To catch a millennial, you have to go where the Pokémon GO fans go. The HR team at Scripps Networks Interactive made that play at a recent information-technology recruitment event in Knoxville, Tenn., and was pleased by the results.
Setting up a booth at CodeStock, the infotech gathering at the Knoxville Convention Center, Scripps HR staffer Christine Jones suggested placing it near a “PokeStop” — a place where Pokémon Go players can collect items they need to capture more Pokémon.
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Chris Barksdale, vice president of human resources at Scripps, said that while he couldn’t cite specific figures on how many Pokémon players came by, Scripps recruiters were busy that day speaking with smartphone- carrying people and came away with quite a few leads.
“Pokémon Go had just been released and its use was growing rapidly,” Barksdale said in a Scripps blog post on the topic. “We figured setting up near a PokeStop would help drive traffic to our booth, and we were right. Young people today want to experience their work the same way they experience their lives, and that’s frequently through their [smart]phone.”
