Yumi Liberman, now 24, took part in a competition-style recruitment event called Brandstorm in 2024. Alongside two friends, she pitched a business idea to a panel of judges and an audience of 300 people. Their proposal for a haircare app won them the UK title and a third-place finish in the global final held in Paris. While only the first-place team received automatic job offers, Liberman was offered a marketing management traineeship with L’Oréal, which later turned into a full-time position. L’Oréal’s Brandstorm competition attracted 380,000 applicants globally in 2024, a significant increase from 240,000 in 2025. The company says the competition helps attract a diverse group of young people who might not otherwise consider applying for jobs at the firm. However, many participants did not win anything, and the process can be highly competitive. Melissa Alcruz, now a marketing professional in the US real estate industry, once took part in a similar competition at MTV known as a "bake-off." Candidates were required to create and pitch sponsorship and marketing campaigns to a panel of seven people. Although Alcruz eventually got the job, she found the process stressful, particularly since she was already working full-time and had to dedicate extra time to the competition. Katrina Collier, a former recruitment consultant, raised concerns about the fairness of competition-based hiring. She suggested that such processes might create "economic discrimination," as not everyone can afford to spend time on free challenges for limited job opportunities. People without financial support from family may be at a disadvantage. Jamie Kohn, a senior director for talent acquisition at Gartner, acknowledged that competition-based hiring is likely to stay popular because it allows employers to assess candidates more effectively than traditional interviews. However, she emphasized the importance of providing feedback to help all participants, even those who are not selected, improve their skills. Amanda Potter, a psychologist, pointed out that these competitive formats may favor extroverted individuals, potentially putting quieter or more introverted candidates at a disadvantage. She questioned whether such methods encourage a diverse range of applicants or if they might lead to a workforce dominated by more competitive and ambitious individuals. Liberman, who has severe dyslexia, found the competition format more accessible than traditional recruitment methods. She has avoided unemployment since finishing university, unlike many of her peers who have struggled to find work despite strong educational backgrounds. For her, the competition allowed her to showcase her ideas in a way that felt more manageable and less reliant on written assessments.