Cracking the “QR Code” in Recruiting

, Cracking the “QR Code” in RecruitingAs I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I was recently the keynote speaker at Keyano College Career Fair on the topic of Low Cost/High Impact Recruiting for the 82 employer exhibitors. Part of my talk focused on tapping into free or near free electrons through social media recruiting. I was asked by way of show of hands how many people of the 150 plus in attendance were using QR “Quick Response” Codes in their recruiting efforts. It was interesting to see that only about 5% of the people raised their hands. I went on to share with the group that I feel not using QR Codes as a key element of a company’s recruiting efforts is a missed opportunity.

As I walked through the career fair looking at the exhibitor booths I was pleased to see that Dresser-Rand was using QR Codes in their recruiting by having them on the recruiter’s business cards and on the long sleeve shirts they were wearing. I loved the “Human Billboard” approach to using this technology. The photo is me in a Dresser-Rand QR Code recruiting shirt.

Link to Careers at Dresser-Rand

http://www.dresser-rand.com/careers/

Given most people in developed countries own at least one smart phone and that there are a number of free QR Reader apps for every major platform, QR codes are used by organizations as a quick and easy way to market their businesses and extend the reach of their brands. When a customer/prospect scans the code with their phone the code will link directly to a website. The marketing possibilities are endless. Consumers are becoming very comfortable with scanning QR Codes to enter contests, get free information, get e-discounts and do a host of other things.

Recruiting is no different than marketing in that you are always looking for creative ways to capture the interest of both active and passive job seekers. Producing a QR Code is very easy and most often free.

Here are several links to QR Code Generator sites:

http://qrcode.kaywa.com/

http://www.qrstuff.com/

http://goqr.me/

Here are some places that recruiters are using QR Codes:

  • Recruiters business cards & name tags
  • Employee referral cards
  • Print ads – newspaper, trade journal
  • Human billboards – T-Shirts
  • Billboards, banners & mobile signs
  • Posters
  • Text message attachments
  • Sales receipts
  • Window & truck signs

 

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