How to Plan a Recruitment Event

Hosting an Employee Recruiting Event

Open houses and recruitment fairs are a wonderful way to introduce candidates to your company and the open positions available to them. Potential hires can learn more about your business's mission statement, culture, and how their career can grow if hired to work in your organization. Read more to learn how to plan a recruitment event and be the company superstar of the next job fair with help from Merchology!

What is a Hiring Event?

A recruiting event, or hiring event, is a large open space gathering where companies and employers can meet and interact with new employee candidates. Also referred to as job fairs, career expos, or career fairs, recruitment events can be hosted by one bigger company or many businesses all at once. 

Hiring Events generally take place in a wide open space such as convention centers, hotel lobbies, or universities where organizations will set up physical booths. Virtual career fairs and virtual job events are also popular options where candidates enter into an online arena with several different "rooms" each dedicated to a specific company or industry.

Get Custom T-Shirts Fast for Recruiting Events

One of the greatest benefits of custom merch is that it reminds you of the people you've met and events you've attended! At Merchology, we’ve recently introduced a merch decoration method that allows faster, lower-cost, higher-durability printed tees, sweatshirts, and more: direct apparel printing! If you want to make your recruiting event memorable with custom printed tees, check out direct apparel printing to get high-quality, soft-to-the-touch, quickly delivered tees so your connections can remember your job fair event meeting!

What Happens at a Recruiting Event?

Career fairs are spaces where candidates can learn more about different companies, job positions, and workplace culture all in one space! Job applicants can expect to gather some career information, practice their interviewing skills, and leave with some pretty awesome swag.

For employers, recruiting events allow them to meet candidates, receive resumes to review, and interact with possible coworkers. Job fairs provide hiring managers the chance to learn more about possible employees that they may not find out from their resumes alone such as their personality, interest level, and drive.

5 Steps to Plan for an Employee Recruiting Event

1. Choose Your Recruitment Event Space

Start preparing for your job expo by making some initial logistical choices such as:

• Plan an individual hiring event or join a large, popular career expo?
• Host the recruitment event on-site at your business or book a larger public space?
• Be part of a virtual job fair or go the in-person hiring event route?

With your basics planned out, you'll now be able to plan your company's physical or virtual setup, create reasonable goals, and begin marketing efforts. Enticing potential hires and spreading brand awareness will help drive candidates toward your company's area, so scheduling social media blasts, online event invites, and online advertising will boost your ROI.

2. Lay Out Some Employee Hiring Goals and Requirements

With your basics such as location, event cost, and involvement type in hand; now is the time to create an overarching plan and several goals to ensure you make the most out of your investment. Gather your Marketing Department, Executive Directors, and Department Heads to create a strategy that works for your organization.

Some basic tenets you'll want to set together as a group are:

• What positions are you looking to fill?
• What requirements do you have for applicants?
• How many hires are you hoping to potentially gain?
• What is the budget for the overall event?
• What are the best ways to use that budget to increase attendance at the hiring event?
• Do we need any special equipment for our section?
• Do any special graphics or videos need to be made?

3. Decide Your Hiring Booth Strategy

Is there an underlying topic, idea, or theme that is guiding the hiring event? Popular job fair subjects include college graduates, career path changes, industry-specific careers, and more. Be sure to enter a recruitment event that suits your organization and fits your company's atmosphere.

Another important factor to consider is the location of your job expo and the overall vibe it presents. Will the recruitment event take place in your office or at an open, local venue? Take into consideration the feel and ambiance that your space provides and lean into it!

What is the most important part of your hiring event strategy? Planning out your recruitment event giveaways! Everyone loves to stop and take part at a booth or table that hands out the best SWAG and you'll want to make sure your company comes out at the top. Skip the lame tchotchkes and offer your attendees branded promotional items that they'll actually keep, use, and remember you by!

4. Connect with Your Candidates

One strong way to increase your engagement with attendees is to add some eye-catching elements and interactive pieces to your hiring fair booth. Product demos, mini trivia games, prize raffles, and more are some stellar options to get your potential candidates' attention. One of the biggest proponents for getting people to stop at your area is branded merch giveaways. With your company logo added to fun items such as headphones, helpful umbrellas, handy custom notebooks, and more; your company's career opportunity is definitely one to stick in their mind!

Whether your hiring event is happening at your office park or in a big convention center downtown; a great way to increase your employee connection is to host a follow-up networking event! Invite everyone out for appetizers and small talk to continue your person-to-person connection.

5. Keep in Touch and Follow Up!

Send follow-up emails thanking potential employees for attending the event and chatting with your company. Include instructions letting them know what to do next including application steps. We also recommend sending an email to those who may have missed the event with a recap and employee information that they may still want. This will help potential hires reach out when they're able to continue the process.

Encourage any team members that may have handed out business cards or talked with specific candidates, to follow up with personalized emails. This will enter the candidates into the employment pipeline for further communication.

Lastly, with all of those email addresses and/or physical addresses in hand, leave on a pleasant note by sending out custom thank you gifts. Send out an email announcing a free present to be shipped to their door and let custom branded gifts and merch finish the job!