Shannon and I were on a shopping pilgramage last Sunday in one of those outlet malls that stretch out like the Amazon River, a seemingly endless procession of brands, window spam, crying babies, hipsters, hoods and grandmas (and the old men waiting for their shopping compadres in front of the stores in a scene stolen right out of a hospital waiting room in Boca Raton Florida). Like any shopping warrior on a consumer safari there comes a time when your exhaustion reaches a point of desparation and your good senses are replaced by a desire to consume…mall food (gasp). 
So there we were rolling our two rent-a-dinosaur-strollers down the mall food court eyeing the Sbarro pasta for the kids and with Shan and I having all the intent in the world to nibble on a couple of double-decker taco supreme’s at Taco Hell. We were eagerly anticipating this satisfying mix of mexi-simu-muck when
we were propositioned by a mall food native. No, not that kind of
proposition. They wanted us to sample their village food.
We quickly declined and kept moving towards our Taco Hut, where before we could clear the first site of accostment, we were surreptitiously propositioned by another smiling native with a tooth pick and some unidentified local food substance. We both began to indicate our desire to refrain from her offering when she dropped the hammer on us and thrust the toothpick in our face as one might a spear. It was clear that she intended to hurt us, with as many toothpicks as it would take, if we dared pass through her village without tasting her cooking. Shannon and I both looked at each other, considered our representative treatment of natives, the sins of our white conquering fathers, and decided that as ambassadors of our country we should sample the native fare. We took the offering, hoping to not find ourselves Indiana Jonesing some monkey brains. Pow! Our taste buds were set on fiahhhhh with a tantalizing mixture of sodium, MSG, and Teriyaki chicken goodness that had us ordering a plate before we could unroot ourselves from our stunned, immobilized, it-doesn’t-taste-like-chicken-I-don’t-want-Taco-Hell-anymore euphoria. Just like that, we were sample suckers!
Is our experience unique?
According to an article published Tuesday, October 17 on Promo Magazine (Sampling Reigns as as key method to drive in-store ROI) we had an up close and personal experience with the powerful influence of sampling. According to Promo:
"Product sampling is the most influential in-store marketing method when it comes to influencing consumer purchase decisions, and is a reliable option for marketers looking to increase ROI.
Some 52.4% of adults 18 and older said they were either "influenced" or "greatly influenced" by in-store product sampling, compared to 43.2% who cited product labels and 39.5% for shelf coupons, according to the recent Simultaneous Media Usage Survey by BIGresearch."
So how do we apply this to recruiting?
Well I’d like your feedback on this. The idea of employees ‘trying out a company’ and vice versa is not new but I don’t think the practice is common. At least in terms of it being an explicit hiring practice. I think the model is flawed at present and skewed towards the employer and not in the least attractive but to the most self-assured of individuals. But, I don’t see that it has to be that way. Most offers of employment are truly at-will anyway. Wouldn’t an employment contract with a 6 month minimum with a built in stay/or leave decision at month three be a workable alternative? That way both employer and employee would have a three month transition to their next life?
Also from the Promo Magazine Article…
"Whether you’re promotionally oriented or you want to make up your own
mind, sooner or later you have to figure out if you like the taste of
the pizza," said Phil Rist, a researcher at BIGresearch. "It’s at a
point where you can experience the product directly."
While sampling may not be a stated recruiting strategy at most companies most employers have a well tested ‘try before you buy’ hiring model. It’s called consulting, or freelancing, and desperation, among other things. With consulting, the employer has all the benefits of the sampling strategy in addition to none of the headaches that hiring full time employees has. And on the consultant side, as a free agent there isn’t a down side either, because the job is just another contract and consultants/free agents are always working on what there next gig will be. I bet you’ll recognize the following scenario.
Company X hires an independent consultant,let’s call her Jane, on a 1 month project. They like the consultant so much they keep her around for another project for four additional months. At some point during this time they make Jane the consultant an offer to stay as Jane the employee. Consultant Jane and Company X are joined in holy compamony until the next layoff or a better offer comes along. This isn’t a bad model. The free agent finds out if they really like the company and the company makes a real sure-thing hire. So why isn’t this practice more prevalent in today’s talent hungry market where access to the right talent adds up to victory or defeat in the marketplace?
Do you have a tasty toothpick sample ready to wave in front of your next superstar employee? Are you looking for your next full time company mover and shaker in the ever burgeoning free agent talent pool? Have you had any experiences with sampling as a direct recruitment strategy or in the passive free agent/consulting model I’ve outlined? Sound off would ya?
Technorati Tags: Recruiting, Free Agents, Freelancing, Sample Marketing
EXCELER8ion is where Shannon and Julian Seery Gude write on Social Media, Interactive Marketing, Technology and Internet Business Topics. 
