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🇬🇧 United Kingdom /Economy & Trade

‘I performed on stage to get my first job’: the firms turning recruitment into competitions

From BBC News · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Companies including L’Oréal are using competition-style recruitment, asking applicants to pitch ideas before judges and audiences for a chance at a job.
  • Yumi Liberman won L’Oréal’s UK Brandstorm competition with a haircare app proposal and later secured a marketing management traineeship.
  • Supporters say the contests broaden recruitment, while critics argue that public pitches can be intimidating and unfair, especially amid high youth unemployment.

Yumi Liberman stood before 300 people in a London auditorium, pitching a business idea with two friends. The prize was not a trophy but a possible full-time job with cosmetics giant L’Oréal.

The 2024 presentation formed part of Brandstorm, an international competition in which young adults outline product and business ideas. Liberman’s team proposed a haircare app, won the UK final and placed third at the global final in Paris. Although only the winning team automatically received full-time jobs, Liberman impressed senior L’Oréal executives and secured a place on the company’s marketing management traineeship, which leads to a full-time position.

Liberman said the experience reminded her of competitive sport and that the pressure became manageable once she found her rhythm. L’Oréal says Brandstorm helps it attract a wider range of potential recruits, including young people who might not otherwise consider applying.

It reminded me of when I used to do competitive sports growing up and the pressure would get heavy. But somehow you just get into flow mode.

· Yumi LibermanShe described the pressure of pitching for a job before a large audience.

The approach comes as youth unemployment exceeds the overall rate in many countries and employers remain reluctant to hire new staff. In the United Kingdom, the youth unemployment rate stands at 16.2%, compared with 4.9% for the overall population. L’Oréal’s competition attracted 380,000 applicants worldwide this year, up from 240,000 in 2025, but most received no job or other prize.

Other participants have found the format less appealing. Melissa Alcruz, who now works in marketing for a New York-based US real estate company, previously competed for a promotion while working at MTV. Candidates had to develop sponsorship and marketing campaigns and pitch them to seven people in what colleagues called a “bake-off.” Alcruz won the job but said the process was intimidating and that she disliked having to compete while already holding a demanding full-time role.

This is intimidating, even for a seasoned professional. I ultimately got the job, but even though I won I disliked the process.

· Melissa AlcruzShe criticized competition-based recruitment after winning an MTV promotion.
About this summary

Originally published by BBC News in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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