Complete Guide to Hosting Successful Virtual Recruiting Events

To reach a wide candidate pool and raise your profile, you need virtual recruiting events in your hiring strategy. What better way to showcase your company culture?

But perhaps you’ve never hosted a virtual event. You don’t know what types of recruitment events translate well to a digital setting and are a bit lost in knowing where to start with virtual event planning. Either that or you’re just ready to seriously up your virtual event game.

From virtual recruitment ideas to a complete guide for planning, hosting, and analyzing a great virtual event, this blog will give you the tools to upgrade your recruitment strategy and find top talent.

What is a virtual recruiting event?

A virtual recruiting event is an occasion for employers and recruiters to promote job roles and meet candidates online. These events can include industry-specific talks, networking, and interviews. They’re similar to marketing or sales events but with the goal of attracting potential candidates instead of new customers.

How does a virtual hiring event work?

A virtual hiring event can work in different ways depending on your objectives. Usually, one or a group of people will lead the event and present information about the company and vacancies to an audience. The goal is to engage potential candidates, showcase your company culture, and nurture talent through the hiring process.

Top 4 ideas for virtual recruitment events

Virtual recruitment events can be anything that leads you to connect with potential employees, strengthen your employer’s brand, and close future positions. Here are four ideas for online hiring events:

1. Career fairs
2. Information sessions
3. Virtual interviews
4. Webinars

1. Career fairs

Sometimes, companies get invited to high education careers fairs for college students. You can also host internal job fairs and networking events to present candidates with multiple job opportunities within your company. The idea is that each organization or department has a booth where applicants can network and find out more about the roles available.

How to host a virtual career fair with Livestorm

If you’re using Livestorm as your online event platform, you can mimic in-person recruiting events by:

1. Customizing your registration page and event room to use your brand colors and capture attendee details
2. Promoting your event
3. Setting up a digital application form using a tool like Typeform or Google Forms to allow applicants to upload their resumés
4. Sending automatic email reminders to ensure a large attendance rate
5. Using breakout rooms for different employers to set up virtual stands
6. Sharing resources throughout your event using the Handouts plugin
7. Adding a CTA button at the end of the presentation to redirect attendees to the application form or company website
8. Making sure you record your event and send the replay to all registrants
9. Downloading a contact record and engagement report to follow up on the most engaged attendees

2. Information sessions

A virtual info session is an opportunity for candidates to ask questions and get to know the culture of an organization. Info sessions may have up to 50 audience members. These usually allow potential candidates to talk face-to-face to current employees and ask questions.

How to host an information session with Livestorm

If you’re setting up an info session as part of your talent acquisition strategy, here’s how to do it:

1. Set up a pre-event selection form to vet potential candidates before you send out the invitation
2. Create your event and a registration page, send automatic reminders and start your event on time (refer to steps 1-4 above)
3. Plan icebreaker activities using polls, a virtual whiteboard, or breakout rooms
4. Invite multiple speakers and allow attendees to ask questions by inviting them to stage
5. Share a presentation directly from Visme or PowerPoint without switching tabs
6. Use the Q&A tab and encourage audience engagement by letting them upvote questions and answering them in order of popularity
7. Add a CTA button to redirect attendees to a careers-focused knowledge base
8. Review post-attendee analytics and reach out to the most engaged participants

3. Virtual interviews

A virtual interview allows employers to meet face-to-face with candidates and assess their suitability for a role. Employers can choose to host individual or group interviews using an online meeting platform. Online interviews usually follow a structured question format and involve a single interviewer or a panel.

