The firms turning recruitment into X Factor-style competitions – BBC News
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The firms turning recruitment into X Factor-style competitions
Image source:
Jon Bradley
Image caption: Yumi Liberman is on track to get a full-time job with L’Oréal
By MaryLou Costa
Published 8 September 2026, 00:06 BST
Updated 1 minute ago
Yumi Liberman was up on stage in front of a panel of judges and an audience of 300 people, and she had to perform.
But rather than singing, dancing or playing a musical instrument, she and two friends were in an auditorium in London in 2024 to pitch their business idea, hoping to secure a full-time job with cosmetics giant L’Oréal.
"It reminded me of when I used to do competitive sports growing up and the pressure would get heavy," says Liberman, now 24. "But somehow you just get into flow mode."
She and her friends had got through to the UK final of Brandstorm, an international competition run by the French company, where young adults outline their product and business ideas. Their proposal for a haircare app saw them crowned UK winners and they went on to that year’s global final in Paris where they came third.
While only members of the team that finished first automatically got full-time jobs, Liberman had so impressed senior figures at the company that she managed to secure a place on its marketing management traineeship, with a full-time position at the end.
Image source:
Jon Bradley
Image caption: Yumi Liberman, centre, and two friends pitched a business idea to French cosmetics company L’Oréal
Turning recruitment into X Factor-style competitions, with jobs as the prize, generates publicity and buzz for companies. But for the young people involved, is it exciting – or unfair?
In the current global economic environment, youth unemployment is higher than the national average in many countries, as companies are reluctant to take on new staff. In the UK the unemployment rate for young adults is 16.2%, compared to the overall level of 4.9%.
Competitions like L’Oreal’s can offer hope. But the vast majority of the 380,000 people around the world who applied for it this year, up 58% from 240,000 in 2025, didn’t win anything.
L’Oreal told the BBC that its Brandstorm competition works well because it helps the company attract a wider range of potential new recruits, including young people who wouldn’t necessarily have thought of applying for a job at the firm.
Yet while Liberman says she enjoyed the formal competition structure, others who have been through similar recruitment competitions are critical.
"’Intimidating’"
Melissa Alcruz now works in marketing for a US real estate business based in New York City, but in the past she did the same job for TV channel MTV. While at MTV she competed in an internal competition for a promotion that she says was referred to as a "bake-off". Candidates had to come up with sponsorship and marketing campaigns, and then pitch to a room of seven people.
"This is intimidating, even for a seasoned professional," says Alcruz. "I ultimately got the job, but even though I won I disliked the process."
She points out that she already had a demanding full-time role at the company, and was then "expected to complete several substantial projects" for the competition in her spare time.
Former recruitment consultant Katrina Collier, now an author, speaker and recruiter trainer, is concerned that such competitions can be unfair on candidates from less privileged backgrounds who might not have access to the same resources as others.
"We’re putting young people under a lot of pressure," she says.
