How to Conduct a Tryout Campaign on Social Media and Land the Perfect Candidate for the Job
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 9:49 am
Hiring for high-demand and highly-critical roles is hard for most companies. I mean, how is an Apple going to find the next Steve Jobs to replace the last one? In many ways, they are doomed from the start. You just can’t plan the perfect hire, and sometimes, anything less than the perfect hire feels like you’re selling out your organization. In this post I’ll outline how some innovative companies have come pretty close to a winning formula for finding the perfect candidate for critical roles in their companies, and how you too can follow this blueprint. I’ll explain some of the psychological underpinnings of how this method works, and how your existing social media expertise can be put to great use in carrying out a Tryout Campaign in this mode to land that elusive unicorn.
The Star Employee
With positions hard to fill, and good candidates even harder to come by, bold employers poland phone number resource are trying new approaches to the old hiring problem. Some companies have gone as far as devaluing the traditional resume, and instead, giving the prospective recruit a tryout assignment, and seeing what their gut tells them after observing the candidate hard at work on a real-life-like assignment. Companies in technology and new media, like Uber and Automattic, are experimenting with some of these new innovations in recruiting. Automattic, for instance, pays a standard $25/hr hourly wage of participants in a trial assignment, and they get actual work assigned to them for the duration of the trial.
To explore this solution and why it works so well in some depth, we’ll make use of a little thought experiment.
Landing the Star Hire
Suppose you’re Suzy, the CEO of RobotWorks, a Design and Interactive Media Studio. Your hands are full with the day-to-day running of contracts and work for clients, and on top of that, your Head of Graphics just resigned to go join his high-school pal who launched a hot startup. Now your hands are full trying to drum up potential candidates and keep your sanity intact.
Shoes to fill
Big Shoes to Fill
Which of these following channels are you going to gravitate towards to fill the shoes left behind by your star employee?
A. Throw the position up on CraigsList and get a bunch of resumes
B. Tweet about the opening and get 100 random responses from people you’ve never met
C. Ask the receptionist’s cousin’s details who’s done some consulting work in Graphics and arrange a coffee to sound him out
D. Go through your resume database and ask the 10 most qualified individuals to try a trial assignment and see who stands out
The Star Employee
With positions hard to fill, and good candidates even harder to come by, bold employers poland phone number resource are trying new approaches to the old hiring problem. Some companies have gone as far as devaluing the traditional resume, and instead, giving the prospective recruit a tryout assignment, and seeing what their gut tells them after observing the candidate hard at work on a real-life-like assignment. Companies in technology and new media, like Uber and Automattic, are experimenting with some of these new innovations in recruiting. Automattic, for instance, pays a standard $25/hr hourly wage of participants in a trial assignment, and they get actual work assigned to them for the duration of the trial.
To explore this solution and why it works so well in some depth, we’ll make use of a little thought experiment.
Landing the Star Hire
Suppose you’re Suzy, the CEO of RobotWorks, a Design and Interactive Media Studio. Your hands are full with the day-to-day running of contracts and work for clients, and on top of that, your Head of Graphics just resigned to go join his high-school pal who launched a hot startup. Now your hands are full trying to drum up potential candidates and keep your sanity intact.
Shoes to fill
Big Shoes to Fill
Which of these following channels are you going to gravitate towards to fill the shoes left behind by your star employee?
A. Throw the position up on CraigsList and get a bunch of resumes
B. Tweet about the opening and get 100 random responses from people you’ve never met
C. Ask the receptionist’s cousin’s details who’s done some consulting work in Graphics and arrange a coffee to sound him out
D. Go through your resume database and ask the 10 most qualified individuals to try a trial assignment and see who stands out