9 Companies With An Innovative Approach To Early-Career Recruiting

Check out our most recent list for 50 innovative companies with unique campus recruiting strategies in 2023 here.

With unemployment rates hitting all-time lows recently, employers have been pushed to rethink their recruiting techniques in the race for top talent. This is true even at the entry-level – as Gen Z begins to make up more and more of the workforce, recruiters are brainstorming new ways to capture this generation’s attention. While traditional campus recruiting can still provide employers with a great set of top candidates, the competition for talent is pushing many companies to think outside the box. Need some inspiration? Here are nine companies that  weren’t afraid to take a fresh approach to campus and early-career recruiting and try something unconventional. While these methods might not be right for every company or every situation, they'll definitely get you thinking.

1. General Electric 

General Electric decided to take a hands-on campus recruiting approach and create relationships with students outside of the typical career booth set up. They had employees show up at Michigan State University’s College of Engineering for move-in day to assist students and their parents. By getting involved in campus activities, it allowed the GE employees to get to know students without the pressure of a career fair or job interview. It also helps solidify GE’s reputation for these students early on in their college careers. Ultimately, that will help them recruit top engineering talent once the college students’ graduation rolls around.

2. Mailchimp

Mailchimp decided to take a creative spin on campus recruiting by creating their own branded baseball cards to hand out to students. The baseball cards featured different open positions at the company as “players” and detailed what specific skills they were looking for. Mailchimp recruiters handed out these cards at recruitment fairs on campus which created an easy-to-carry material students could take home. The cards were well-designed and featured only a few key points about the job position so it wasn’t overwhelming. At the end of the day when students have stopped at dozens of booths at a career fair, Mailchimp’s strategy is an extremely smart way to stand out and provide the exact information students want to see.

3. Unilever 

Recruiters at Unilever realized their strategy was in need of some updating, so they invested in an all-new AI solution. Instead of traditional campus recruiting, they’re using digital HR service providers to automate their candidate screenings. Candidates supply their resume, play neuroscience-based games for 20 minutes, and then have their materials analyzed by the Pymetrics platform to determine whether they move forward. The next step is a recorded video interview that gets analyzed by a program called HireVue. It takes into account things like keywords, intonation, and body language— then the hiring manager receives notes about their results. After using this technology Unilever reported that the number of applications doubled, their hiring process was speed tracked immensely, and they hired their most diverse class to date.

4. Taco Bell

In 2015, this fast-food chain was seeking the best and brightest interns at their California office. Part of the responsibilities of the interns would be posting on the company’s Snapchat account to thousands of followers, so they decided to advertise the position where it would make the most sense— on their Snapchat account. Not only was this a great way to reach a younger intern-aged audience, but they also can target individuals who already love the brand enough to be following them on social media. The company said it was a great success with over 200 applications coming in within a few days of their post.

5. Jaguar Land Rover

Recruiting top tech talent can be one of the most competitive fields for employers, so it’s necessary to create a standout experience for candidates. Jaguar Land Rover did just that through their partnership with the band Gorillaz on a mixed reality app. The auto company used a code-breaking challenge to attract top tech talent to join their company. The best performers in the game were fast-tracked through the recruitment process. They had a lofty goal to recruit more than 1,000 electronic and software engineers to support their growing tech needs, and creating a fun application experience was a great way to stand out.

6. Amazon

Trying to reach the younger generations can be difficult, so most companies are willing to try anything. Amazon Web Services decided to surpass traditional social media platforms and advertise their open engineering positions on the dating app Tinder. As users swiped through dating profiles they would come across one with the name “Amazononian” with a photo of their company logo. The ad promised viewers it was “not a scam” and prompted them to “swipe right” if they were interested in an open engineering position. While some users might feel slightly uncomfortable getting recruiting ads on a dating platform, it was definitely a creative way to target an audience.

7. Chipotle

This fast-casual chain of restaurants took a simple approach to innovative recruiting— a national hiring day for their entry-level jobs. As a large company with around 2,000 restaurants in the U.S., recruiting can be a huge beast to tackle. By holding a national hiring day it allows the company to create a buzz around the big day, and market it beforehand. In 2015, their national hiring day resulted in over 65,000 people registering for interviews and over 4,000 new hires. This strategy could work for any company of substantial size, as it can create major excitement around working for the brand.

8. PwC

In addition to their other recruiting tactics, like offering to pay back entry-level employees student loans, PwC came up with a surprisingly simple way to make an impact on campus. When recruiting students at Michigan’s Ross School of Business, PwC is competing with other top firms for the brightest business students. So, they decided to bring free food into the equation. They set up a food truck outside the business school serving free coffee, tea, and hot chocolate to students passing by. By holding this “event” on campus, PwC created a buzz among students of all majors eager to come by for a free cup of coffee, but without the added pressure of a formalized career fair type event.

9. OpenTable 

OpenTable began using the texting-based recruiting tool Canvas in 2017 and found it maximizes time for recruiters, is convenient for candidates, and can even boost response rates from candidates. Scott Day, senior vice president of people and culture at OpenTable told Fast Company that it also gives them a leg up on the competition because texting is still seen as a new and innovative way of interacting for recruiters. While many entry-level candidates today prefer communicating in-person, creating a more efficient process early on to maximize face time later can be a smart approach for campus recruiting teams.

These companies are all great examples of how to take early career and campus recruiting outside of the box. While targeting candidates over Snapchat or Tinder might not be the right approach for your company, exploring new channels and initiatives can help you discover a successful talent acquisition strategy you never expected.