British Gas has been using Bluetooth technology to alert potential candidates to a recruitment drive for energy consultants in the Southampton area.
The company sent a representative out to roam the area equipped with a laptop and specialist software which transmitted a message to any Bluetooth-enabled devices within a 100m radius.

The message was a call to action to contact British Gas on a telephone number provided if the recipient was interested in becoming an energy consultant. The person receiving the alert is given the option of accepting or rejecting the message.

The company has used the technology since 2008 for sending text updates to the workforce in call centres but this is the first time it has used it for recruitment purposes.

A British Gas spokesperson told Recruiter that while no metrics were available at the time of going to press, it is considering using the approach for future recruitment campaigns.

The technology was provided by Ethos Technology, which develops branded and bespoke Bluetooth marketing systems. Managing director Ross Hutchins believes this is one of the first uses in the recruitment sector. He told Recruiter: “The software can gather statistics as it quantifies anything you send out such as telling you how many devices accept or reject the message,” he said. “The software doesn’t leave anything on a person’s mobile device and once they’ve moved out of the radius the message disappears.”

Such technology could prove to be an extremely cost-effective method of alerting jobseekers to local recruitment drives. Once the kit is paid for (a one-off fee of around £2,000), there is no cost to transmit messages. The equipment comprises a netbook with preloaded software. www.ethoscreative.co.uk