Background to the Exercise

When Northern Tech Events began working with Infinity Works in 2017, the business had virtually no employer brand presence within the Leeds technology market.

Infinity Works was still a very small business, consisting of just four or five people, but had ambitious plans to grow its software engineering team.

The Leeds technology recruitment market was heavily candidate-driven, with Infinity Works competing for the same people as much larger organisations with established employer brands.

Infinity Works needed to attract high-calibre software engineers, from mid-level through to principal, but had little existing reputation amongst the people they wanted to hire.

Their objective was therefore wider than simply generating applications.

They needed to establish Infinity Works as an employer of choice amongst the software engineering elite in Leeds and create opportunities to engage software engineers who would ordinarily be difficult to reach.

The Objective

Infinity Works wanted to hire as many high-quality software engineers as possible without compromising on calibre. Quality was everything.

Their target audience consisted primarily of software engineers from their direct technical competitors. Northern Tech Events therefore developed an approach designed to put Infinity Works directly in front of the people they wanted to hire.

The Solution

A series of four targeted technical events was created.

Rather than promoting the events as recruitment exercises, the objective was to create something genuinely relevant to the software engineering community Infinity Works wanted to reach.

The audience was fundamental to the strategy.

Northern Tech Events specifically identified and personally invited software engineers from organisations and areas of the Leeds technology market that were relevant to Infinity Works' recruitment objectives.

The aim was not simply to fill a venue – it  was to fill it with the right people.

Once there, attendees could discover Infinity Works through its engineers, technical expertise and projects rather than through a conventional recruitment message.

The Events

Each event centred around two technical talks delivered by Principal Consultants from Infinity Works.

The talks showcased Infinity Works' engineering expertise and gave its consultants an opportunity to discuss interesting technical challenges and the projects they were working on.

Attendees were able to participate in Q&A sessions, discuss technical problems they had encountered themselves and understand how Infinity Works' engineers had approached similar challenges.

Infinity Works employees were actively involved throughout the events: speaking, answering questions, participating in discussions and networking with attendees.

Potential candidates were able to meet the people behind Infinity Works and interact naturally over a common passion for technology and software engineering.

Building the Infinity Works Brand

The events were primarily designed to support recruitment rather than establish a permanent community.

Instead of approaching candidates as an unfamiliar employer asking them to consider a vacancy, the events allowed those engineers to experience Infinity Works first-hand. They could meet its people, see its technical expertise and understand the type of work taking place within the business. The company increasingly became somewhere high-calibre engineers knew about — and wanted to work for.

There was also an additional commercial benefit. By showcasing Infinity Works' expertise to experienced professionals from across the Leeds technology market, the events created networking and business development opportunities alongside their original recruitment purpose.

The Results

Northern Tech Events delivered four targeted technical events, each attracting an average audience of c70 software engineers relevant to Infinity Works' recruitment objectives.

The events directly contributed to multiple hires, including the types of candidates Infinity Works had previously found difficult to engage.

Beyond immediate hiring, Infinity Works gained stronger recognition within the Leeds technology community, developed relationships with experienced technology professionals and created new opportunities for business development.

The project also demonstrated an event format that Infinity Works could subsequently take forward themselves.