I happened to glance at this picture while I was roaming around Covent Garden, London during my recent trip to the UK. The small poster was pasted discreetly by the left side of the door to a café. What was intriguing for me was, why had I not missed it when I could easily have on a busy day in a busy area?
The poster was strategically put up by the management to invite suitable candidates for the job, and it worked most of the time. Upon enquiring about the poster, I also found out that the management had posted the poster on a couple of notice boards in the area, online hiring sites, and on their social media profiles.
The poster is a perfect case-study in an effective hiring campaign. Let’s examine it closely.
The advertisement mentions very little of the skills expected in the candidate; just two terms that almost seem like antonyms of each other. These words are highlighted and appear in the biggest font size on the poster. The picture to which these words almost appear as a title, conveys a lot about the personality and the work ethic of the suitable person for the role. The picture breaks stereotypes about leadership roles: it is a woman serving a hot beverage. Her dress and demeanor are open, informal and accessible, quite unlike a traditional ‘Supervisor’.
The next sentence invites for a walk-in interview to the café itself. This call to action ensures that the candidate develops familiarity for the workplace, and the management conveys the impression of being available at any time. It saves costs as well for the café.
Lastly, the poster mentions the perks and the facilities offered to the selected candidate. This speaks volumes about the culture of the outfit and the values that they hold strong.
To summarise, the café has communicated its requirements using: Why, who, what, where, when, and how within these 3 to 4 sentences.
A person who can perceive and understand the essence of such a piece of communication, and see himself/herself as fitting into the picture, will only turn up for the interview. This automatically makes it easier for the management to draw reliable assumptions about the intrinsic personality of the candidate.
This is a winner’s strategy, as the management will be able to hire for attitude as opposed to skills; while the latter can be taught, the former is deeply embedded and mostly fixed. The advertisement also comes across as a breath of fresh air among the hackneyed posts for hiring, therefore, it stands apart and invites action.
Link to the video: