Event Types: A Guide to Recruiting Events

It’s no secret that organizations are struggling to attract and retain talent. In fact, according to a recent report from Goldman Sachs, 90% of companies looking for new workers are having difficulty finding them.

To win the war for talent in this challenging job market, organizations must put their best foot forward and do everything possible to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack. And one easy way to do that is by hosting recruiting events.

What is a recruiting event?

A recruiting event is an exhibition-style event used to source talent. By combining recruiting efforts with your event strategy, companies can attract a greater variety of talent by delivering an experience that most competitors aren’t.

A growing number of organizations are using recruiting events because they make it easy to get face time with several candidates in a time-efficient manner. Whether the event is virtual, in-person, or hybrid, hiring managers and other team members can talk to real people and better understand what they’re like.

It’s a much better way to get to know a prospective employee than sifting through hundreds of resumes and applications filled with text. Plus, assuming you can source talent and fill positions, you may end up with a candidate pool you can tap into should future opportunities arise.

Recruiting events also make it easier for candidates to understand what it’s like to work at your company. By interacting with employees, observing content, and seeing what the event experience is like, candidates can learn more about company culture, which can help them determine whether the job is a good fit.

What are the different types of recruiting events?

Event organizers have become increasingly creative when planning recruiting events in recent years. Today, there are many different types of recruiting events, such as the following:

• Bootcamps
• Hackathons
• Networking events
• Competitions
• Expos and conferences
• Workshops
• Virtual recruiting events
• Recruitment fairs

Who goes to recruitment events?

Attendees at recruiting events can include the following:

• Job seekers
• Recruiters
• Hiring managers
• Executives
• Training and coaching personnel
• Media
• Vendors

What do companies hope to get out of recruiting events?

Companies host recruitment events to source talent, build candidate pools, and raise brand awareness. While some organizations host one major recruiting event annually, others host several scattered across the country to source talent in different geographies.

What do attendees hope to get out of recruiting events?

Attendees participate in recruitment events to find jobs, identify potential employer fit, and learn more about companies they’re considering working with. At the same time, attendees can network with other job seekers and many different employees.

How To Plan a Recruitment Event

The benefits of recruiting events are pretty evident. Unfortunately, you can’t just decide to host such an event and experience the outcomes you’re hoping for. As you begin planning your next recruitment event, keep these tips in mind to increase your chances of success.

1. Plan and Understand Your Objectives

Ask yourself the following: What exactly are you trying to accomplish at your recruiting event? Are you trying to fill specific positions or simply source talent for the future?

After you’ve determined your objectives, you need to figure out the people you need to make it happen. The earlier you include the team in the process, the faster you can figure out what stakeholders you need to pull off an event that delivers. At this stage, you’ll also have to determine whether you want to host an in-person, virtual, or hybrid event.

2. Advertise Your Event

You might plan the best event in the world. But if job seekers don’t know about it in the first place, can you expect them to attend? As your event approaches, publicize it via blogs, social channels, and email marketing. Depending on how many positions you’re trying to fill, it may be worth putting advertising dollars behind your event content to ensure more people see it.

3. Master Logistics and Be Ready To Adapt

As every event planner knows too well, it’s only a matter of time before something goes wrong. To mitigate any potential bad outcomes at your next event, you must master the logistics and make sure you know everything you can about the venue, event software, and vendors you choose. At the same time, it’s also essential to learn how to navigate the uncertainty you might face with event contingency planning.

4. Follow Up With Candidates and Other Job Seekers

Once the event is over, your job is just getting started. Set a strategy for engaging with candidates and other job seekers in the weeks and months following your event. Good news: Event management software can be beneficial by enabling you to automate this process.

Examples of Top-performing Recruiting Events

Now that you have a better idea of what you need to do to create an effective recruiting event let’s look at three real-world examples of successful events.

1. Amazon Career Day

Each year, the leader in e-commerce hosts Amazon Career Day, an event that gives job seekers advice on how to take the next step in their careers, provides personalized career coaching sessions, and offers training opportunities.

In 2021, Amazon held Career Day as a virtual event, attracting upwards of 1 million job applicants from 170 countries. More than 2,000 Amazon recruiters individually coached 30,000 job seekers during this event.

2. Diversify by Spotify

In 2015, Spotify hosted a hackathon in Stockholm called Diversify, bringing together 40 tech students from different backgrounds to hack, write code, and meet new people. The event included 15 Spotify employees who acted as coaches and broke the participants into teams with 50% men and 50% women, each of whom had different technical interests. To learn more about the event, check this out.

3. NBA Hackathon

In 2019, the NBA hosted a hackathon focused on business and basketball analytics. Appealing to students who wanted to become data scientists, developers, statisticians, and engineers — many of whom hoped to work in the NBA someday — the event enabled teams to collaborate with league analytics professionals and solve real-world basketball-related analytics problems.

How To Host a Virtual Recruiting Event With Bizzabo

If you are hosting a recruitment event soon, Bizzabo can help you ensure it’s a seamless experience for everyone involved. Our purpose-built event experience platform gives organizations all the tools they need to create a successful recruiting event, including sponsor and exhibitor tools, email automation capabilities to keep candidates engaged, and website templates that make advertising your event a breeze.

Request a demo today for more information on how Bizzabo can help you maximize your next recruiting event.