Dive Brief:
- When it came time to hire staff, indie clothing company Betabrand passed on the headhunter fees and decided to use a creative approach, according to a LinkedIn post from company founder and CEO Chris Lindland. The team came up with some solutions that may become new standbys.
- To find a website designer, Betabrand had its engineers trash the company's homepage, which netted a story in Fast Company. As news spread about the horrible homepage, traffic increased — as did resume submissions.
- When the time came to search for a UI/UX Developer, Betabrand settled on a sandwich board in front of its Valencia Street store in San Francisco. Lindland claimed that decision saved "upwards of $50K in recruiter fees."
Dive Insight:
From large corporations helping college students move into their dorms, to entire states creating PSAs to find talent, alternative recruitment is on the rise.
Whether you’re looking at previously untapped talent pools or hiring for jobs that don’t even exist today, the pressure is on recruiters to come up with creative ideas to generate a steady applicant stream. With unemployment at a 17-year low, and hiring intentions at a 10-year high, the same old recruitment strategies may not make the cut.
As the pressure of talent shortages and skills gaps continues, it’s possible creative solutions may help business stand out from the crowd and attract top talent.