Virtual events have become the new normal due to the impact of Covid-19. According to few studies, the usage of online events has risen drastically since the outbreak of the pandemic situation.
Among the many changes and transitions across various fields and departments, even talent acquisition teams have adapted to the changes and quickly shifted their hiring practices from face-to-face recruiting events and onsite interviews to an end-to-end virtual recruiting process.
Many companies are now organizing virtual hiring events as they are designed to connect job seekers with hiring managers or recruiters virtually.
Importance Of Virtual Hiring Events
Through Virtual hiring events, candidates looking for new jobs can have an opportunity to interact with representatives of the organization, understand more about the job opening and organizational culture. At the same time, companies can market themselves to a diverse range of talented candidates.
Virtual hiring events enable a highly personalized approach to recruitment for companies making it beneficial for both job seekers and organizations, thereby saving a lot of time and resources.
Before hosting virtual recruitment events, organizations should ensure they set basic guidelines so that the entire process goes smoothly and they can make a great impression.
Creative Ideas For Conducting Virtual Recruiting Events
Digitization has resulted in most companies openly opting for the virtual setup to host recruiting events. The current pandemic crisis is a more apparent reason leading to this paradigm shift.
These virtual recruiting events have also played a considerable role in maximizing brand exposure. However, different organizations follow different marketing strategies and utilize various HR software tools to reach more attendees.
The following are a few creatives ideas and strategies that help organizations attract more candidates for virtual recruiting events:
Introducing Your Organization
One of the best ways to start a virtual hiring event on a positive and happy note is to introduce your organization to all the participating candidates. Although few job seekers may be familiar with your company and its working culture, it is always imperative to use a video conferencing tool such as Zoom or Skype to create an informative introductory video to gain the candidates’ attention.
It is crucial to remember that this will be your first impression, and it will help you create a good brand image and help boost the excitement of the job seekers to participate more actively.
Organizing Virtual Office Tour
Organizations can consider holding virtual office tours to attract potential candidates as the tour allow individuals to gain a better understanding of daily life in the office.
In addition, Employers can also highlight recreation rooms, shared spaces, or any other areas that will potentially grab the attention of the candidates and might be attractive to them. Companies could also pre-record these virtual office tours to ensure no unexpected issues occur, and they also come in handy to use for every virtual event organized.
Select The Right Platform
When it comes to choosing the platform for your virtual recruiting event, there are many choices available for the organization today. However, companies should ensure they choose the platform wisely and opt for one that plays a critical role in leading a successful event.
Some virtual platforms come with live chat tools that allow the candidates to communicate in chat. In contrast, few platforms provide networking tables where job seekers and recruiters can have conversations for better networking. Few Virtual platforms also provide AI matchmaking to help candidates find the perfect job role per their resume records. They also enable recruiters to give real-time answers to the candidates’ queries while increasing opportunities for interaction.
Project-based Events
Another great way to attract more candidates for your virtual recruiting events is to conduct project-based events. The project-based and gamification events can be a fun and interesting way to put candidates skills and knowledge to the test.
On the other hand, these events can also increase engagement and interaction. Organizations can focus on creating projects that focus on assignments where candidates need to brainstorm ideas about how the company can differentiate itself from its competitors.
Such assignments can help test candidates’ knowledge about the industry while showing their research and problem-solving skills. On the other hand, gamification can help companies test job seekers’ on-the-job performance and access their soft skills.
Conducting Virtual Workshops
Organizing Virtual workshops provides job seekers with the opportunity to learn and show off their skills while letting them meet hiring employers. Companies can consider holding virtual resume writing courses, offer skill-building exercises, provide networking advice, and give presentations with industry professionals ad more.
Workshops can also focus on educating talented candidates about the company’s culture. The significant benefit of conducting a virtual workshop is that it facilitates connections between potential candidates and recruiters anywhere and anytime.
Focus On Marketing Your Event
When organizations are looking to attract the right type of candidates to the virtual hiring event, they need to plan how to market it carefully.
Having a virtual event page and an excellent social media campaign to raise awareness is essential to drive sign-ups and attract more people. However, organizations should also encourage existing employees to promote the event to their close connections and social media networks. This is another crucial marketing strategy for successfully organizing virtual hiring events.
In addition, companies can also have virtual meet and greet events, including the CEO and current employees of the organization. The new candidates will get a proper understanding of the rewards and challenges of the job, career progress and what it takes to be successful.
Conclusion
The virtual hiring events will continue to remain a large part of the recruiting process in the future. It is time for organizations to focus on getting creative and utilize various HR software tools. to attract high-quality and talented candidates.
Adding a competitive element and organizing industry-focused or gamification events is a great way to test the skills of talented job seekers. At the same time, virtual meet and greets or office tours can play a crucial role in providing a glimpse into everyday work life and culture and attract more talented candidates to your virtual hiring event.
