Recruitment of younger generation

Recently I received a message from Mario Märtson, where he wrote to me about one recruitment campaign where they were looking for SUPER PURCHASER to Netimarket (an online food store). Since the feedback for the campaign has been really impressive, in candidates wise, then I decided to share their story also with you.

Firstly, take a look to the advertisement visual: the young woman on the picture looks like a shopaholic who has just seen huge discounts. This impression is supported with the description of expected candidate: “You love shopping”, “To you the Black Friday is as important as Octoberfest is for men” or “You are self-confident as Shaquille O'Neal with his right-handed jump hook shots” etc.

Maybe at first it is a bit confusing to the readers that whom this company actually is looking for: the title doesn’t say much about future job, there is no job description added, and the company is also not so well-known. But I think that the first interest is generated with this different approach and probably the brightest readers also checked out company’s web page that gives a sufficient overview of their field of activity.

Since there weren’t any high demands for the candidates as for specific education, job experience or skills, then they decided that the job would fit perfectly to younger generation.  Because of this target group they decided to have a bit different approach to the ad. Mario, the creator of the ad, explained: ‘If we would have headlined the job ‘warehouse worker’ or ‘customer service’ then probably we would have alienated the target group. So therefore we came out with new job title, design and wording’.

The outcome of the recruitment ad: the advertisement had 15,000 views and s staggering 800 candidates!

So why were they so successful with their job advertisement? Certainly, there are a number of different reasons that I could name here, one of which is that they had a salary range pointed out in the ad (written on the last line). Secondly, however, in my opinion they had the advertisement highly targeted to specific audience. Here are some examples:

- Text message. They had a short and witty description of a person whom they are looking for. Please be aware, that young people may not read the long lists of duties and requirements, because it is boring for them.

- Photos are the must-be element in youth-oriented advertising. This is what catches their eye and what they notice. The best thing in this case would be a photo of a real person telling his/her story.

- Recruitment channel: on-line recruitment portal (they used CVKeskus, well-known job portal in Estonia). Let’s face it; the majority of today’s young people have grown up in computer environment, with playing games and using Internet. This means that the first place that they probably would use to look for a job is Internet and I am pretty sure that they prefer it to newspapers.

When it comes to hiring younger generation you must also consider next:

-          They are looking for a interesting job in modern working environment.

-          They are looking for a job where they have career and development opportunities.

-          They are looking for organization that are open to change and innovation.

-          They prefer flexible work, with flexible working hours and mobile working place.

-          They have grown up in the age of computer games: use gamification during their recruitment, trainings, etc.

-          They use social media to communicate with friends and family, as well, to look for a job. Which means that companies who doesn’t have an account in Facebook, Twitter, or any other site, does not exist for them

-          Employer Brand is something that matters to them; they care of the information that they hear from their friends and based on that they make their decision either to apply for the job or not.

-          They are looking for quick recruitment processes and quick decisions. They get bored with long selection processes and accept job offer from other company.

Takeaways:

-          If your target audience is younger generation (I mean graduates and people who just entered labor market) then you need to design your recruitment message (both the text and visual) so that it is based on their preferences.

-          I would recommend usage of electronic channels such as job portals, social media, etc to reach younger audience.

-          If possible mention the range of remuneration that you offer for the job – believe me, you will get more candidates to choose from.