It is difficult for most companies to hire talented and ambitious employees these days. Unfortunately, the Red Cross encounters an additional problem. As a charity organization, people see the Red Cross as a group of volunteers who spend their day dreaming of changing the world. They also presume that a job at the Red Cross is the right job to fade out your career before retirement.

The contrary is true. The Red Cross in Flanders is a professional organization with over 1400 employees, with jobs in finance, ICT, operational management, communication, para-/bio-medical sciences, etc. It is high time to put the Red Cross in the HR market as an equal amongst other big companies.

The campaign started with an open letter, published in Belgian dailies, with a request to donate applicants. The letter was signed by the CEO of the Red Cross and addressed to his fellow-CEO’s.

In the weeks after the open letter, we published ads where we also asked the broad public to donate talented individuals in their network looking for an interesting job. The ads were published full page in business magazines and shared across social media. The campaign ‘Donate an Applicant’ was also supported by bannering and flyers that were handed out in the main Belgian railway stations.