Diversity And Equality Are Key
What are your students looking for in a college or university? The answer to that question should underpin your entire recruitment strategy.
You could run a survey to ask your current students, and look for underlying themes or trends. Or, you could scan industry reports on your target audience, who are likely falling within the Gen Z demographic, to better understand their preferences.
For example: A research paper conducted by the International Journal of Educational Management concluded that:
Student recruitment strategies are often grounded in inherent institutional identities, while at the same time responding to external ideas about excellence and diversity.
Data backs this statement up, too. A survey of Gen Z found they value employers that provide equal opportunities for pay and promotion the mostwhich is why diversity is being credited as the key to winning this demographic.
You can use this within your student recruitment strategy. Simply prove youre a diverse college, and aim to attract prospective students of various ethnicities, backgrounds, and religions.
Its a great way to differentiate your higher education facilityespecially when 70% of colleges and universities do not have specific strategies for recruiting Hispanic students, for example.
Hence why the program is designed to increase the number and diversity of students pursuing STEM degrees and careers, especially geology.
Idea #: Involve Them In The Planning
College students are eager and ready to get started on their careers. Many will be willing and excited to take the chance to work at a startup company where they can be part of establishing the foundation of a company. Not only does involving your new recruits help them feel involved and even more invested now that they feel part of the team, but they are likely to contribute innovative ideas in regards to technology and more.
Dont shy away from involving them in as much of the process as possible just because they dont have experience. What they may lack in experience, they easily make up for in ideas and creativity. Students will likely come up with unique ideas you hadnt considered yet, and they are skilled in collaborating as they are coming fresh from the university setting where collaboration among peers is a constant.
Organize A Successful Job Fair
One traditional recruitment method that can still be useful is hosting a job fair. Recruiting college students in person allows you to connect with them and pinpoint how they can help your business.
Bryan Zawikowski, vice president and general manager of the military transition division for Lucas Group, offered four tips for hosting a successful job fair:
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How To Write A Recruiting Message To Students
Personalized messages are more likely to get Gen Zs attention.
Do you remember the contents of the last recruiting message you received? If it was impersonal, probably not. Its also possible you ignored it. So perhaps its not shocking that our data found that students are more likely to respond to messages that feel personalized as well as relevant .
If youre not personalizing your recruiting message to college students and recent graduates in a meaningful way, candidates are not likely to engage with you.
Marketing and recruiting represent two separate business functions, but they share best practices around messaging. According to our Handshake Network Trends report, 92% of Gen Z, the always-connected generation, prefer connecting with employers by email.
Before sending your next recruiting message to a candidate, read through these five effective strategies for personalizing your outreachplus get seven recruiting message templates to use throughout the candidate lifecycle.
Download our infographic for quick tips to personalize your recruiting messages.
Show Off Campus Life And School Culture
Some of the biggest questions your prospective students may have are:
- Whats life really like at this school?
- What do students do after class?
- Is it all books and no fun?
Well, youre in luck.Social media is a great platform to cover school events. Whether its a rugby game or a sorority initiation, share highlights with prospective students on social.This could be done via Facebook updates, live tweets, or recap videos on YouTube.For example, the University of Southern California has plenty of social accounts dedicated to different aspects of student life:And this is only a small fraction of the official UofSC accounts. By creating separate accounts for separate activities, prospective students can better see the different communities and interests on campus.So what should you share on these accounts?Anything that shows off your culture or values, really.Here are a couple of posts we think are awesome in demonstrating these.A warm and inspiring story from Harvard.A good use of UGC from the London School of Economics.And a funky/furry message from UCLA.This type of content really helps prospective students to understand your school values and culture beyond its sole academic activities.
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You Are Now King Of The Campus
College campuses are the Craigslist of hiring: you can get a really great deal, but you usually have to spend a little extra time finding it. You can stay ahead of your HR competition by engaging with the best talent before theyre officially job-hunting.
In fact, Jessica Lara, National Admissions Advisor of the University of Advancing Technology, believes that employers can create dynamic shifts in the future workplace by making meaningful connections with students transitioning from high school to college.
