the complexity of its working conditions. While companies in this sector may have more difficulty recruiting, Burger King is doing very well with its latest creative recruitment campaign.The HR campaign essentially involved taking the opposite approach to the problem of difficult working conditions in food service. With its concept "Burger King® doesn't recruit, Burger King® gets recruited; and we proclaim it in our cover letter," this giant gave power to people looking for a position in this fast-food chain.When it comes to how to recruit sales professionals in a talent shortage market, this masterstroke provides good leads. The concept indeed allowed Burger King to run a creative recruitment campaign that helped them find more than 3,000 talents in an industry where it's not easy to attract new employees.This campaign also burnished its image and reinforced its status as the leader of the burger market in France. In practice, the company put itself in the candidate's shoes by unveiling an original cover letter that was greatly appreciated and widely shared on social media.In this correspondence, BK was applying for the position of best employer in the hearts of French people with values such as humility, humor, sharing, and transparency.If you want to draw inspiration from Burger King for your creative recruitment campaign, learn the basics of CV-free recruitment. That would be a good start.

2 - SNCF's creative recruitment campaign on TikTok

As the railway specialist in France, SNCF had to step out of its comfort zone to successfully carry out a recruitment process for several thousand people as part of a team reinforcement project.This creative recruitment campaign based on TikTok content had three main objectives:

• Attract a large audience;
• Reach a public of young graduates;
• Showcase rail industry careers.

Through this creative recruitment campaign, SNCF wanted to introduce rail careers to a young audience. The campaign consisted of creating short videos that respect the codes and tones of the famous social network TikTok.It was primarily supported by seven highly influential TikTokers, each responsible for presenting a specific career. SNCF was able to build higher-performing teams and the objectives of this creative campaign were achieved thanks to the large audience of these influencers.Social media in general and TikTok in particular are increasingly becoming part of innovative recruitment campaigns for companies of all sizes. Indeed, they provide access to a vast network and numerous marketing tools to personalize and adjust communication.How do you know if your recruitment process is the right one? You must now integrate social media into your recruitment strategy.

3 - Disney's storytelling for an innovative recruitment campaign

The Disney giant is well known for its many stories that delight countless fans, both children and adults, around the world. However, no one expected this company to bring its magical universes into its recruitment processes.For its creative recruitment campaign, Disney features employee testimonials where they share their workplace experiences without filters. These storytelling approaches considerably improve the employer brand and generate numerous applications for various positions.How to recruit people you get along with and how to identify them? The recruitment strategy of this cinema giant provides an effective answer to this question: You need to find a way to attract candidates who share the same values as the company and who will thrive in the work environment it offers.While Disney is a brand with tremendous notoriety, this approach can be adapted to all companies, regardless of their size. You can draw inspiration from it to create a creative and tailored recruitment campaign.

4 - A music video to strengthen the nursing staff at Elbeuf Hospital

The Covid-19 epidemic caused significant damage in many sectors and particularly in healthcare. Among other things, several hospitals and medical facilities are understaffed and need to fill nursing positions.To attract the best profiles, the CHI d'Elbeuf located near Rouen chose an original and atypical application method. In fact, the hospital team produced a music video in which staff members highlight the center's strengths. They emphasize:

• Versatility;
• Family spirit;
• Team spirit;
• Technical expertise.

It's no longer just about degrees and experience. Candidates must also possess certain behavioral skills. The question of why you should bet everything on soft skills in recruitment is no longer up for debate.The immersive video of the medical teams at CHI d'Elbeuf is part of a creative and effective recruitment campaign that stands out from traditional job postings in medicine.

5 - The challenge from American telecom company Verizon

Better known in the USA than in Europe, Verizon is a powerhouse in the telecommunications industry. To recruit software developers, the American company adopted a creative recruitment campaign that is trendy and praised for its playful approach.This is indeed the gamification of recruitment, which involves finding talents perfectly suited to the position through games. This original technique has the advantage of placing candidates in relaxed and realistic contexts where they express themselves freely. It goes against traditional job interviews, which are often stressful and mechanical.More specifically, Verizon uses challenges in this creative recruitment campaign. The company came up with the idea of proposing a logic puzzle in the form of a riddle sent to candidates on Instagram.This captivating creative recruitment campaign was a great success and had many positive outcomes for the brand. You can also take advantage of gamification to assess the potential of your current and future employees.

How to create a creative recruitment campaign?

All business sectors are increasingly competitive. So, to find and hire talented and engaged candidates, it's necessary to come up with the right campaign ideas.Should you follow your intuition in recruitment? The answer isn't absolute, but it's better to turn to effective and adapted recruitment campaigns to avoid making mistakes.The recruitment manager must no longer settle for traditional solutions. They must ask themselves how to become an augmented recruiter and find creative and innovative solutions to attract the best profiles.To help you, here are the steps to set up a well-thought-out creative recruitment campaign.

Identify the position to fill

Clearly identify and define the position(s) to fill. This is the first step in setting up an effective recruitment campaign, whether innovative or not. It involves identifying the real human resources needs to make appropriate choices throughout the process.Furthermore, HR recruitment campaigns are primarily HR marketing actions. As such, they must be understood and targeted toward a specific audience.If you want to recruit young medical graduates for example, you could choose the usual channels to post your job ads. However, if you'd rather set up a captivating recruitment campaign, you can follow the example of CHI d'Elbeuf.

Define your ideal candidate in a creative recruitment campaign

For each application, the ideal employee has the right skills to carry out the position's duties. You can refer to the job description and use it as a reference. Beyond technical skills, interpersonal abilities and soft skills are of great importance.New hires must also share the values and qualities of the company's employees. You also need to find a way to ensure their commitment and motivation in order to reduce turnover rates within your company.A creative recruitment campaign, like the gamification approach used by Verizon, allows you to pay more attention to the human element and candidates' personalities. You can draw inspiration from it to adopt a tailored HR recruitment strategy.

Communicate a strong, original message that is true to your company

Once the positions to fill are defined and the ideal candidate profile is established, you need to convey a compelling and captivating message to the target audience. In a creative recruitment campaign, it's even more important to focus on originality and the strength of the message. It should, among other things:

• Include some touches of humor;
• Reference the company's industry;
• Reflect the company's beliefs and values;
• Create a sense of closeness with the reader;
• Include some illustrations if possible;
• Remain concise to avoid turning away the best candidates;
• Highlight the benefits of joining the company.

Share your message effectively and creatively

The originality of a message is also linked to how it's distributed. An HR recruitment strategy can innovate through the content of the message or through the communication channel used.Simply put, approaches that go beyond the ordinary capture attention much better. For example, while social media are now essential marketing tools, this wasn't as obvious just a few years ago.The first HR recruitment campaign on Snapchat was launched in 2017 by McDonald's and was a true novelty on that social network.Many other major brands like Google, Ikea, Heineken, Michel et Augustin, etc. have used innovative and original communication methods. Unanimously, these marketing strategies have been impactful.However, sharing the job offer message must also be done in accordance with the company's values and identity. This point is important at every stage of a recruitment process, whether innovative or not, to have engaged and loyal employees.

Conclusion

Ultimately, a creative, offbeat, or captivating recruitment campaign immediately generates more excitement and interest.When well executed, it offers numerous benefits to companies. The main ones include recruiting true talents suited to the positions to fill and improving the employer brand.These two advantages can then effectively contribute to increasing the company's revenue and ensuring its sustainability.However, it's important to keep in mind that a creative recruitment campaign follows certain rules and is implemented through a methodical and rigorous process that aligns with the recruiting company's culture.Get a demoTry free for 14 days.