It’s always hard to grab students’ attention at careers fares when the guys in the corner have a tank to play with. But the latest communications technology offers some attention grabbers that can also demonstrate that innovation isn’t just a word in the recruitment blurb.

Mobile apps offer the opportunity to link on a very personal level with graduates. With the potential for downloads at career fairs as well as from your website they bring an instant buzz factor and, if the app has been designed for long-term usefulness, they can help build long-term relationships.

Essentially, there’s the option to focus either on smart functionality or brilliant content. The latter is not the easy option since simply providing a mobile download of your web content is unlikely to hold the attention unless it is suffused with the wit of a Stephen Fry. Smart functionality can range from harnessing the mobile phone features such as camera and location or linking to social networks, such as Twitter and Linkedin. Local area networking is a feature that could be used to share information at an event as well as providing students with ongoing file-sharing capability in their own networks.

We recommend centering your app around a theme, whether it relates directly to your company or to a broader area such as a general careers manager which could carry your brand banner.

Touch screens are not limited to iphones and rail ticketing machines.  The latest technology touch screens can use any glass surface from a coffee table to a large exhibition panel to project an interactive display through the glass.  Those who have seen the film ‘Minority Report’, will have an idea of just what can be achieved using this technology and how exciting that could be in an event space.

Creating an interesting and visually captivating journey within the software environment of the display is key to successful user engagement. None of us gets too excited about ticket machines, or just using a finger to point at a website.  A true minority report experience requires creativity and visual excitement, but need not break budgets.

Whichever digital experience fits the practicalities of your recruitment campaign, creating an interesting and visually captivating journey will ensure your company projects the up to date image this year’s high flyers will appreciate. Attracting innovators has the potential to feed energy into the cycle of innovation and creativity that is vital to the competitiveness of organisations today.