Billboard Hiring

Wednesday, January 04, 2006



"IBM IS HIRING. GET ON BOARD" reads a huge Billboard enroute (just a hundred meters before) the IT tech Park at Hinjewadi, Pune. This is what I call Billboard hiring. Not a new hiring practice.

Have you seen these eye-catcher billboard ads placed by Google in the US in 2003? But they were challenging and aimed at recruiting the best talent in the country…stimulating and enticing only the geeks who cared enough to solve the problem. This kind of recruitment is fun for both the parties and will work for only specific product companies like Google.



The IBM ad lists just about every technology and product on earth – SAP, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards, Siebel, CRM, Web Technologies, Portals, Testing. In short, if you are into Software you can apply. The only strategic thing about the ad is its location. Considering that IBM does not have a office in this tech park that houses scores of IT, IT-enabled services (ITES) and business process outsourcing (BPO) units including some industry giants such as Wipro, Infosys and Cognizant, it was a good way to woo the 1000s of commuters to this facility everyday! I'm wondering if they are targetting only average talent?