In recent discussions with recruitment leaders, they have conveyed their frustration around motivating/encouraging their team members to implement new recruitment tools and techniques learned from reading articles, blog posts, recent training events, webinars, etc.
While I’m sure we all aspire to have the discipline to implement new things that will ultimately make us better recruiters, it’s easier said than done.
To help with this dilemma, a lot can be learned from our friends at Seattle’s Pike Place Fish market. For those of you that have studied the Fish! Philosophy, you learned that the employees at Pike Place Fish Market created a super satisfying work environment by implementing four key ideas (aka The Four Steps of the Fish! Philosophy):
• Play
• Make their Day
• Be there
• Choose your attitude
While all are very important and excellent steps, incorporating “play” within your work day can dramatically improve implementation of new ideas/tools/techniques and, most importantly, overall improvement.
Let’s face it: playing and contests are more fun than work.
In spirit of recruiting performance improvement, here’s an example of a contest you could implement with your recruitment team to help improve their sourcing and time management skills. While the playful contest outlined below might be a little wordy and a tad cheesy, it could be a lot of fun and drive a huge ROI for the time invested by you and your team.
Recruitment Decathlon
The Recruitment Decathlon is a contest combining 10 recruiting events. Events will be held over the next 90 days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all events. Performance is judged on a points system outlined below.
Traditionally, the title of “World’s Greatest Recruiter” has been given to the person who wins the decathlon.
• Employee Referrals — Each recruiter picks 25 top performers within the line of business they support. They have two weeks to engage these employees for specific referrals for openings within the organization.
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for most qualified referrals.
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for regions with most referrals per recruiter.
• Hires from Referrals (maybe break out exempt/non-exempt) — Person who hires the most people from referrals gathered during the Employee Referral contest (see above) by a certain date (say December 15, 2008).
o Gold, Silver, Bronze to the individuals with most hires.
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for regions with most hires per recruiter.
• Association Membership Lists — Person who harvests the most qualified association membership lists from/using your Centers of Influence (hiring managers, peers, employees, etc.).
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for individual winners.
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for regions with most lists per recruiter.
• College Alumni Directories/Passwords — Harvest the most qualified college alumni directories and/or passwords to get online access to the directories from your Centers of Influence.
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for individual winners.
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for regions with most directories/passwords per recruiter.
• Hires from References — Most hires from qualified references from applicants/candidates/new hires.
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for individual winners.
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for regions with most hires per recruiter.
• Most Innovative Sourcing Tactic/Story that leads to a hire — By a certain date (say Nov. 15th), we will accept nominations for most innovative sourcing tactic that leads to a hire.
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for individual winners.
o Region picks up points for having a gold, silver, bronze winner.
• Best ‘Attention Grabber’ email — Winners for best attention grabber email voted/judged by leadership/management team.
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for individual winners.
o Region picks up points for having a gold, silver, bronze winner.
• Best ‘Attention Grabber’ voicemail — Winner for best attention grabber voice mail voted/judged by leadership/management team.
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for individual winners.
o Region picks up points for having a gold, silver, bronze winner.
• Best Perfect Week/Perfect Day Routine – Winners will be awarded for demonstrating their weekly/daily planning process and how it makes them a productive/efficient recruiter.
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for individual winners.
o Region picks up points for having a gold, silver, bronze winner.
• Best overall success story from participating in this Recruitment Decathlon — Winners will be awarded for sharing their success story (how this decathlon improved performance, customer service, etc.).
o Gold, Silver, Bronze for individual winners.
o Region picks up points for having a gold, silver, bronze winner.
Point System:
Gold = 3 points
Silver = 2 points
Bronze = 1 point
• Individuals will be awarded a Gold, Silver, Bronze metal for each of the 10 contests.
• The individual with the most points will be crowned the winner of the decathlon!
• Each region will receive points for individuals who are awarded gold, silver, and bronze in each event.
• In addition, region will be awarded points for each event as outlined above.
• The region with the most points will be crowned the top region!