CapMetro Recruiting

Target Audience: The audience for this campaign was all potential job seekers in the Central Texas region. We included a secondary target of Veterans, as we have found veterans' job skills transfer well with CapMetro jobs. Featured jobs included operator, mechanic as well as corporate positions.

Strategy Objective:The objective was to meet hiring requirements for operators, mechanics as well as corporate staff for CapMetro and our service providers. An additional objective was to develop and strengthen relationships with partners such as the Texas Workforce Commission and Fort Cavazos for continuing pipeline development for ongoing recruitment. In our messaging, we focused on the fulfilling benefits of a CapMetro career in terms of a Career Journey and highlighted employees who have started at CapMetro and moved on to enjoy several roles and responsibilities within the organization. We also developed targeted messaging to veterans with military themed materials leaning into the fact that 10% of our workforce are veterans.

Situation Challenge: CapMetro is undergoing a rapid expansion of our transit system as part of Project Connect, which promises to transform mobility in Austin through 2040. Two of our biggest projects focused on the building of two new bus lines, Route 800 Pleasant Valley and Route 837 Expo Center. With that, our Talent & Acquisition team was tasked with hiring at least 250 bus drivers and 50 new mechanics by mid-2025.

Results Impact: CapMetro doubled down on veterans outreach, partnering with the Texas Veterans Commission, Fort Cavazos TAP Program, VA Work Study program and VA Clinic, working with them on curated hiring events and private speaking engagements to ensure the right candidates came through. We attended more than 15 veterans events, and 3 tours of the CapMetro headquarters and hired at least 30 vets. In partnership with service contractor Keolis, the three-day hiring events produced close to over 200 offers and our largest training class ever! In tracking the digital campaign, we received 132 mechanic applications and nine offers, an increase of 187% and 33% respectively compared to the previous year.

Why Submit: Getting mechanics and drivers remains a constant battle, especially as we continue to compete with other industries for talent. This was a truly collaborative effort between marketing, recruiting and outreach and in a difficult labor market, it produced the most amount of hires in a three-year period. Additionally, our new outreach to the veteran community produced results CapMetro had not seen, including winning a regional award for our veteran work.