How to host virtual interviews with Livestorm

Hosting virtual interviews with Livestorm is quite easy as your potential employees can join the call through a browser. To do so:

1. Create a meeting event and share it with candidates. Invite candidates directly from your calendar using Calendly, Google Calendar, and Outlook integrations
2. Customize your room, registration pages, and emails (you know the drill!)
3. Send automatic email reminders to all attendees (interviewers and interviewees) to prevent no-shows
4. For group interviews, try using Slido or Mentimeter to facilitate quizzing, polls, and other interactive activities to keep candidates on their toes
5. Schedule a follow-up email to thank each interviewee for their time and advise on the next steps
6. Set up your event with automatic recording and share it with hiring managers or one-level up managers

4. Webinars

A webinar is a live virtual event where a speaker or panel shares expert knowledge on a specific topic. Live webinars can attract hundreds of audience members, who typically keep their cameras and mics switched off throughout the event but can interact via chat boxes, virtual Q&As, and polls.

How to host webinars with Livestorm

Webinars allow organizations to showcase their subject matter expertise and demonstrate their values. To host one

1. Create the event and customize your room following the steps outlined for careers fairs
2. Book engaging keynote speakers who have influence or relevant experience within the industry and invite them on stage
3. Use engagement features to get participants to interact and ask questions (use polls, Q&A tab, and in-app chat box)
4. Share videos and audio notes to keep the event dynamic. With Livestorm, you can upload media files to the platform or share videos directly from YouTube
5. Create a follow-up survey to gather feedback about the success of your event and understand what motivates your audience to apply for roles
6. Review your analytics dashboard to track audience engagement, demographics, and overall virtual event success metrics

What are the benefits of virtual recruiting events?

Event recruiting can raise the profile of your organization, benefit your reputation as an employer, and help you reach a wider pool of candidates. By choosing online recruiting events over in-person ones, you will:

• Minimize your expenses. You won’t need to hire or decorate a venue, provide refreshments, or reimburse the travel expenses of your recruitment staff and speakers.
• Attract wider candidate pools. You’ll reach even wider audiences, which increases your chances of hiring the best talent.
• Attract wider speaker pools. You’ll also have more speakers to choose from, whether that’s internal employees or external professionals with relevant experience.
• Have greater analytics options. Most virtual event platforms have a basic level of automatic reporting including tracking registration and attendance figures. Livestorm also collects engagement data such as the number of messages sent, poll responses, and duration of attendance for each registrant.
• Benefit the environment. Meet your organization’s green objectives by reducing waste and air pollution caused by in-person events.
• Provide fair hiring opportunities. Virtual events are more accessible, even for those with childcare responsibilities, restricted mobility, and limited time or resources.

How to host a successful virtual recruiting event

The devil is in the details. So, if you can plan ahead and anticipate potential scenarios, you’ll be able to host a successful event. You need to pay attention to the platform that you choose, your event format, and speakers, list all potential questions, and plan for engagement. Here’s how to do it:

How to plan a virtual recruiting event

This guide will help you think through the different steps you need to take to host a successful virtual hiring event. Tailor these steps to the format and type of your recruiting initiative.

1. Choose the type and format of the event
2. Contact potential speakers
3. Set a date and time
4. Come up with your online event promotion plan

Step one: Choose the type and format of the event

The very first step is to define which type of event you’ll host. This will unpack a list of questions regarding event length, potential speakers, presentation format, and audience.

You could choose one of the four types we mentioned before:

1 - Career fair
2 - Panel interview
3 - Webinars
4 - Info sessions

The format is tightly linked to the type but refers to the way you set up your platform. For example, if you choose a careers fair, the formatting can’t be a speaker sharing a generic presentation. Rather, you need to break people into groups and get one or two speakers per space to pitch a specific role or department.

Step two: Contact potential speakers or co-hosts

Once you know the type of event you’re hosting, you can book potential speakers. You should look for people who embody your company’s values and culture and are high performers. Here’s a quick guide to help you define how many presenters you need:

• Career fairs: You need one general host and one or two speakers per department/breakout room.
• Info sessions: You need one master of ceremony (it could be you) and three to five panelists.
• Panel interviews: You might need more interviewers if you’re hiring for managerial or highly technical jobs. You can have anything from two to ten panelists.
• Webinars: These shouldn’t last longer than an hour with two speakers at most.

