How to Plan a Recruiting Event for Your Business

Why Host a Recruiting Event as a Business?

Recruiting events can provide managers and hiring teams with an opportunity to meet with candidates face to face. Unlike looking at a pile of resumes or applications, you can quickly get a feel for a candidate’s personality and skills. Hosting a hiring event can give you a large pool of potential candidates to work with. In addition to these benefits, promoting the event itself can get more eyes on your company. Depending on how the event is structured, an in-person event with current employees can give candidates a peek into the culture of your company.

What Kind of Recruiting Event Should My Business Host?

From online events to job fairs to a “hiring party”, trends in recruiting events have gotten more and more creative over the years. When it comes to planning your event, clarify what your goals and target audience are. For example, is there a real, urgent need to fill multiple positions, or are you just looking to raise awareness of your company? Here are some examples of hiring events and some of their benefits:

Virtual or Online Hiring Events- These can be low cost to host, and have less barriers for potential candidates to attend. Online events can also reach a larger geographic region.

Open House – This event can be a relaxed but professional way to show your space in person and have candidates chat with employees or leadership. If you have a new or interesting office space or building, this may be a good fit. Potential candidates can better imagine themselves in a role by seeing the working environment.

On-Site Job Fairs – With these events, if candidates come prepared, interviews can take place the same day. If you need to fill roles quickly, this may be a good fit.

Hiring Parties – Think of these as a modern twist on an open house or job fair. Depending on your industry, you can decorate your space, offer free food, or hold the event offsite at a class, restaurant, or bowling alley. Using this creative approach can create a buzz around your event and potentially entice more people to attend.

a female employee speaking at a recruiting event. She is holding a marker and standing in front of a group

What Day of the Week and Time Should You Hold Your Recruiting Event?

Holding your event on a weekday may mean that only applicants not currently in the work force can attend. However, scheduling an event on a weekend may make it more difficult to staff or for special speakers or management to attend. You may consider taking a poll of who is involved to see what dates and times are open for them.

For most corporate events, midweek days are popular choices to avoid the slump of low engagement Mondays and Fridays. If your event is styled more like a hiring “party” or perhaps more casual, an evening may work better.

Planning Your Recruiting Event

Decide on the goals of your hiring event

Set a budget

Choose a date and time

Choose and secure a venue

Plan a speaker, presentation, or video to show at the event

Reach out to your local chamber of commerce or other business organizations to see what ways they can help

Assign employees to help with the event

Make a list of furniture, equipment, and supplies you will need for the day of the event

Order any food, prizes, or giveaways you will need

Create a poster and/or a landing page to share with the details of the event as well as social media graphics

Where Can You Promote Your Recruiting Event?

After you have created flyers and/or a landing page with all of your event’s information, it’s time to spread the word. First, focus on channels that you as a company own.

Hang posters in your business in high-traffic areas such as entrances

Consider updating exterior signage

Email lists or newsletters – Consider reaching out with several emails leading up to the event, but don’t overwhelm inboxes

Social media sites like LinkedIn – Consider asking speakers, leadership, or employees to share the posts to get even more exposure

Chamber of Commerce sites

Community calendars

Depending on your budget, it may make sense to pay for some promotion of your event. Align with media that you think your ideal candidate would use. Here are some potential channels to pay to promote your event:

Paid social media posts

Paid search campaigns

Consider more traditional media depending on your audience such as radio or print

After the Event

Thank your attendees for coming to the event. Consider connecting with attendees on sites like LinkedIn.

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This article is for general informational purposes only and is not to be relied upon or used for any particular purpose. Cross Insurance shall not be held responsible in any way for, and specifically disclaims any liability arising out of or in any way connected to, reliance on or use of any of the information contained in this article. The information contained or referenced in this article is not intended to constitute and should not be considered legal, insurance, accounting or other professional advice, nor shall it serve as a substitute for the recipient obtaining such advice. The views expressed in this article are that of its author and do not necessarily represent the views of Cross Financial Corp. and its subsidiaries and affiliates (“Cross Insurance”) or Cross Insurance’s management or shareholders.