Lately I was asked about three campaigns that gained my attention the most in the last year. I had to find out my own criteria of choice because there were so many interesting initiatives conducted by employers. Two choices were obvious – PZU campaign for its consistency with business rebranding (more here & here), mBank campaign for excellent fit into the company culture (more here). Well, becoming the laureate of The Employer Branding Stars Award definitely isn’t something gained by mistake (more information here). However in this particular situation campaigns mentioned above were my second and third choices. The first one was ‘The Asseco Programming Marathon24 Gdynia 2013 – Powered by CodiLime’ – the largest programming contest in Poland.
Sources: www.marathon24.com & www.facebook.com/Marathon24
Quick overview
Challenge
recruiting top programmers because of very competitive labour market here in Poland and potential candidates approach (f.ex. some candidates put more focus on participating in prestigious international competitions than building their professional careers; some candidates prefer to develop their professional experience abroad)
Goals
to bring together top programmers and IT companies #cooperation
to encourage potential candidates to continuous development #growth
to give potential candidates an opportunity to present their skills in preferred environment #growth, #competition, #recruitment
to extend skills of candidates in IT area #growth to provide an opportunity to recruit great candidates (time & money savings) #recruitment
to promote Poland as the innovative country with talented people in IT area #awareness
Solution #tool
An open contest
‘The Asseco Programming Marathon24 Gdynia 2013 – Powered by CodiLime’
Organizers
Asseco, CodiLime, City of Gdynia
Partner
PKO Bank Polski Foundation
Patrons
Minister of Administration and Digitization #government relations
Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics at the University of Warsaw #university relations
Target group
People from all over the world interested in programming
Milestones
The contest was consisted of two stages: the qualifying round and the final.
1st stage – conducted online in October 2013. 30 best teams were invited to the final round.
2nd stage: 24-hours final organized in The Pomeranian Science and Technology Park in Gdynia (in real-time, 30th November – 1st December).
24 hours spending on the competition is very hard work…
and sometimes you need to take a break to relax…
or simply take a nap 🙂
Teams were tasked with solving 3 complex problems (check out sample problems here). The competition was broadcasted live for 24 hours on the website www.marathon24.com
Awards
The pool of prizes for three best teams amounted 30 000 PLN
Results
#outreach – over 1000 people from 26 countries registered for the qualifying round
#selection – 30 teams attended the final round (representing 8 countries)
And the #winner was the team of ‘Precision Screwdrivers’ from Poland! Yes, yes, we have the best programmers in the world 🙂
Reasons WHY this campaign was my TOP-of-MIND
1# because of the #competitors relations (cooperation between companies recruiting similar talent profiles – Asseco & CodiLime)
2# because of #business&city relations (Asseco & CodiLime & Gdynia)
3# because of #strategy alignment on various levels:
– development strategy of CodiLime
– development strategy of Asseco
– development strategy of Gdynia
4# because of building #awareness of:
– the companies & services & employers brands of Asseco and CodiLime
– the city of Gdynia as an innovative place where is worth to invest in business
– Poland as an IT advanced country with talented specialists
5# because of CEOs engagement in #talent attraction
6# because of selection of the #tool (well-tailored to the talent profile and helping to achieve defined goals)
7# because of the campaign #communication (business & IT media, networking, social media, the campaign website, websites of organizers)
Are you programmer? If so, leave your e-mail at register.marathon24.com, and the organizers will inform you about this year’s registration start. #stayintouch
All the photos included in this post come from www.marathon24.com. You can find there also video of the first edition of the contest as well as information on the second edition.
All posts express my employer branding approach (learn more here). Almost all the pictures come from the private collection. Respect it. Thank you! Ania Penda Who am I? Learn more about my experience here. My story: LinkedIn & GoldenLine
