5 Stand Out Recruiting Event Ideas

Recruiting events are a great way to meet the people you want in your talent pipeline, and familiarize your community with your employer brand. However, you want to make sure your events are impactful and really get attention. Although tried-and-true recruiting events are effective, it's also a good idea to think outside the box and come up with unique ideas that will get people through the door. The following are some stand out virtual recruiting event ideas and in-person events that can help you attract the talent you want.

1. Friendly Competitions

Competitions can help you meet potential candidates in an informal setting so you get a glimpse of their personalities and an idea of how they might fit into your work culture. You can create your competitions to assess a specific skill, such as a sales pitch contest for business students, where they think on their feet as they pitch a product assigned to them, or a hackathon where computer science students solve a specific problem they may encounter in the workplace. To attract more participants, as well as encourage people to really put their best foot forward, you may want to offer prizes.

2. Events Promoting Mental Health 

Like their older counterparts, Gen Z workers are concerned about the state of their mental health, but unlike older people in the workforce, early in career talent feels much more pressure. As they navigate being new to the workforce in highly uncertain times, many of these workers succumb to stress, anxiety, and depression, so they are looking for a workplace that cares about their well-being and makes mental health a priority. You can demonstrate this to candidates by organizing events to showcase what your company is doing to help employees maintain good mental health. Bring in healthcare professionals who can talk about the importance of maintaining good mental health and even teach mindfulness techniques that can keep people centered. Also, offering breakout sessions with individual attendees will help you learn about their workplace concerns and let them know how your company can address them.

3. DEI-Themed Programming

Diversity, equity, and inclusion is extremely important to job seekers, so you want to be sure to show your commitment to DEI as much as possible. Organize DEIB-themed events where you can tell job hunters how you’re promoting diversity and inclusion at your company, while amplifying the voices of those from underrepresented backgrounds. You can have the employees from diverse groups discuss their experiences at your organization and talk about the career paths they’ve taken there, as well as invite members of employee resource groups to talk about how they’re tackling the specific challenges employees from underserved communities face in the workplace.

4. Job Search Advice Sessions

Since recent grads, as well as students who are about to graduate from college, may be involved in the first real job search of their careers, organizing events that provide valuable job hunting tips can help make the process easier for them, while showing you care about their success. For example, you can organize sessions about resume writing where you review attendee’s resumes and provide feedback to help them highlight the most important information. In addition, you can have a third-party resume writing expert come in to offer advice on how attendees can impress potential employers with their resumes. 

Also, job search advice events may include pointers on being effective during job interviews, and you can conduct mock interviews and give attendees feedback in real time. Evaluate attendees’ performance and let them know ways they can improve, whether their weakness is how they answered questions or presented themselves with nonverbal cues.

5. Layoff Partnership Event

This type of recruiting event may sound macabre, but it's beneficial for all parties involved. When companies lay off staff, partner with those organizations to create a small event where you meet the people who lost their jobs and provide information about your company. This will benefit you because you get exposed to potential hires, while the laid off workers quickly get the opportunity to find new employment. In addition, the organization laying off workers can rest assured that their best talent will have the chance to land on their feet faster.

Chances are, events are already part of your recruitment strategy, however, it's always a good idea to rethink how you handle them so you can get more attention—and attendees—because you're offering something different. These hiring event ideas will not only attract potential applicants, but also provide value that shows you care about their experience.