Two-time grad recruit campaign champion
Simpson Grierson is the firm to beat again this year at the NZAGE Industry Awards.
Up against fellow finalists
Bell Gully,
Chapman Tripp,
Russell McVeagh and Xero for the Best Graduate Print Campaign 2016 Industry Award this year, HR director Jo Copeland hopes the firm’s video recruitment campaign will be enough to win it.
“We’ve been running a similar sort of story the last couple of years through our print campaign,” she told
NZ Lawyer.
“This year we did something similar but we did it with video.”
Students have the freedom to use film and photography to show an interviewer who they are, outside of university marks. The strategy is to find out about a student in a more creative way, making them feel more comfortable in the interview process.
Copeland said that as Auckland becomes more and more diverse, it’s important that the recruitment strategy evolves to attract the best possible candidates.
“[It’s] targeting the right sort of demographics of people we are looking for in the market,” she said.
“Year on year we’ve been increasing massively.
“We’ve had a huge spike in the number of people who have applied to work here.”
The number of hires from different backgrounds has increased form around 5% at the start of the program to around 70%.
“You’ve got to appeal to that really broad market,” Copeland said.
“It’s staggering the increase in the diversity of applicants.”
Seen by students and the general public alike, the visual campaign is important to the firm’s brand overall.
“We've won several awards over the last couple of years for our campaigns, which is great,” Copeland said.
“Congratulations especially to Tessa Harrison on this one who turns our ideas into stunning visuals. She is a rock star.”
The winner will be announced at the NZAGE Summit Awards Dinner on 28 September.
