I just got back from the NSHMBA conference in Houston, TX. NSHMBA stands for the “National Society of Hispanic MBA’s”. It had over 7,000 MBAs running around the George R. Brown Convention Center visiting 300 recruiting booths from the top Fortune 1,000 companies in the US.

I felt like I was being recruited from the moment I stepped off the plane. The SuperShuttle to my hotel carried two recruiters, one from the State of Iowa and another from Travelers, a Citigroup Company. As I heard each of their pitches, I wondered why they focused so much on location and industry. The Iowa recruiter was trying to sell me on Iowa while the Travelers recruiter was trying to convince me of the exciting world of the Insurance industry.

I’m sure many potential job candidates value location and industry when considering employers, but neither of those benefits really tell me why I should consider their company versus all the other options.

As I was walking past the long lines of MBAs waiting to speak to an Apple recruiter, I ran into guess who? The one and only, “Tony the Tiger!” Yes, Kellogg’s actual iconic Tiger. Tony stopped me and gave me a high five. To be honest, it really did made me think twice about Kellogg.

But why does a Tiger make me more interested in a company versus a capable recruiter for CitiGroup’s Travelers division?

We are definately in a talent hungry environment. Recruiters need to find ways to differentiate themselves, even if it is through a life-size mascot.

Through this blog, my brother and I will discuss the opportunities that companies have to further differentiate themselves in order to recruit the top talent.