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Creative Low-Budget and No-Budget Recruiting Strategies You Must Try

These ideas are too good to ignore...

Author

Jim Stroud
October 27, 2024

SourceCon Community, 

If you were at SourceCon San Diego I imagine you are feeling the way I am feeling right now. More on that in a minute.

In this issue:

  • Sourcers Anonymous 2.0

  • Creative Low-Budget and No-Budget Recruiting Strategies You Must Try

  • Recruiter Meme of the Week

Enjoy…

Sourcers Anonymous (2.0)!

Feel the love, that SourceCon community love.

I am still basking in the afterglow of SourceCon 2024 in San Diego!

Wow!

Wow.

Just… wow.

In the unlikely event you have not seen pics from the event in your social media feed, check out this comment from our new “Quiet Hero” Erin Mathew, this recap from one of our speakers - Bukola Stewart, another recap from former SourceCon Editor - Megan Whittington, another one from photographer extraordinaire Joshua Jones, and others from SourceCon speaker Jo Weech, past SourceCon Hackathon winner - Stephanie Rangel and power posing Superstar presenter - Emma Krejci. There are more out there, lots more, but those are the ones that immediately come to mind. Umm… you did see the ones on our Instagram page, yes?

But I digress.

While at SourceCon, Emma Krejci gave me a GREAT idea that I am declaring SourceCon law, an updated version of Sourcers Anonymous. These are the new rules.

  1. You submit an article to me via email (for now). In the future, I will likely set up an online form for this.

  2. Submit your article as a Word DOC. Your document should NOT have your name or any other info that will identify who you are. However, aliases are permitted and encouraged. (Only I will know your secret identity.)

  3. Your article will be reviewed by select supporters of the SourceCon community. (The select supporters reviewing the articles have extensive experience with sourcing, recruitment and talent acquisition. They are a multi-faceted, gender diverse, motley crew of misfits who have seen it all and yet, crave more.)

  4. Once the article has been deemed “SourceCon worthy,” by myself and the reviewers, I will post it on the SourceCon website with the author’s real name.

  5. When someone has four peer-reviewed articles posted on the SourceCon website, they will be entitled to one ticket for the upcoming SourceCon.

Now comes the new stuff…

a) You can designate your earned ticket to whomever you like. So if you want to write 4 peer-reviewed articles and give your ticket to a co-worker or whomever, that is now allowed.

b) You can ask multiple writers to submit content towards your “Send (somebody) to SourceCon effort. Under that allowance, people submit articles and INCLUDE IN THEIR ARTICLE SUBMITTAL that their article should be credited towards (somebody)’s SourceCon ticket.

Okay, here is the fine print! Read carefully…

  • To earn a ticket via Sourcers Anonymous, the articles must be posted on the SourceCon website 60 days prior to the most recent upcoming SourceCon event. For example, the next SourceCon event is April 29-30, 2025. To earn a ticket via Sourcers Anonymous, your article must be on the SourceCon website by February 28, 2025. Articles submitted after the 60 day deadline will be credited towards the next SourceCon. No exceptions. So please keep in mind that you have to send your content in early enough to be thoroughly reviewed and to respond to suggested edits from the judges.

  • Articles that are already posted cannot be credited towards an upcoming SourceCon event. Sorry. Only the new stuff applies.

  • Appearing as a guest on The Source, our YouTube series, counts as a Sourcers Anonymous credit.

If this is appealing to you, and I hope it is, click here to see articles that have been peer-reviewed and posted in the past. Pro tip: Articles that detail personal experiences in sourcing and/or recruiting, step-by-step instructions on a sourcing hack, or a fresh perspective on an old topic is always appreciated. Do not waste your time sending us an article that was generated by ChatGPT or some other LLM. The judges frown on lazy and have widgets and apps that pick up on that. They want something real, so give it to them, and may the source be with you.

Just another reason to love SourceCon. ;-)

Creative Low-Budget and No-Budget Recruiting Strategies You Must Try

SourceCon excels at sparking creative thinking—among many other things, but let’s focus on that. Hearing case studies about what companies are doing, seeing demos of sourcing hacks, and discovering new tools open up a world of possibilities. On my flight back to Atlanta, I had a SourceCon-inspired brainstorm session. Reflecting on the event (while skimming through old bookmarks on my iPad), I stumbled across an article with wild marketing ideas. One of the ideas was about the Skittles candy company. Instead of investing millions into a Super Bowl ad, Skittles redirected their money to produce an elaborate musical titled “Broadway the Rainbow.” The theme of this art piece? Calling out how corrupt the marketing industry is. To quote Mark Airinteo...

The main characters in the musical spin a cautionary tale on how advertising has completely ruined them and caused their lives to be in shambles. Despite the daring storyline and over-the-top visuals, this $200-a-ticket musical went viral and sold out in only a few days, not to mention garnering critical acclaim from multiple sources claiming it was the “most inventive ad of the decade”.

