How to target a small talent pool with small budget?

How to target a small talent pool with small budget?

You feel lucky to work for some big employers who have done a very good job at employer branding and EVP (employer value proposition). You have the luxury that thousands of applications are lined up for your call once your jobs announcement is published, like in Google or Apple. You also have a great amount of budget for your recruitment campaigns. So, if job opportunities are seen as your products and Talent Acquisition specialists as sales-people, you have the most superior conditions to win every talent war!

Reality is not always like that! Big ideas do not necessarily depend on big budget and such luxury. The same is applied for Talent Acquisition. A perfect example that impressed me lately after reading US Navy “Project Architeuthis” in recruiting cryptologists back in 2014 when they needed to bring over 1.200 cryptologists onboard in a limited settings.

Talent mapping

Who was US Navy aiming to recruit? They are cryptologists or decoders who break and make codes for national (digital) security. Apart from strict physical and mental requirements, more importantly, they must be young analytic superstars – natural born solvers, but not just 'armchair analysts'. US Navy needed people will do all it takes to stop enemies, the kind that want to harm America using cyber weaponry. Yes we are talking about computer nerds who are very intelligent genius but dedicated to an army career.

The thing is, being in the amateur intelligence community, you do not talk about intelligence outside the community (because of its complex and highly technical nature). Over time, most fans had learned not to overtly promote their interest in the field of cryptology for fear of being spied on. They are a small and silent minority who keep to themselves in the physical world, but stay connected together in the virtual one.

What was US Navy facing in this talent war?

-         Not many people are interested in army jobs. Statistics shows that the lower the unemployment rate, the harder it is to find people who qualify for and want jobs in the Navy. In 2014, the US unemployment rate dropped considerably.

-         Press coverage support a big cultural hurdle about “the essence of college education”, making army endeavor a less favorable one for 18-34 aged population.

-         Perception about danger whether or not US is at war impacts recruiting. Parents will not send their children to war!

-         Government spending across the board has been cut, meaning not much budget for recruitment.

So how did US Navy go about attracting and drawing out such a small reserved group of talents while in such less favored social and economic conditions with only $50k budget?

Strategic thinking

Objective 1: Get Navy cryptology noticed

With no budget for traditional media, the Navy needed to come up with a way to reach potential cryptology “geeks” and create employer brand visibility.

Objective 2: Create a digital path to job interest

How to make potential decoders engaged and interested in their vacancies digitally? Ideally some platforms that are easy to measure such interaction for future campaigns.

Objective 3: Help prospects interpret their calling and join (business effect)

The Navy needed to create enough cryptology prospect threads to meet its goal of generating 1,291 enlistments

The great idea

With that challenge, Project Architeuthis was born, a look-like reality game designed specifically to reach the cyber warrior. By creating a highly exciting storyline, challenges and characters, a reality-modeling game became the perfect way to connect with the target audience. Project Architeuthis would engage, fascinate, entertain and lead them right to Navy cryptology. In doing so, it would help the cyber warrior discover his/her true calling.

Implementation

With a hidden target that is heavily engaged online community and a modeled-reality game-based creative idea, social media was the perfect means for engagement. Story characters were set up via many provided backstories from fictitious Twitter accounts. Players need to figure out the codes behind each setting for each character. Posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr were used to send out a series of coded clues, tips and updates, as well as guide to each of the six key puzzle components.

A closer look of Project Architeuthis : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VBA4kDJf0Y

Results

Project Architeuthis content reached 113,494 unique individuals, 87 prospects for every cryptologist job vacant needed. Awareness of Navy as Employer branding increased amazingly. 

Project Architeuthis was picked up by over 50 news services, such as The Times and The Telegraph.

Lesson learned

Precise talent mapping is the root of any campaign for Talent Acquisition. You might have limited budget for it, yet great ideas don’t rely on budget. The key here is how well we can engage the right audience by addressing what attracts them to the company and to the role.

Isn't it fantastic what US Navy did to draw out talents towards army career? What do you think?