Step three: Set a date and time

Once you have confirmation of your speakers, set up a date and time that works for them. If possible, run a short, informal survey with your potential attendees to pick a day that suits them and your speakers.

Then, create an event and a registration page. If you’re using Livestorm, you can customize your embedded registration form to ask personalized questions. You can also brand your event room and registration page to fit your company’s style.

Step four: Come up with your online event promotion plan

When you’re marketing a virtual event, you need to answer the following questions:

• What’s your target audience?
  • Where are they hanging out?
  • What’s their preferred method of communication? Video, text, images?
• How are you getting people to sign up?
  • Do you have an email list of prospects?
  • Do you have any relationships with schools?
• Are you paying a subscription fee to an online job posting site?
• Do you have a strong LinkedIn following?
• How long will you run the promotion?
• Are you getting industry influencers to share the information?

Use these questions to come up with a marketing strategy and capture your target audience's attention. Remember that you need a powerful social media event promotion strategy to reach your audience – and host successful events.

How to set up a virtual recruiting event

To set up your virtual recruiting event you need to do more than just create an invite and share it with your network. You also need to think about the agenda and design a presentation. Follow these steps to achieve a successful event setup:

5 - Set recurring events and use Calendly
6 - Come up with an event agenda
7 - Create a presentation

Step five: Set recurring events and use Calendly

Use Calendly to create recurring events and offer your audience various date and time options to participate. If you’re using Livestorm, you can set recurring events and create a registration page with multiple slots for your candidates to choose from. You can also link your events to Calendly, so attendees can choose the best option right from the app.

Step six: Come up with an event agenda

It’s virtual event best practice to keep the session on time. A simple way to achieve that is by having a clear agenda with time estimates. Your agenda is a list of all the main concepts and activities you’ll cover in the event. Here’s how your careers fair agenda could look:

• Introductions and housekeeping [10 mins]
• Time to visit departmental stalls [30 mins]
  Please move freely around the following breakout rooms:
  • Sales
  • Marketing
  • Human resources (HR)
  • Information technology (IT)
  • Logistics
• General Q&A [15 mins]
• Closing thoughts [5 mins]

Step seven: Create a presentation

Your virtual recruiting event presentation should be fully branded. It should also include a company video that demonstrates the values and culture. Use PowerPoint or Visme to create an engaging slide deck that tells your company’s story. Avoid long blocks of text and multiple font styles and colors as that can distract your audience.

How to host a virtual recruiting event

On the day of the event, you have to make sure everyone is able to participate and ask questions and is directed to take clear action. Here’s how to host a memorable event:

8 - Record the event
9 - Make it engaging
10 - Share files
11 - Answer questions
12 - Add a CTA button

Step eight: Record the event

You’ll always benefit from recording your event. Here’s how:

• If you’re hosting a job fair, you can record the session and share the replay link with colleges so they can send it to other students.
• You can use a webinar recording and turn it into evergreen content, available on-demand through a registration page. That way you can turn the webinar into a lead magnet for potential candidates.
• If you’re having a panel interview, you can share the recording with hiring managers.
• You can use the info session’s recording to vamp up the FAQs section in your company’s blog or repurpose it and create social media content.

Step nine: Make it engaging

Your recruiting event should show your company as a great place to work while capturing resumes. Be careful when choosing your speakers and be sure they can run an engaging, educational, and entertaining presentation.

We’ve got tons of ideas for fun virtual events, but the most important one is to have interactive features, such as:

• Q&A tab to invite candidates to ask questions and let others upvote them
• Polls to help read the room, break the ice, or gather feedback
• Virtual whiteboard to collaborate and brainstorm live
• Emoji reactions to get feedback from attendees even if they have their mics and cameras off
• On-screen timer to allow them to time an exercise or take a break
• Breakout rooms to get your potential hires to connect with your employees on a more personal level

Step ten: Share files

You’re probably going to have a mixed audience. Some may be really interested in your company and know exactly which role they want to apply to. But, others might have no idea what your company does and if they’ll like it. For the latter, make sure you have plenty of additional resources for them to digest in their own time.