Mark Airinteo

Here is a video discussing their strategy and showing scenes from the musical.

IDEA

Taking Skittles example as inspiration, why not create a skit about the negative things going on in your industry and how your company plans to change things with the help of new employees. If this kind of thinking intrigues you, here is another example to consider. Check out this quote from All Business.

In July 2010, Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, seeking to pep up its image and drive patronage, promised one person the chance to spend a “Month at the Museum”—as in, actually live there in a hotel-style room. The winner of the contest would then become a social media machine, Twittering, Facebooking, YouTubing, and Flickring about the experience, earning $10,000 for the effort.

The museum expected a few hundred entries, which included essays and videos. It received more than 1,500 from all over the world. The process of selecting the winner engaged more than 400 blogs, almost doubled the museum’s Facebook fan base, and drew in local TV and radio, along with ABC’s “Good Morning America” and other national news and entertainment shows.

IDEA

Why not create an entertaining live event to attract the attention of passive candidates? During the livestream, promote your jobs and recruit in real time. Maybe something similar to the slides below? 

Maybe show your cutting edge tech?

Maybe take a more light-hearted approach?

And while we are on the topic of creative talent acquisition strategies, what do you think of the image below?

Are you curious as to where this QR code will lead you? If so. chances are you will not be the only one. Check out this quote from CNN.

“The app for Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, briefly crashed Sunday after a bizarre Super Bowl ad sparked a surge in traffic.

The 60-second ad featured a floating and colorful QR code bouncing around the screen, similar to a bouncing DVD logo. The QR code directed people to a link offering $15 in Bitcoin to those who sign up for a Coinbase account before February 15. The ad proved so popular that the app crashed for about an hour.

Coinbase had more than 20 million hits on its landing page in one minute and the engagement that was six times higher than previous benchmarks, Surojit Chatterjee, chief product officer at Coinbase, wrote on Twitter. He said that was "historic and unprecedented. “

The app also skyrocketed in popularity, rising from 186th place to 2nd on Apple's App Store, according to crypto news website the Block.”

IDEA

What if for one day, your company’s homepage was just a QR code that led to a special landing page (or Careers website) where you promote your hard to fill jobs. Depending on the traffic to your website and social media, this could go viral. Now consider this...

If the above job advertisement looks like something your kindergarten child would create, well, that was the intention. Believe it or not, this tweet is promoting a job with a potential 6-figure salary. My Modern Met discussed the marketing strategy behind this on their blog. Here is a quote...

The City of Los Angeles Personnel Department recently posted a job advertisement, for a new graphic designer. However, the ad wasn’t your average job listing: seemingly made in MS Paint, it features a pixelated copy-paste logo, “modernist cubes,” hand-drawn multi-colored fonts, and if that wasn’t bad enough, the particulars were written in Comic Sans.

Although it might look like a joke, the posting is in fact for a real, full-time job, and offers a very reasonable salary of up to $103,230 per year. The ideal candidate should have a Bachelor's degree in Art, Graphic Design or Computer Graphics, or have completed a certificate program in the same fields. The post lasts for two years, and the successful applicant will be asked to carry out various graphic design projects including the creation of “displays, layout design for websites, brochures, descriptive charts, advertising or other publications for commercial or public use.”

I have seen these style of low-budget, no-budget strategy used effectively in multiple iterations. Here are a couple of instances that I really appreciate. The first one features Ryan Reynolds promoting Mint Mobile.

And this one is actually my favorite recruitment video to date.

TIME TO BRAINSTORM!

What are some low-budget or no-budget things or creative recruiting techniques you can do to attract passive candidates to your jobs? Hit reply and share with me. I am sooo curious. Better yet, post it on social media and tag SourceCon. If you do that, I may reference it in an upcoming newsletter. Bonus points if you can point to a case study where your creativity paid off.

Alright, that’s enough for now. I am working on a SourceCon San Diego recap video. I think it will make you smile. Stay on the lookout for it. Until then…

See you at SourceCon 2025!

Jim Stroud
Your SourceCon Editor

Upcoming Conferences

ERE Recruiting Conference

Anaheim | Digital

November 12-14, 2024

The ERE Recruiting Conference is the premier independent practitioner-led recruiting event that provides actionable insights for TA pros, by TA pros. Join fellow colleagues to discover practical ideas, best practices, and case study solutions from leaders who share your toughest recruiting challenges — and have experience overcoming them. (ERE Recruiting Conference)

SourceCon

Las Vegas | Digital

April 29-30, 2025

Learn from and connect with sourcing leaders and professionals. This isn't your typical conference — it's an immersive experience that goes beyond the surface, delving deep into the innovative strategies and cutting-edge technologies that are reshaping the sourcing landscape. (SourceCon)

Recruiter Meme of the Week

May the source be with you!

Jim Stroud
Your SourceCon Editor
[email protected]