ING Vysya’s Hunt for Lions Armed With an iPad Mini: Social Recruiting Done Right?

While college kids passing out from universities crib about the lack of companies to sit for placements, let alone be hired, ING Vysya Bank has come up with a unique means to ensure they pick the brightest and best of the lot. The Hunt for Lions campaign has been aimed at 80 colleges across the country to connect with the brightest young talent.

Objective

• To create awareness of the campaign to get fresh young talent to enter the competition.
• Providing a shot at an interview with the bank by means of providing the best and most innovative solution for a given case study.

The objective of this campaign is to encourage students across the country passing out from B-schools to take part in this competition. The competition toppers will be rewarded with an iPad mini as well as a pre-placement interview with ING experts.

Execution

This competition, launched on 1^st September, 2014 is aimed at the young, ‘soon-to-be-unemployed’ youth of our country who are pretty much desperate to get a job. How does this campaign work? Well, it goes like this:

1. Candidate registers on the website - the registration was open between September 1^st to 10^th.

2. Once the candidate has approached the bank for a shot at an interview (not to mention a 5.3 X 7.87 inch rectangular touch screen that adds ‘zero’ value to a fresher’s life), an email of the case study was sent to him.
3. The bank generously showered tips to solve the case study for the participant on LinkedIn and Twitter (Please note: The tips do not in any way convey that the ‘brightest’ and ‘most innovative’ freshers of our country are contrary to what they are).
4. Participants are expected to submit their solutions by the 30^th of September.
5. October 2^nd sees the top presentations put up on Facebook for People’s Choice Voting (Because, who else other than the public decides the talent that is required to be hired for ING Vysya Bank) – You may have a valid question here. Something along the lines of… “Are they serious?” I’m afraid so.
6. On the 10^th of October, the voting finally ends. 8 more excruciating days of unemployment and mind numbing suspense to add to the college pass-out’s life.
7. The People’s Champ… I mean, the People’s Choice Top Contestants are chosen on the 15^th of October and win the iPad mini and the pre-placement interview. If they haven’t already had a heart attack from all the excitement yet, of course.

Positives

An opportunity to prove themselves

This is certainly an opportunity for fresh and young talent to prove themselves. Companies today rarely take so much effort to hire freshers. The fact that ING Vysya Bank has introduced this campaign shows that it is possible the bank is keen on hiring the best young graduates in the country. This then becomes a platform to launch yourself and show your capabilities and how you stand out among the rest.

This is certainly a unique campaign that gives freshers a shot at getting an interview with the bank and furthering their careers. The competition itself will have achieved a lot of attention, interest and curiosity among this particular age group.

A unique way to place ING Vysya Bank

Although I would not term this campaign as ‘innovative’, I would say it certainly is unique in its approach. Most companies usually join the rat race to hire the brightest and best of their list of colleges in the country, which has become more of a routine task than really adding any value to the organization. ING Vysya has managed to create an image of a superior firm with their approach. Thus making students and institutions alike take notice and crave this bank to be on the top of their list of companies for placements.

This is certainly a different way to position ING Vysya Bank ahead of the rest of the companies that are looking for young talent. In addition to creating a name for themselves as a brand, this also generates interest in the kind of company they are and the kind of people they are looking for potentially.

Scope for Improvement

Campaign seems to lean towards self-promotion than finding talent

I feel this campaign is as solid as a car manufacturer sourcing square-shaped tires for their cars. If you leave the voting for best and most innovative solution to a competition to the public, then there is bound to be a high percentage of bias. Further, this is not really a place that ING Vysya need the people’s choice for who they need to hire. It should be left to ING Vysya alone and the results open for the people to see. Ideally. However, as it so stands, the first car with a square tire may just roll out come the 15^th of October.

It would have certainly been a lot easier if ING Vysya Bank just said out loud that they wanted people to notice them. Being an attention-seeker isn’t such a bad thing. It’s okay to feel wanted and important. Not to mention ‘unique’.

The need to promote ING Vysya’s own brand through a competition that is actually supposed to be for the future of our country isn’t a very solid direction to take.

Promoting a technology based incentive to generate interest

It is amusing to think that companies today believe that rewarding a competition winner with an iPad mini will make a major difference to his/her life. Knowing the institutions these kids are passing out from (Not to forget the generous ‘donations’ their parents make), the said ‘kid’ may have had his first bedtime story, ‘Goldilocks and the 3 bears’ read to him from an iPad mini. It seems quite a weak way to promote a competition. Again, the issue seems to be attention. I think the arrangement of a hugging booth is in order.

In the movie, The Dark Knight, Commissioner Gordon says: “Because he’s (Batman) the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now…”

This quote has as much relevance to this article as the iPad mini has to this competition. Enough said.

Conclusion

As much as I would love to call this recruiting campaign by ING Vysya to find their ‘Lions’ great, it seems this campaign has been directed too far down the lane where the brand takes more importance than the actual reason they may have intended. Noble as the cause is to create an opportunity for the bright youth of our country, this competition only provides them a pre-placement interview. Not even the real McCoy. So the light you see at the end of the tunnel is actually just, well… a square-tired car. Good luck driving that down the hill. Don’t take my word for it though, October the 15^th is just about a month away.