If you’re using Livestorm, you can create a knowledge base in Google Drive and share the link on the screen using an in-app CTA button. Or, you can share documents directly using the Handouts plugin.

Step eleven: Answer questions

It’s really important that you leave time in your agenda to answer questions. You want to capture all the misconceptions or doubts your potential hires have about your company – and answer them.

Be prepared to answer questions about internal hiring processes. This means that you need to know exactly:

• What the URL for uploading their resumes is
• How long it will take to communicate your decisions on their applications
• How many interviews they’re expected to have
• Whether or not they get notified if they don’t get selected for the job

Also if you have open positions that you’re promoting, make sure you either have a clear understanding of those roles or that the hiring manager is a panelist or a host.

Step twelve: Add a CTA button

For recruiting events, you either want people to fill out an application, take a skills-based test, or sign up for another interview. With Livestorm, you can add a link and have it appear on the screen with the CTA button feature. If you’re using a different platform, you can share the link through the chat.

Step thirteen: Review your meeting analytics

Livestorm lets you access your complete meeting analytics as soon as you end the event. Use this functionality to

• Gather all contact records
• Review individual poll answers, questions and upvotes, and CTA clicks
• Check the attendance report

You can contact the most engaged participants directly from the platform. For example, you could reach out to the people who clicked on the CTA link but didn’t file an application. Wait at least 24-48 hours to do it because they might be updating their resume and you don’t want to be invasive. Plus, tailor each email with a fact about them using their answers to give it a personal touch.

What tools do I need to host a virtual recruiting event?

All you truly need to host a virtual recruiting event is a computer with an integrated camera and microphone, internet access, and a subscription or license to a virtual event platform. However, there are a few tools that’ll make your virtual event even more dynamic.

5 Essential tools for your virtual hiring event

First up, you need a virtual event platform, like Livestorm, that comes with built-in promotional features to help you plan and share your event. Here’s what else you need:

1. Interprefy. If your company has locations in different cities or you’re hiring remotely, use this Livestorm plugin to allow for real-time interpretation as subtitles. That way, anyone can join and read captions in their native language to simplify communication.
2. Visme or PowerPoint. You need presentation software to design your slides. If you’re using Livestorm, we recommend you use either Visme or PowerPoint as they integrate natively so you won’t need to switch tabs to change the slides.
3. Slido. This interactive tool helps you emulate live group sessions and includes Q&As and polls to shorten the distance between you and your potential hires.
4. Miro or Mural. You also need a visual collaboration tool that you can display without having to switch tabs. Miro and Mural are both interactive virtual whiteboards that you can use directly from Livestorm.

Must-have features for your virtual recruiting event platform

You can use a video conferencing platform like Livestorm, Zoom, or Google Meet to host virtual recruiting events. Look for one that includes:

• Customizable registration forms. Your registration form is how you capture attention and leads. You can brand this to your company’s style guide and add as many custom questions to the registration form as you need.
• Automated email reminders and follow-ups. Your attendees (and presenters) can easily forget your event. Get a platform that comes with automatic reminders through emails to improve your attendance rate.
• Contact records. Your virtual event platform should collect information about your participants and hold it for you to use. That means you should be able to retrieve all of your registrants’ contact information after the event.
• Customizable room. Get a tool that lets you add apps and integrations to create the virtual room that you need. With Livestorm you get access to over 1,000 plugins and integrations, and also, get the chance to build your own app by writing a few lines of code.

What does a good virtual hiring event look like?

A good virtual hiring event will result in increased application numbers and actual hires. These targets are adaptable depending on the size and profile of your organization. You can also use analytics dashboards in your virtual event software to help you track other virtual event metrics such as:

• Total registrations
• Attendance rates
• Drop-out rate
• Audience engagement

Are virtual events good for recruitment?