Most 17-to-18-year-olds are just starting to look at their futures as they take the next step in their lives. Successful college recruiters are able to show each student how their school can give them the life they imagine. Students need to know what the reward is by attending that school, so allowing them to see the investment in their education and other campus programs, provides them more incentive to apply and enroll.
So start planning your next recruitment fair next week. Expand your social media marketing to engage with college students who are majoring in fields that lead to your industry. Start exploring how you can get involved with campus groups in top universities, and how your organization can develop interns via co-op placements. Dont underestimate the power of interns because If you connect with your interns long term, you can actually recruit through them in the future.
What Does A Campus Recruiter Do
Campus recruiters search for talent at college campuses, traveling to schools across the country to meet young, energetic talent. Sounds fun, huh? Beyond traveling and connecting with students, campus recruiters primary purpose is to source, attract, and ultimately hire top talent.
A campus recruiters job responsibilities are wide-ranging and can vary depending on the season. To source potential candidates, campus recruiters are responsible for forming relationships with university career services centers to connect with students and plan on-campus information sessions and career fair appearances.
College recruiters are often also tasked with recruitment marketing initiatives, building a student communication plan and on-campus employer brand. Perhaps most importantly, campus recruiters work with hiring managers to conduct interviews, evaluate candidates and extend job offers.
Like any position, a campus recruiter salary can vary. However, the average campus recruiter salary is about $65,000 annually or $20.02 hourly. These average compensation numbers include base salary, bonus, commission, and profit-sharing. Of course, the compensation package, including benefits offered, will vary from employer to employer.
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Financial Aid As A Recruiting Tool
Financial aid has been increasingly used as a recruiting and marketing tool, especially for private institutions forced to compete with public institutions. Merit scholarships and non-endowed institutional funds are increasingly used to discount tuition and to make the college choice affordable. Enrollment managers are interested in net tuition income as well as in the number of students, and the use of leveraging financial aid awards has become important tool to increase enrollments. Although discussions continue over the appropriate mix between need-based and merit-based financial aid, colleges and universities use institutional funds to augment federal and state grant and loan programs. Private colleges are providing financial aid to a larger share of their students, and list in their view books the price of tuition before financial aid public tuition continues to increase, not as the result of increased costs but because of changes in state fiscal policy. Institutional financial aid is used to increase enrollment goals and to change readily measurable student body characteristics.
Talk To Professors About Your Needs
Professors often have close relationships with their students, who assist them with research projects or writing. If you work for an arts-related charity, for instance, contact someone in the theater department and ask how to recruit volunteers. They may have something like an internal electronic bulletin board where you can post an email chain for sending information.
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Campus Recruiting Tip #: Build Long
The golden rule for campus recruiting is: Build relationships! Establishing, developing and maintaining relationships is crucial for successful long-term campus recruiting. This is because campus recruiting is not just a one-time thing.
Establishing strong, long-term relationships will help you ensure the stable income of top young talent year after year. Make sure you reach out to all relevant stakeholders. Start with career center staff, but reach out to professors, college assistants and student organizations as well!
Idea #: Develop Long Term Relationships
Sometimes people are hesitant to work for a startup as they may be concerned about the potential success of the company or whether the company will last. As you work to recruit students, establishing working relationships with faculty and other employees at universities not only helps to get your name out there but also shows students your company plans on sticking around for a while. Longevity is key when hiring for a startup so it is imperative the people you interview trust you are in it for the long haul.
Many companies are now using ambassadors as a way to build relationships. Using an ambassador on a college campus is a great way to have a consistent connection with the students that are job searching. The ambassador can be readily available to answer any questions and provide honest opinions about the goals of your startup.
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Campus Recruiting Challenge #: Employer Branding
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report, employer branding is the most important aspect of the typical college recruiting program. Nearly 90% of respondents rated on-campus branding as very or extremely important.
However, almost all employers agree that its really hard to attract good college talent. In fact, 92% of employers believe they have a brand problem when it comes to their campus recruiting efforts, according to CollegeFeeds research.
Personalize Data To Show Them You Care
Earlier, we saw how the University of Salford used personalization to match 10,000 students with courses that suit their choices and career interests. This worked phenomenally because the young generation is used to personalized communication they almost take it for granted.
