How to Plan a recruitment event

A recruitment event can be an effective way to find new talent, but it can also easily go wrong and produce none of your desired results. To ensure your recruitment event is a success, we detail in this article how to plan a recruitment event from start to finish.

For starters, knowing your hiring needs is crucial in choosing the best type of recruitment event to host. Here are three types of recruitment events you can choose to do: 

1. Open House Recruiting Event

Hosting an open house is a particularly warm way to welcome potential hires to your company. The goal of an open house is to create a relaxed environment and give prospective employees meaningful insights. 

Open house recruitment is an avenue for networking and Q&A between your team and candidates. Letting your candidates meet your team and see your company culture first-hand gives them a clear picture of what to expect from you. 

2. On-Site Job Fair

If you need to hire candidates quickly and en masse, consider holding a job fair or interview event. An on-site job fair is where a company announces various job opportunities and accepts applications on-site. If you’re going this route, make sure that you have effectively communicated what candidates should prepare to bring beforehand as well as your hiring process.

3. Creative Recruitment Events

Aside from the two traditional recruitment events mentioned above, there are a lot of fresh strategies you can consider if you’re looking to stand out. Some examples are: 

• Free gym session followed by a meet-and-greet
• “Bring a Friend” event for your own staff
• Public speaking engagement with an esteemed speaker in your industry
• A cocktail hour networking event
• Your very own product sampling and interactive review session
• Digital job fair through an interactive career page

Recruitment Event Planning

Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of planning your next recruitment event! Whatever type of event you want to host, these tips will surely help you execute a successful event that will bring in top professionals. 

Step 1: Plan Ahead

Procrastination is one surefire way to fail when it comes to event planning. While one of the benefits of a recruitment event is that it’s an informal setting for meeting new people, it still helps you formally achieve your objectives. Before you start planning, take some time to think about why you’re holding an event in the first place. Are you aiming for volume? Quality? Diverse attendees? Without defined goals, it would be hard to measure whether or not your event is a success. 

Step 2: Create a Timeline and Set a Budget

When planning your event, set a timeline with target dates. This will help you avoid any major missteps or complications down the road. It will also give you something to track as you continue moving forward. Set out everything that needs to happen between now and when your event takes place, including who needs what by when. 

As you do so, work out your budget as well. How much can you spend on each aspect of your recruitment event? Figure out everything you need and where to get funding ahead of time.

Step 3: Let People in Your Company Know

Make sure that employees and key stakeholders in your company know your event is happening. By tapping into your very own team, you can get insights and other contributions to make your event a success. It’s also a good idea to send out calendar invites and promote your event internally. Remember, your best advocates will always be your employees. Encouraging them to invite people in their networks will help get more people interested in your event. 

Step 4: Figure Out The Logistics

Come up with a checklist of everything that needs to be done. Making sure everything runs smoothly on the day relies heavily on how you figure out your event’s logistics. Here are some items that should be on your checklist:

• Venue and Theme. Book your venue ahead of time to make sure that it’s available on your chosen event date. Pick a venue and theme that is appropriate for your target candidates. 

• Event Date and Time. Find the best time that will work best for your candidates. Would the majority of your target audience attend on weekends? How about after hours? Also, make sure that your event is neither too long nor too short. 

• Check-In, Giveaways, and Branding. Come up with check-in table placements that make sense and help your candidates settle in nicely. Figure out the look and feel you want your event to have. Make sure that you have signage and key materials with your brand on them. Have everything ready – from greeting guests the moment they arrive until what you want them to take when they leave.

• Event Staff. Delegate tasks to your team. You can assign them as ushers, runners, or marshalls. Get them ready by letting them know when to arrive, what to wear, and their specific tasks and stations. 

• Social Strategy. Make sure to properly document your event to reach even those in the talent pool who weren’t able to attend. Come up with an event hashtag and live-tweet the event. You can assign someone on your team to handle social strategy and execution. 

• Contact Information. Find an effective way of collecting your attendees’ contact information. You can have them check-in through attendance sheets, QR Codes, or other online methods. It’s also helpful to give out your speaker’s contact information, such as Twitter handle or LinkedIn page.

Step 5: Get People to Attend

Make sure your event is on your target candidate’s radar. Get people excited about it and let them know what you’re looking for in your prospective employees. Here are tips on how to get a full crowd:

• Promote your event on all relevant platforms. Post it on social media! Create graphics that catch the eyes of your target candidates on sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. People are already on these networks, so you might as well use them for good!

• Send out emails. Email invites to your employee pipeline and database. Make sure that your message is clear on what and who you’re looking for. 

• Use a registration tool. Gather registrations online and send reminders as the day of the event nears. This is an effective way to spark excitement in your attendees. 

• Follow up. It’s best practice to follow up with the people who attended your event, whether you hired them or not. Keeping them in your database and building a relationship with them will help you get readily available leads for future positions. 

Things to Remember

Before hosting a recruitment event, remember to focus on making sure everyone feels welcome and leaves with a positive sense of your culture and employer brand. Keep in mind that most attendees won’t notice if something goes wrong, so do not stress over the little things. 

Lastly, don’t miss out on enjoying your very own event! Breathe, mingle, and network with top professionals there. Even if you don’t end up hiring each one of your attendees, giving yourself and everyone a good time can pay talent acquisition dividends in the future. 

DO YOU NEED HELP PLANNING YOUR NEXT RECRUITMENT EVENT? LET’S TALK!

We would be more than happy to help you out! We at Allied Insight understand the importance of standing out in today’s competitive recruitment landscape. Whether you need assistance with branding, digital marketing, or sales enablement – we’ve got you covered! 

Let top professionals see and know you as Allied Insight delivers strategic recruitment marketing solutions for your staffing agency. Contact us today!