HR Strange But True

Oh the Places You’ll Go … Heineken’s HR Campaign Sounds More Like Seussical the Musical

Companies that are struggling to recruit talent may want to take a page from Heineken’s playbook. The beer-brewing giant has recently developed an HR campaign to recruit new employees and has channeled its inner Dr. Seuss to help.

Beer

According to Adweek, the “Go Places” campaign invites talent to respond to 12 questions, which must be answered in 3 to 5 seconds. Based on the Enneagram model, the results give you a personal profile, which must be sent along with your résumé when applying for your Heineken dream gig on LinkedIn®.

The video features real Heineken employees, which gives it a playful, personal touch and really showcases the employer’s brand. Keeping the theme consistent, Heineken also created a “Go Places” website, an interactive interview website for candidates interested in applying at Heineken.

“Heineken revolves around the personality of their employees, and they want these personalities to thrive. That’s the main message that had to come across in a way that stands out from all other HR campaigns,” explained Wefilm Director Lennart Verstegen. “This has to be the first time HR has released a really cool campaign, reflecting values in a way only Heineken can: Ever witty and smart.”

According to Adweek, the interview site offers localizations, such as a clock that shows your local time, and images of beer and food that are native to your location (which is used in the Q&A portion of the interview). “You see empanadas when watching in Mexico, and a noodle soup when viewing in Vietnam. The same thing occurs when presented a local beer—you see one that is actually local in your market: Amstel beer in the Netherlands (a Heineken company beer!) and Star Beer in Nigeria (also a Heineken beer),” said Verstegen.

The thought process behind localizing the site was to make the “interview” process highly relevant to different cultures without it really sticking out like some crazy trick. Once candidates have completed the “interview” process and have been given results, they are then redirected to Heineken’s LinkedIn page, which shows a list of all the current job openings.

In regard to the campaign, Verstegen said, “‘Go Places’ is game-changing, delivering a punchy message in a dry, corporate environment. We took Heineken’s wish to come with something that exceeds all expectations within that very serious ‘corporate world,’ and it is hopefully regarded as a place where people can be better off than before.” So if you’re struggling to recruit top talent, you may want to take a page from Heineken’s book and make your recruiting efforts as flashy and as engaging.

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