Virtual recruiting events are the perfect way to connect with a wide pool of potential applicants without losing the human touch. Whether you’re hosting a career fair, an informational session, panel interviews, or webinars, you need to:

1. Plan your event
2. Set everything up to lead a successful recruitment event
3. Host the session

All you need to do is choose a strong virtual event platform and start planning. If you’re a virtual event beginner, try well-rounded virtual event software like Livestorm that integrates seamlessly with your existing tools like Slack, Zapier, and Hubspot. You can also use Livestorm features like automatic email reminders and calendar syncing to help automate your workflows.

Finally, to get the most out of virtual recruiting, you need to focus on engagement. Compelling events inspire action and leave a lasting impression. When your candidate pool is engaged, you’ll raise your organization’s profile and have the pick of top talent.

Frequently asked questions about virtual recruiting events

What are some examples of virtual hiring events?

Some examples of virtual hiring events include

• Amazon Warehouse Virtual Hiring Event 2022. In March 2022, Amazon recruiters invited potential hires to join a recruiting event for warehouse vacancies. Job seekers received a presentation of the company and participated in 1:1 interviews during the event.
• Procter & Gamble Employer Virtual Info Session 2022. The University of British Columbia in Canada invited P&G to lead an info session for students to discover potential job opportunities – from internships to post-graduate roles.
• Deutsche Bank and Google Cloud Virtual Career Event 2022. These two companies led a recruiting event online to present the companies, review open positions and answer questions. The goal was to get applicants to fill those vacant roles.

What types of virtual recruiting events are there?

The different types of virtual recruiting events that you can find are

• Online career fairs. At an online career fair, candidates can visit virtual “stalls” to hear employers give talks about their organization and job opportunities. Typically, virtual careers fairs accommodate networking and candidates can submit their resumes to organizations they’re interested in.
• Virtual info session. Info sessions are an opportunity for candidates to learn about employers and hear current employees share their experiences. Some info sessions also involve virtual interviews.
• ‘Ask me anything’ (AMA) session. An AMA session is usually carried out on social media by someone prominent within an organization that’s hiring. They’re a chance for potential candidates to ask questions and “meet” an organization via a public online platform.
• Virtual interview. A virtual interview typically uses a video conferencing platform to connect a candidate with recruiters from a hiring organization. This can be an individual or group interview.

What should I name my virtual recruiting event?

You should name your virtual recruiting event thinking about the target audience and the type of session. For example, if you’re hiring for one specific organization, you should name it in the title of your event (e.g. Livestorm Info Session). But, if you’re hiring specific people for a range of employers, then put the emphasis on the candidate type (e.g. Graduate Software Engineer Careers Fair).

How do I recruit talent virtually?

To recruit talent virtually you need to:

1. Plan how to attract potential employees online
2. Have a website that allows potential candidates to sign up and apply for a position
3. Host virtual recruiting events to connect with your candidates or potential applicants
4. Host interviews virtually (async or live)
5. Review the recordings and assess each candidate
6. Make them an offering through an online meeting

Is virtual recruiting here to stay?

Virtual recruiting is here to stay, at least for corporations. Most businesses have a virtual recruiting process that involves candidates applying through a link and filling out an online application. It’s very rare to find corporations that accept printed resumes in the building lobby.

That said, small businesses and local shops may only advertise locally and are likely to accept resumes submitted in person. For example, baristas, waiters, and cleaners are far less likely to encounter virtual recruiting.

What are some benefits of virtual recruiting events?

Benefits of virtual recruiting events include:

• Lower costs: You don’t need to book a venue, pay for refreshments, and travel expenses
• Reach a wider audience: Anyone can connect even if they live in a different state or have trouble getting there
• Wide speaker pool: Get speakers from anywhere and guarantee you have the best ones
• Better analytics: Everything gets recorded in your virtual event platform (if you’re using Livestorm)