PAUSE THE RESUME

TitlePAUSE THE RESUME
BrandDENTSU WEBCHUTNEY - SELF PROMOTION
Product / ServiceDENTSU WEBCHUTNEY HIRING
CategoryB01. Corporate Communication & Reputation Management
EntrantDENTSU WEBCHUTNEY Bangalore, INDIA
Idea Creation DENTSU WEBCHUTNEY Bangalore, INDIA
Production DENTSU WEBCHUTNEY Bangalore, INDIA

Credits

Name Company Position
PG Aditya Dentsu Webchutney Senior Creative Director

The Campaign

When giving everyone an equal opportunity at a job in advertising, you have to level the playing field. We wanted to move away from the lies that candidates were inadvertently forced to put down on a resume, and encouraged them to reveal themselves. Their whole self. Which is why, Dentsu Webchutney launched #PauseTheResume – a campaign that allowed interested applicants to upload voluntarily selected links of their browser history as an official way to kick-start their career with the agency. We cared about the news you follow rather than an education you were forced to follow. And perhaps a 70-year-old enjoys writing copy for condoms. Applicants could also select verticals within the agency they felt was a match for them. Upon submission, the entries reached the mailboxes of the respective vertical heads, and if someone’s browser history was impressive, it was their chance to impress us over interviews.

Execution

The process was as simple as knowing you HAVE TO watch that episode of Game of Thrones so no one ruins your Mondays with spoilers. All an interested applicant had to do was log on to the agency’s site, and upload up to one month of their browser history which was accomplished by adhering to some very simple steps. Applicants were free to edit their browser history & remove links that they did not want to upload, though some were so bold they didn’t mind us knowing about their pornography habits. Basis their submissions and after matching them with our predefined parameters, we called them in for a formal interview to take things forward.

#PauseTheResume set social media ablaze with talks about this new, progressive and perhaps even controversial way of hiring. Media publications such as AFAQS, Brand Equity and Ad Age India lapped it up too and published us on their platforms. We received over 300 entries within 3 weeks (the highest amongst any agency within the Dentsu Agency Network, in the given timeframe), many also praising this bold new hiring technique. But as bold as we may be, our openings were still limited. Over 60 candidates made the shortlist through #PauseTheResume, of which 3 browser histories were so impressive, we could tell exactly what job role they were perfect for and they have now secured a job at Dentsu Webchutney’s Bangalore branch. The rate of shortlists for phone or face-to-face interviews increased from 1:10 (as in the case of the traditional resume) to 1:5 with candidates who applied through #PauseTheResume.

The Situation

Any company, especially creative idea shops, are the sum of its people. Dentsu Webchutney needed young Indians to know that it was a great career option for talent from across industries. The intent was to create a disruptive hiring process that inherently worked as great promotion material for the company itself. Could we be seen as the most out-there, fun, ‘oh-I-want-to-work-there’ sort of company that young talent would be competing to break in to? Could we use the power of PR to circumvent usual recruitment processes like resumes, job-portals & recruiters to find candidates who fit in better?

The Strategy

Considering that most millennials spend every other second on the internet, the World Wide Web has become their first home. Their browser history is a ready reckoner of the kind of things they are interested in, passionate about and gives a fair idea about their extra-curricular intelligence. #PauseTheResume was amplified through Dentsu Webchutney’s owned and operated assets i.e. their website and all their social handles. Some of the advertising industry’s premier publications such as AFAQS, Brand Equity and Ad Age India also took note of and published #PauseTheResume on their platforms, resulting in an instantaneous spike in applicant entries. In today’s day and age, ‘we are what we internet'. Be it cat GIFs, sports, Quora, blogs or music - our browser history is a treasure trove of information and the sheer madness of the campaign itself was enough to ensure its virality.

Links

Website URL