Searching for a job is lonely, frustrating and boring. At least that’s what respondents to a recent poll told Staples Business Depot. The office supplies biggie responded by creating Staplesville.ca, whose target audience is Generation Y and Millennials.
Launched this week, the interactive website, designed by Toronto’s LoveBird Agency, aims to ‘revolutionize the way Canadian businesses attract and recruit top-tier employees.’ After logging onto Staplesville.ca, visitors can choose an avatar to guide them through various interactive locations, including a community centre, where they can learn about Staples Business Depot’s corporate social responsibility initiatives. They can choose to relax at the Perks Café, where a virtual barista will brief them on the benefits of working at the office supplies biggie, plus tips on the retail job market. The site already lists more than 50 job descriptions and postings for open positions across the country.
‘One thing we realized early on is that every other retail recruiting site looks pretty much the same. There are pictures of employees with phony grins, but not much interesting content,’ explains Staples Business Depot VP, human resources, Alan Ward. ‘Staplesville.ca is completely different from anything that’s come before. There is so much to explore and interact with. What other company provides an online fortune teller to help job seekers identify the position they are best suited for?’
The ‘enthusiastic people’ who use the resources at Staplesville.ca, says Ward, ‘will leave the virtual town with a deeper appreciation for retail as a career, and keep coming back for the tools and insights that will help them find a retail job targeted to their own strengths and interests.’
