Every year, the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway (TMAC) recruits about 100 seasonal staff to join its team during the summer months – its busiest period. And every year, TMAC’s HR department embarks on an ambitious face-to-face recruitment drive to find the best candidates.
This year, though, TMAC decided to do things a little differently, by going digital. Recruits were required to fill out an online application form and submit a 30-second video of themselves, pretending to persuade family and friends why they should visit the Cableway.
Briefed by TMAC’s Tasneem Rajie and Bevan Jeacocks, the Flow Cape Town team worked together to develop and implement a new approach to the recruitment process. Led by Flow project manager Leanne Pohlmann, the campaign kicked off on 15 July and is running until 31 August.
Flow media developer Stuart Buchanan created a new static page for the campaign. This is where all information relevant to the recruitment drive lived – including an introduction to this year’s process, a list of instructions for candidates, a series of departmental videos and the online application form.
Using Formstack – an online form builder – I created an online application form based on the needs of the TMAC HR department. The form essentially replaced the need for applicants to submit CVs. And because Formstack (so I’ve learned) is so awesome, it was an easy tool for Tasneem and Bevan to ensure potential candidates ticked the relevant boxes.
Following a training session by Leanne, user testing, feedback and several minor tweaks, the online application form was given the thumbs-up by Tasneem: “Everybody has now had a look and is absolutely thrilled with the outcome – it looks great.”
Stuart also braved the cool weather to interview and film TMAC’s MD, Sabine Lehmann, and representatives of each department. Sabine’s interview served as the introduction to the recruitment drive, explaining this year’s digital approach and what TMAC was looking for in recruits. Each departmental video elaborated on this, specifying what skills were needed and what’s expected of potential candidates.
“As a keen videographer, I'm always encouraging our clients to embrace this exciting and engaging medium,” Stuart says.
“The Cableway’s recruitment drive was a great example of how to use video effectively, and getting to hear each head of department speak so passionately about their job was an honour to have captured on camera.”
As he edited and uploaded these videos to TMAC’s YouTube channel, I wrote the introduction, instructions and copy to accompany each video on the static recruitment page. I then put together a blog piece for the TMAC website and a three week-long social media plan for its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Says Leanne: “The TMAC HR department has received 195 online submissions. The recruitment campaign page itself has enjoyed over 4 000 unique views, with an average of five minutes spent on the page – this shows that users are watching the videos. Sabine’s introductory video was the most popular, with 637 views.”
Tasneem concludes: “The quality of videos we received [from recruits] varied and I would imagine this is probably dependent on the type of camera or phone that was used. Having said that, the videos definitely assisted us in selecting candidates.”
Despite the campaign coming to an end on 31 August, the page created for the recruitment drive will remain on the TMAC website and continue to showcase the role each department plays to ensure the best possible visitor experience. TMAC has also expressed that with one or two tweaks, it would like to roll out next year’s recruitment drive digitally again.
Good luck to all the recruits – you’re in for a bumper summer season!
