When unconventional recruitment meets social media

When unconventional recruitment meets social media

Heineken scores with excellent online crowd-sourcing job interview video.

February 20, 2013 4:55 by Eva Fernandes

How do you make a video go viral?

A simple question, but there is no simple answer. And yet ‘going viral’ is something that branding agencies and creative houses all around the world promise to deliver to their clients. Consider the example of Gangam Style and the Harlem Shake, creating content for the purpose of virality should be formulaic, but it very rarely is.

Is it relatability? Is it interactivity? Or is it out-of-the-world-whacky-but-intelligent creativity? Or is it just a silly dance?

Well, whatever it is, Heineken has managed to capture the concept with their recently uploaded video called The Candidate.

Overwhelmed with 1,734 applicants for a role within the Champion’s League department, the Dutch beer brand sought to use crowd-sourcing to find the perfect candidate by using unconventional methods.

Instead of asking the usual questions of ‘what is your biggest weakness and why do you want to work at our company’, the company put people on the spot, from the interviewer faking a medical emergency to seeing the interviewee’s reaction to a man jumping from the building. Every interview was recorded, of course.

Heineken then opened up the decision of who to hire by uploading videos of the top three candidates which the marketing department could vote on. The winner, and new recruit, was announced at the Juventus Stadium.

Talk about hitting the jackpot with a double whammy: viral content meets social media interaction. Over everything else, the video boosts Heineken’s image as an unconventional youthful brand and provides an impetus for job seekers.

Since it was uploaded yesterday, the video has garnered just under 50,000 views. It may not compete with Gangam Style for number of hits, but it certainly will set a new precedent for brands trying to cash in on the social media wave.