LIDL Roman. Chose a job at home

The opening of the fifth Lidl logistics center in Romania (a key point in the company’s long-term business and expansion strategy) represented a real challenge: our client needed to hire, in just three months, approximately 150 new colleagues both in the warehouse and in the administrative teams. Taking into consideration that 1 in 5 Romanians works abroad, and Romania is on the second place, after Syria, at annual emigration, it seemed at first an impossible mission.

The recruiting had to be done in the northeastern part of the country, known as having the highest emigration rate in the country (17.7% of inhabitants). To better understand the local and professional culture, in March 2018 we initiated a qualitative study that revealed we’re adressing to a poor area, with very few employment opportunities, suffering of a lack of investment and attention, where Lidl is perceived as cold and distant.  

Lidl wanted to respond to this local need through a campaign which shows that they appreciate and value their employees. The solution was to present potential employees with the opportunity to choose a #jobathome – a campaign that took into account the specific target, geographical positioning and socio-cultural context. Also, in order to promote the friendly work environment, the focus was on ensuring a pleasant recruitment experience throughout the whole process through an extremely humane and motivating approach.

The campaign happened in three steps:

Step 1 – We said ”Welcome home!” to the Romanians working abroad and returning home for Christmas in airports and custom borders.

Step 2 – We announced the people in the region, on all possible communication channels, that Lidl is looking for new colleagues in the area.

Step 3 – We organized a recruitment event in the new logistics center.

The campaign was a huge success, managing to increase the enthusiasm of potential employees in the area, which was easily measured by the results obtained: over 2500 CVs received; over 600 candidates who attended the event, 100% positive feedback from participants at the event, significat media coverage and over 300 CVs received from Romanians working abroad and 40 new employees from the diaspora.