The competition for attracting quality recruits in 2024 is fierce.
To get first dibs on your favorite candidates, you must highlight how innovative your company is while showing recruits a heck of a good time.
Recruitment events are a powerful way to demonstrate what makes your company special. However, to stand out you need to create a showstopper event because, let’s face it, a basic l mixer isn’t going to help you discover a rockstar employee.
As the trusted event discovery platform for event organizers and attendees worldwide, Eventbrite knows first-hand how impactful events can be.
That’s why we take recruitment events so seriously — because we know they seriously work.
This article will provide groundbreaking recruitment event ideas to get the creative juices flowing. And because you know we couldn’t help ourselves, we also included 40 ideas that you can download (for free).
Skip to the type of recruitment event you want to create
‘Friendly competition’ networking event ideas
‘Expert panel or conference’ hiring event ideas
Job fair and open office career event ideas
‘Informal and fun’ hiring event ideas
Looking for some more inspiration? Download our cheat sheet with 40 more creative hiring event ideas.
‘Friendly competition’ networking event ideas
Competition can reveal character as well as skills, allowing you to see how recruits perform as a team and get a sense of their personalities. Unlike a traditional interview, friendly competition networking events give interviewers a preview of how candidates will perform under pressure.
These events should be unchained, innovative, and, most importantly, challenging. You want to keep candidates on their toes to test their limits, not have them constantly checking their watch.
‘Now that I have you here…’: A scavenger hunt challenge
Effort: 💪💪
Cost: 💸
Networking: 🤝🤝🤝
The best hiring event ideas combine problem-solving with fun networking opportunities. So why not set up a scavenger hunt for your next recruitment event?
Instead of hiding written clues, take a leaf out of Any Promo’s book and use your participants’ selfies instead. Put the photos in envelopes and scatter them around your chosen venue — your office, university grounds, or a public park.
The mission? Find an envelope, open it, and locate the person whose picture you find.
‘Shark tank? No thanks, I’ve got a better idea’: A pitch battle
Effort: 💪💪
Cost: 💸💸
Networking: 🤝🤝🤝
Pitch battles were made for recruitment events. Fiery competition and thought-provoking debates — it’s the perfect opportunity to see what a junior employee is made of.
For this fun recruitment strategy, use Shark Tank as your inspiration, and set up a ‘pitch stage’ in an auditorium or a lecture room. Invite your company CEOs to act as the ‘panel of judges’ and conduct ‘lighting rounds’ with speed interviews that are 2 minutes or less. Then, give attendees 10 minutes to prepare a pitch on a topic relating to industry trends.
Derun Events regularly hosts startup pitch sessions at a rooftop bar and encourages attendees to stay and interact with one another after the event.
‘You stole the show’: A game show mixer event
Effort: 💪💪💪
Cost: 💸💸💸
Networking: 🤝🤝🤝
As most hiring event ideas look the same, attendees will expect a job fair or an awkward ‘casual mixer.’ But you know what they won’t expect? A game show mixer event.
Hire a large venue with plenty of floor space and great lighting, and decorate it like a 1950s game show, complete with billboards and panels.
Then, create a game show based on the hiring process — like an incredibly ‘meta’ art installation. Ask game-show participants hilarious questions about the ‘right and wrong things to do’ with job postings and involve them in a ‘mock interview.’
To leave a lasting impression, arm them with beepers and encourage participation.
‘Expert panel or conference’ hiring event ideas
Attract top talent by giving them access to industry leaders and experts in their field. A small panel of experts or a conference gives recruits a chance to hear from people they look up to, and it gives recruiters an opportunity to meet with potential hires in a friendly environment.
This is also a great opportunity to show off your organization’s internal expertise and thought leaders — a powerful selling point for many candidates.
‘Lay it all out on the table’: A roundtable discussion
Effort: 💪💪
Cost: 💸
Networking: 🤝🤝
Host a roundtable discussion with multiple ‘talk zones.’ Place small tables around your venue, and mark each ‘zone’ with yellow tape. Designate an expert (also known as your ‘recruitment officer’) to each table to navigate the conversation.
