In line with Australia’s batting collapse in the Ashes Guru Careers published a spoof job advert for Cricketers to join their first XI “due to current underperforming talent”. Inviting applications from Aussies with “a big ego”, “a knack for sledging” and the ability to “spend long stints in the field” we were truly amazed by the public reaction…

As an ad agency that specialises in recruitment (what we do) our employer brand is essential to us (1 in 3 candidate applications come directly), so throughout the year we are constantly on our toes to react to situations that can benefit our client’s campaigns, our employer brand and our employer recognition within the marketplace.

Reacting to Australia’s first innings score of just 60 in the forth test in the Ashes our Copywriters and Marketing team produced the following spoof recruitment advert which we published onto Marketing Week.  Within the first 24 hours it had been shared over 5,000 times on social media and featured on high profile social media accounts, the BBC, Independent and many other media sources.

Now, the dust has settled, what have we learnt? Well, direct applications across all our jobs increased by 10% on that day and have remained higher than before the PR stunt. Aside from candidate applications we also received countless good will messages from marketing folk, made some very interesting connections and even generated some new business enquiries.

At Guru we actively encourage staff to think in this creative way and to react to different situations with out-the-box solutions.  The best candidates aren’t always found via a LinkedIn message, they might just be watching the cricket or reading a news site.  The important thing is to create a varied approach to recruitment that encompasses PR, Advertising, Search and yes a little LinkedIn Headhunting.  Combining all of the above will result in a brilliant strategy,  well, that’s what we do anyway.

Here is the advert below in full, feel free to throw your Baggy Green Cap into the ring, Bonza!