With the festive celebrations out of the way and New Years resolutions set, we come back to the office to pick back up from where we left off. Students return to complete their second half of the academic year, some for the final time. In this blog we will detail how recruitment strategies have adapted and how to consider these in your own recruitment plans.
As recruiters begin to set up those ‘new year, new job’ straplines, maybe it is time we look at how engaging young talent has changed and whether we need to rethink our traditional approach.
According to a whitepaper by PLOY, 58% of young people watch up to three videos about an employer before applying. PLOY: The Early Careers Social Network.
With the rise in social media and platforms such as TikTok, it’s no wonder why young people are using these platforms for recruitment research as well. With some brands showing the brands behind the scenes look and employee generated content it could help not only attract customers, but talent also.
Lights, Camera, Action
Many companies and universities have been including ‘day-in-the-life’ video content in their social media plans. It is also no wonder why this works so well, we love to be nosey! Aside from that, it can also be the aesthetics which make this content popular.
TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat – all these have allowed people to open the door into their worlds. Giving us all a sneak peek into their daily activities. So why not do the same for recruitment?
Platforms such as PLOY are showing that recruitment is starting to change. Some businesses have already started to move away from attending on campus careers fairs, opting for more bespoke events instead. There could be several factors for this, for example one being that careers fairs, whilst brilliant for large scale engagement, may be just that – too large scale.
Considerations when picking a new recruitment channel
It may be hard to find many cons for using additional platforms to reach your desired audience, especially after seeing the benefits, but it is still important to balance these out to help you know if this would be right for you.
Below we have a listed a few things to consider:
- When a new platform comes out, the most important question to ask yourself before jumping in is – will we have the capacity to give this 100%? It would be wise to add this same question to a recruitment platform.
- Setting the tone – whilst it is important to show the ‘fun side’ to a company, it is important to also balance this out. Professionalism will still be an important message to include.
- Who is your audience? If you are looking to recruit final year university students and recent graduates, it would be worth considering this approach. But it would still be worth also continuing with the other style of advertising to ensure you reach as many people as possible. Whilst most young people are on social media, there would still be a percentage that don’t use this in the same way as others. Especially with the rise of online safety that has dominated the news in recent years.
LinkedIn is currently a platform many businesses use for recruitment and could be a place to start if you wanted to test the waters. Before moving to new recruitment platforms such as PLOY.
Some examples of businesses using current online platforms to recruit include Lounge Underwear, who recently set-up a fun ‘Lounge, Actually’ campaign to promote working with the company via LinkedIn. A take on the classic Christmas film ‘Love, Actually’.
Next have been doing a ‘Life at NEXT’ on their YouTube channel and sharing on LinkedIn, giving potential new recruits an insight into a day to day at the company.
Making recruitment more accessible
Stepping away from video content and social media for just a moment, another area to highlight in terms of changing times is transparency. Rolls Royce recently announced they are making their recruitment process transparent by sharing interview questions and what they look for in assessment centres.
This could be seen as another example of how you can engage with young talent in 2025. Making interview questions visible isn’t a completely new thing, but it is certainly rare. For those who are neurodiverse, it can also help to make the interview process seem less daunting and therefore more inclusive.
Providing useful guides, tips and example interview questions is another great way to engage with your future talent. Circling back to online content, you could also incorporate this within your video content on social media, so sharing some tips on your platforms for example.
This year, we will…
It is certainly clear that 2025 could be an interesting year on the recruitment style front. It would be interesting to see how this develops over the year and whether more companies begin to opt for this within their overall recruitment plan.
If you would like support on your recruitment for 2025, our Employer Engagement team offer a tailored service for the needs of businesses. Whether you are looking to recruit talent or raise the profile of your business, the team can help define these through our Employer Charter.
