• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, March 8, 2015

For about a year, Havas Chicago has been using social media to recruit new interns. The agency began with Twitter, then centralized its efforts on Instagram with the #iamheretotakeyourjob campaign. They then added a Snapchat element for its Winternship draft. Through a series of agency challenges, prospective interns demonstrated their abilities and illustrated how they would stack up as interns. 

Now the agency is out with a new effort with two components. The first, #InternFightClub, aims to recruit summer interns with a 2-week Instagram campaign beginning on March 9. As the agency describes it, the effort says to prospective interns: “It’s time to get into fighting shape. We’re looking for the greatest pound-for-pound interns who have the speed, power and instincts to take their shot at replacing some of our agency heavyweights.” 

Through a series of 8 creative Instagram challenges such as #HungryforHavas, which asks applicants to snap a food photo, or the oh-so-wittylicious double entendre #SleepYourWayToTheTop, which asks interns to sell Havas a mattress. All submissions will be housed on a microsite. Fourteen interns will be selected.

The second component of the intern recruitment effort aims to have Millennials "hook up" with the agency using Tinder. The agency built a Tinder profile to solicit the perfect match for its summer internship. The agency’s profile will be open to all ages, sexual orientations, genders, and races. Once users swipe right on Havas’ profile, the agency will open a conversation, ultimately choosing one Tinder intern in the Chicagoland area .