7 comments ↓
I love this idea and think that it makes a lot of sense - but hiring managers and recruiters would have to move away from their bias toward “job hoppers” if this practice was ever adopted. Most interviewers wouldn’t respond pragmatically when a candidate responds -
Two comments: First, if you’ve ever visited our fine establishments (and I know that you have), sampling is a key way we encourage customers to experience a new product at Starbucks. Many customers are creatures of habit (and here is where I must express my concern over the draw that low-budget tacos seem to have on you two…’like moths to a flame’ imagery comes immediatelly to mind) so to break this habit we offer those tiny little sample cups so that your taste buds can experience the cornucopia of flavors that our newest beverages have to offer. See, we draw you into our web that way so that Pumpkin Spice becomes YOUR COFFEE.
Secondly, we used to offer what we called an On The Job Experience (OTJ) for potential store manager hires. Before you accepted our offer of employment, we would let you experience life in the store by working a shift (and paying you), with the idea that a realistic job preview might drive engagement and diminish turnover. We dismantled the program due to high administration costs and increasingly complex labor law legislation. In the end, it didn’t seem to offer much ROI. We then attempted to recreate a realistic job preview via interactive media (cool A/V multimedia CD) but it never really worked, mostly due to the legal risks involved with disclosing too much (no comment lest a diatribe on the legal department ensue).
All of this said, I think there’s future upside in driving this level of transparency.
Can I interest you in a our new maple macchiato?
see for grins:
http://www.edbrill.com/ebrill/edbrill.nsf/dx/starbucks-maple-macchiato?opendocument&comments
While I love the idea of sampling, I guarantee you the capitalistic revolt will be, well, revolting. See, while I agree that sampling works for products, and is an interesting idea for jobs, from a cost perspective, the 6-month contract is scary. There’s the hiring costs, the separation costs (if it doesn’t work out) and the cultural costs–there are studies on how long it takes new hires to become ingrained in the culture leading to effective teamwork. The capitalist in me (yes, B-School does that to you no matter how hard I try) also says that hiring managers will be fearful of the added costs even if you make a good case otherwise. I think that’s why so many companies are going the OTJ or RJP (realistic job preview) route so external candidates can sample without scaring the internal capitalists.
PS: the career coach in me thinks that OTJ and and RJPs are the best methods of sampling to find your career sweet spot–as any job hopper will tell you, actual on the job sampling is mentally and physically exhausting, as well as a personal risk (contract ends and you don’t have something else…)
ever wandered around Whole Foods at lunch (why, oh why is the Nashville Whole Foods not yet built??) you know that the plethora of samples can equal a free lunch So it makes sense right, product sampling works, why not job sampling? Check out this post from a cool, new blog I like (Exceler8ion), about social media and online recruitment marketing. I responded to their post on the idea of job sampling…great in theory. But here’s the thing…
Hi Susan, great comments! I think that most ANY tool that provides a candidate with additional *real* information about a job or company would be helpful. So, your RJP is certainly interesting. How about the employer though? Do they get a video of the employee IM’ing their buddies and reading their MySpace page in between meetings and e-mails on their current job?
You make good points about cost and I’m still not convinced that job sampling would be more expensive than bad hires over the long run. From experienced in corporate America, managers and companies often ignore underperformers that are hurting their business for years before finally doing something about the person. I’m talking about even basic management interventions like coaching - never mind the big kahuna, termination. How much does that cost? While I acknowledge that measuring ROI here would be difficult, I do think it could be done and I feel it would be less expensive in the long run. Your last point is where I get stuck with this concept though as well. Risk to the employes. The personal risk of being out on your ass in 6 months would deter all but the most self assured of individuals. In a job market like we have now I think you have a much better shot at it working since there’s a really good chance of landing somewhere else. Thanks for writing in.
[...] CollegeRecruiter.com Blogswap: Everyone Loves a Free Lunch Over the next few months, we’re going to be doing a blogswap with CollegeRecruiter.com. This means that while I will still continue to post several times a week, you will also be treated to the wise musings of guest career bloggers. We’re kicking things off with a post from Susan Strayer, a career and organization development expert who blogs at Kaleidoblog. If you’ve ever wandered around Whole Foods at lunch (why, oh why is the Nashville Whole Foods not yet built??) you know that the plethora of samples can equal a free lunch. So it makes sense: product sampling works, right? Why not job sampling? Check out this post (from a cool, new blog I like, Exceler8ion, about social media and online recruitment marketing). I responded to their post on the idea of job sampling…great in theory. But here’s the thing. While job sampling sounds cool, it reminds me of why I came to Business School in the first place–to anticipate the capitalistic response. Meaning, making the business case that job sampling isn’t a cost nightmare seems next to impossible. Which is why I am more a proponent of On-the-Job previews or Realistic Job Previews (RJT)–videos that show a real day-in-the-life in a particular job or position. Switching roles from capitalist to customer–I hear the masses: “If the company creates the RJT, they how do we know it is really realistic? How do we know it isn’t manipulated to avoid the downfalls of negative sides of the job?” I think this is the real question to answer. Thanks, Susan! Published Tuesday, November 21, 2006 7:30 AM by AlexandraLevit Filed Under: Current Affairs, Business, Job Hunting, Personal Development, Work [...]
Everybody Loves a Free Lunch…
If you’ve ever wandered around (http://www.wholefoods.com) Whole Foods at lunch (why, oh why is the Nashville Whole Foods not yet built??) you know that the plethora of samples can equal a free lunch…….
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