The Recruiter’s Recipe for Converting Candidates to New Hires
If you’ve ever struggled to sell a candidate on Indiana…
If they’ve loved the job opportunity but balked at the idea of living in “a cornfield.” If it always came down to questions about quality of life—keep reading. This one’s for you.
Ingredients
- A heaping pile of area knowledge
- Sift in featured events (yes, plural—calendar full of what makes Indy buzz)
- Just enough unreasonable hospitality
- A pinch of human connection, a dash of storytelling, and a dollop of visionary possibility
Directions for Impact
- Heaping pile of area knowledgeThis is your base, your savory broth. Go beyond the “official” talking points and serve up insider detail: the neighborhoods with character, the ones with easy commutes, where you can get lost in boutique shops, or enjoy a sunrise coffee on the Monon Trail. Show candidates the version of Indy that locals treasure—their Indy-in-the-making.
- Sift in featured eventsDon’t stop at the Indy 500. Add in the outdoor summer movie nights, First Friday art walks, Saturday farmers markets, rooftop happy hours, and street festivals that transform ordinary weekends into mini-vacations. These events are the breadcrumbs that lead candidates to picture themselves living here—fully, happily, and socially connected.
- Fold in unreasonable hospitalityThis is your secret sauce. Think meet-you-at-the-airport coffees, personalized neighborhood tours, or introductions to soon-to-be colleagues over a shared table at a local restaurant. The kind of small-but-memorable touches that make candidates feel like they’ve been “claimed” by the community before they’ve even signed a contract.
- Season with storytellingShare the before-and-after moments:“Sarah flew in from California thinking this was a short-list courtesy visit. By the end of a Saturday morning bike ride on the Cultural Trail, she’d already called her partner and said, ‘Cancel the other interviews.’”Stories like this turn “another job offer” into “the only place I want to be.”
Why this recipe works
- Grounded authenticity – You’re not selling a fantasy, you’re revealing the city’s real magic.
- Emotional connection – People don’t just remember facts—they remember how a place made them feel.
- Unreasonable hospitality – It shifts a candidate’s perspective from “I could” to “I must.”
Here’s the best part…
You don’t have to master this recipe alone. This is exactly what our team does in partnership with recruiters—from curating area tours and event experiences to delivering that next-level, unreasonable hospitality that turns “maybe” into “yes.”
When we work together, we don’t just fill positions—we make new hires feel like they’ve been given the keys to an exclusive club called Indiana. And once they’ve had a taste, they won’t want to leave.
