Have you heard about the skill shortage in the resource industry? Regardless of where you live, nearly every country with natural resources is battling to find skilled professionals to fill the roles. Australia, Canada, South Africa and many more countries are courting a small, transient, global workforce of engineers, geologists and metallurgists to keep their mining, oil and gas, and energy operations running. What can these major corporations do to secure the right talent? If you’re Rio Tinto, you turn to content marketing.
Mine for the Future
Late last year I predicted interactive content would be a big player in 2012. I was impressed to learn the Australian office of Rio Tinto is using interactive content to set themselves apart from the many other companies competing for the same talent pool. The ‘Mine for the Future’ initiative is designed to attract candidates into the autonomous haulage project – Rio’s world-first technology using driverless trucks and trains in their Western Australia mines.
Multiple types of content
Mine for the Future uses an interactive globe containing an images gallery, video, a game and a jobs board. Visitors to the site manipulate windows on the globe to enter different regions of the site. The highlight of the content is the Truck Controller game. Designed to pull people onto the site, the game encourages repeat visits by running a leader board. Perhaps more enticing, jobs for the Mine of the Future project are posted on the site. I’m not a miner but I would think this approach is a lot more attractive to qualified candidates than dealing with headhunters and recruiters.
New approach for a new market
So are a game and a jobs board enough to attract the right people? According to the Careers and Industry Guide, it seems so.
“Intent on revolutionising the future of mining, Rio is also looking for a new kind of employee wanting jobs in mining. If you’re young, switched-on, and ready to tackle world-first technology, they want to know about you. Don’t worry about lack of experience. Rio knows being on the bleeding edge of technology means everyone will be blazing trails together.”
Tackling the skill shortage with better content
I love what Rio has done with Mine for the Future. Recognising the need to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, they’ve developed content to drive their recruitment campaign and find employees they may not have considered previously. Nothing can be done to quickly alleviate a challenging labour market. A diverse suite of content designed to hook people into coming back over and over again is going to give them competitive advantage over traditional methods of recruiting.
Have you played the Truck Controller game?