Unlike other roundtable discussions, this one will have a winner. Once the timer goes off, it’s up to the expert to declare a ‘talking champion’ for the round. All winners will then move to the ‘masterminds’ table for one round.
You could even use the Economic Growth Business Incubator idea and host a ‘lunch and learn’ session.
‘If you have any questions, just ask’: An interview panel
Effort: 💪
Cost: 💸💸
Networking: 🤝🤝🤝
Turn the recruitment process on its head by having your recruitment team ‘take the stand.’ Set up your venue like a courtroom, and place your team in the witness box. Then, encourage attendees to take turns questioning your team members.
Allow attendees to ask the panel questions about the company’s core values or career opportunities to prove you’re the best option.
You can even play pre-recorded employee testimonials on a projector screen as evidence of your company’s credibility.
‘TED talks just got interesting’: An educational presentation
Effort: 💪💪
Cost: 💸💸
Networking: 🤝
This year, prove your commitment to job seekers’ career growth with an educational presentation.
Invite an industry leader to share their secrets to success, or encourage an entire team from your office to attend and offer advice on ‘pathing your way’ in the industry. Just make sure to designate at least 30 minutes for questions.
Once the conference wraps up, host a ‘cheese, crackers, and not-so-cheap champagne’ networking session so you can get to know candidates personally. For example, Seattle Interactive regularly hosts networking events followed by ‘music vibes and strawberry shortcake.’
Job fair and open office career event ideas
To showcase your workplace, why not open your office and host an event relevant to your industry?
A speaker series on a topic relevant to your attendees, for instance, is a great way to get the best of the best interested in your company.
Depending on your space, your office could be the perfect setting for a meetup, panel event, or even a relaxed game or poker night.
Just keep in mind that companies hire 70% of their interns in the fall, so make sure you’re strategic about what time of year you choose to host the event.
‘I didn’t know work was this fun!’: An interactive workshop symposium
Effort: 💪💪💪
Cost: 💸💸
Networking: 🤝🤝
Forget food; interactive workshops are the way into a potential prospective candidate’s heart.
Organize a ‘workshop symposium’ with interactive classes relating to your work. For instance, a company might offer tech talent the chance to learn how to use specific software.
Community Media Access Collaborative is a prime example of an event organizer using workshops to build connections within their community.
To showcase your appreciation of work-life balance, incorporate valuable skills beyond the job, such as how to brew a great cup of joe or ‘brain fuel smoothies.’
‘Nothing escapes us’: An open office escape room challenge
Effort: 💪💪💪
Cost: 💸
Networking: 🤝🤝
Your recruitment strategy should focus on hiring an employee base with strong collaborative skills.
Host a horrifyingly hilarious escape room challenge in your office to test how well-qualified candidates can work as a team. That’s right, Freddy Krueger has returned, and he’s hunting for those overdue reports.
Incorporate elements of your office to make the hiring event idea more entertaining. For instance, the Austin Public Library recently hosted a ‘Mysteries of the Deep’ escape room at their venue.
Ask yourself: Is a stapler really just a stapler, or is it a murder weapon?
‘Informal and fun’ hiring event ideas
You don’t want your events to seem like military boot camps. They should feel relaxed and inviting so that candidates can focus on making meaningful connections rather than feeling overcome with anxiety.
‘The work-life battle’: A sumo wrestling tournament
Effort: 💪💪
Cost: 💸💸
Networking: 🤝
Allow attendees to live out their dream — taking down their boss. Pull a Smash Splash, and hire sumo wrestling suits and a giant ball pit, and place it in the middle of your office. This event is the ultimate icebreaker activity, allowing attendees to unwind and connect in an informal atmosphere.
‘Dress up is also for grown-ups’: A themed-costume mixer
Effort: 💪
Cost: 💸
Networking: 🤝🤝🤝
Cultivate excitement about your event by setting a costume theme that’s outlandish and unique.
For example, fashion and beauty companies might ask candidates to arrive dressed like a ‘crime against fashion’ — cheeky and sassy, but, most importantly, a strategic event idea.
