RTD Military Recruitment Campaign

Target Audience: The target audience for RTD's Military niche recruitment campaign included transitioning military personnel seeking post-service employment and veterans searching for new career opportunities. High-demand positions were promoted, such as bus and rail operators (drivers), mechanics, body shop technicians, service and cleaning, and IT and engineering, along with an eligible signing bonus of $4,000.

Strategy Objective:The strategy for the RTD Military Recruitment campaign was to target this population via specific digital channels in and around the nine military and national guard bases within a short distance of RTD's service area. Concise messaging was tailored for military personnel who may be seeking employment after the military, veterans who are facing unemployment or looking for a new career opportunity. Messaging and design were at once patriotic and authentic, featuring RTD employees who were veterans. Tactics include a specific webpage at rtd-denver.com/militarycareers, paid digital and streaming ads, and social media. We had an implied focus to speak directly to veterans, the benefits that come with an RTD career, and the ability to transition to an agency conducive to military skillsets.

Situation Challenge: Like many employers, RTD has faced an employee shortage as a direct and lingering result of the global pandemic. As we researched new ways to connect with potential applicants, we were struck by the number of military veterans who thrive in careers at RTD. Veterans are exceedingly one of the most passionate and loyal segments of employees at RTD, making up nearly 5 percent of our workforce. Internal research demonstrated how RTD's mission-driven environment aligned with values promoted within the armed forces—teamwork, loyalty, skills transfer, leadership, training opportunities and job security. With that information, we determined to develop a campaign specifically targeted at military personnel in the process of transitioning out of the service.

Results Impact: Since the military-focused recruitment campaign launched in February 2023, it has impacted hiring and has begun to transform the narrative around finding a post-military career at RTD. Our multichannel marketing has included a dedicated military careers webpage which has received 41,600?visits, with an average time spent of?01:30 min on page. X (Twitter) posts yielded 16,443?impressions and a?4.3%?engagement rate, while paid Facebook campaigns achieved a reach of 11,672, with 610?post engagements. Best of all, during this period, we have received?more than?819 applications from military personnel with over 30?hires year to date.

Why Submit: RTD's Military Recruitment campaign was entered and should win because of our unique approach to connect and engage with a qualified applicant pool that is underserved and often overlooked. By employing specific targeting tactics (geofencing/farming) in and around military bases and surrounding geographies, combined with authentic messaging that spoke directly to this demographic, we were able to paint a compelling picture of synergies between military life and post-service transitions at RTD. In highlighting veterans in a variety of positions, we were able to showcase success stories and position RTD as an employer of choice for the military segment, as evidenced by the applicant and new hire numbers.