Think about it: The time and effort individuals put into their costumes indicates qualities like work ethic, creativity, and willingness to put themselves out of their comfort zone.
Virtual hiring event ideas
With the rise of Zoom, Vimeo, and other video platforms, virtual recruitment has recently taken off. In fact, a recent study found that 79% of attendees associated virtual networking events with fun.
Virtual events allow you to expand your pool of applicants and help you achieve your diversity inclusion goals. Arrange yours in the form of a Q&A or ‘fireside chat’ where several potential recruits have an informal conversation with a recruiter or executive.
‘It’s like you’re really here’: A virtual reality company tour
Effort: 💪
Cost: 💸
Networking: 🤝
To widen your job search, organize a virtual reality company tour.
Use a 360 camera and virtual reality software like CloudPano to walk online attendees through a typical ‘day in the office.’ If you want to make the event more creative, pull a ‘Michael Scott’ and structure the tour like an episode of ‘The Office’ or host a virtual game of ‘Office Olympics.’
‘The fair that wasn’t really there’: An augmented reality career fair
Effort: 💪💪
Cost: 💸💸
Networking: 🤝🤝
Virtual career fairs are fun, but do you know what they’re missing? Live interaction.
Instead, use a tool like Snap AR Lens Studio 5.0 to design and develop augmented-reality career fair features that make attendees feel like they’re at a futuristic career fair.
You can even set up interactive games and hand out gift cards to the winners. It sounds like the kind of recruiting event promising candidates would love to us!
Tips for planning a successful recruiting event
Once you’ve selected your recruitment event idea, you’ve got your work cut out. Now, follow these steps for a smooth planning process.
Budget
In the US, it costs an average of $2,795 to recruit an undergraduate student from a private university. Therefore, it’s essential that you manage your event budget meticulously to keep costs down and profits high.
For example, if you spend too much on delicious cocktails, you might not have enough budget to promote your event, and you won’t be able to attract recruits to sip those drinks. Developing a realistic event budget requires careful consideration, so make sure you set aside at least 1-2 planning days for working on this task.
Choose a format
What format will your recruitment event ideas use? In-person events certainly have the advantage of a face-to-face encounter, which can help to assess certain social qualities in candidates.
However, virtual and hybrid events result in a larger pool of potential candidates.
Additionally, behaving professionally in a virtual environment is becoming an ever-important skill in today’s corporate world, with 35% of workers opting to work remotely full-time. As so many formerly in-person business activities now take place virtually — such as conferences, seminars, and meetings — a virtual event can let you see how candidates conduct themselves in a virtual setting.
Finally, a virtual event is a less intensive budget commitment. Travel, lodging, and associated costs are eliminated, allowing you to drive traffic and awareness at a fraction of the cost of traditional recruiting efforts.
Ticketing and registration
Once you’ve planned your recruitment event and you’re ready to promote it, consider a ticketing partner to help you attract attendees. A good partner — like Eventbrite — will help you with everything from promotion to your event website.
As Eventbrite is the world’s largest event marketplace, you have the opportunity to promote your event to hundreds of potential employees who are actively looking for recruitment events in their local area.
Supercharge your recruitment efforts
Promotion
Whether you’re hosting your own recruitment events or using event sponsorship to source talent, you need to get the word out without spreading yourself (and your budget) too thin.
You don’t have the luxury of assigning someone to focus on social media all day. Therefore, you need to think wisely about which marketing strategies will offer a higher success rate for your event.
We recommend getting creative with your promotional campaign — think outside the box. Don’t settle for simply posting a boring ad on Instagram; use unique promotion ideas like creating a ‘behind-the-scenes’ showcase, selling exclusive merch, offering VIP experiences, or starting a TikTok trend.
Get creative with your recruitment event ideas
Remember that in 2024, a potential candidate is looking for a type of event that is fun and relaxed to help make the hiring process more manageable.
Eventbrite makes it easy to reach desirable candidates in your local area or extend your search internationally with virtual events. The power is in your hands — so start using creative recruitment strategies to form meaningful relationships with candidates today.