Gen-Z has grown up in the era of social media, curated online shopping options, personalized search results, etc. So if a university takes a one-size-fits-all approach, it wouldnt work with the prospects.
Best practices for personalization in student recruitment strategies:
- At this stage, you cannot just target prospects with ads about your university. You must target prospects in the MOFU stage with ads about specific courses, extra-curricular activities, scholarships, and events.
- Use calling software, like , that integrates with your CRM and enables you to import and update contact data.
- Your email and texting software must sync with your CRM to personalize broadcasts and update information based on your 1-on-1 conversations.
- Coordinate data between different communication channels to give a comfortable, intelligent experience to prospects
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Build A Talent Community
A great campus recruitment strategy starts with candidate sourcing. Build a talent pipeline before you step foot on campus by reaching out to the career center. Ask for a list of students that might be interested in your company and invite them to join your talent community. Engage soon-to-be college graduates by sending regular communications about open entry-level positions, share key insights on your organizations internship program, or let them know when youll be on campus for their universitys career fair.
Another great way to source young talent is through referrals from other recent college grads. Tap current interns or entry-level employees at your company to fill open roles, and ask them to invite their friends to join your talent community for future hiring updates.
Six Suggestions To Inspire College Student Volunteers
Theres no doubt that starting a volunteer program can be daunting, especially if you dont know where to start or have had limited success. But believe me, it can be done! In fact, according to the latest Volunteering in America report, one in four college students volunteered between 2008 and 2010. And in 2010, 8.3 million charity-minded young people dedicated 844 million hours of service to communities across the country. Thats a significant contribution and not too different from the volunteering rates of other age groups .
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Personalize Your Recruiting Message
Start by tailoring the subject line. Students on Handshake will see this in their email inbox, their Handshake inbox, and the push notification they receive from the Handshake App on their smartphone. Be sure to mention your company in the subject linethats the basis of our default subject line, which performs well!
If you have a less recognizable brand, try inputting the job role for which you are hiring for into the subject line.
Begin your message with context around who you are and why youre reaching out. Include what stood out to you about this candidate, how you think they can thrive at your organization, and why your employer is the best place for them to launch their career.
Using Segments, Handshake Premium partners can identify a group of students with specific attributes .
Finding commonality is another great way to establish rapport. Students are receptive to employers that have hired alumni from their school, location, or major. If you have that information handy, use it in your recruitment message.
If youre reaching out to a student at one of your partner schools, imagine how much more likely they are to respond if you reference current employees who share their alma mater. In the same vein, if you went to the same school or have another common interest with the candidate, go ahead and make that connection!
A little empathy for the candidate experience goes a long way for early talent who are just starting out in their careers.
Recruiting Tip #: Offer Them An Internship
These are some of the best ways to promote your employer brand among all the universities and colleges. The internship is very much important and valuable for any student because they provide an opportunity to gain real work experience. By implementing the idea of internship employers also get a great benefit. After doing an internship in your company, they will promote your brand in the on-campus recruitment hiring process.
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Colleges And Universities Are Missing A Big Opportunity With Text Messaging
Nearly all institutions say text messaging is effective. But 4 out of 10 public institutions and 1 out of 5 private institutions are not using it with students.
Top 5 most effective outreach strategies for college student recruitment and marketing
Contrast this with what students said in the E-Expectations report:
- More than 80 percent of juniors and seniors say they have a smartphone
- 75 percent would provide cell phone numbers when completing a request for information form, and three-quarters said they would be open to some text messages from institutions.
Use text messaging with your prospective students. Give them a chance to opt in and then use texting to communicate key reminders and other informationkey deadlines, invitations to visit campus, and other information that will push them to engage more with your institution.
Institutions Need To Look At Roi Across All Channels
Both public and private institutions continued to use expensive forms of traditional media such as outdoor advertising, radio, and print media even though they did not rate those forms of advertising as effective as digital advertising.
Advertising strategies: Effectiveness and usage
Compare these results to how students rated the resources they use in the E-Expectations report
Top resources for researching a campus
Institutions do need to take a multichannel approach to college student recruitment, as students use a variety of resources to conduct their college research. However, in a multichannel era where campuses have a limited budget, they need to closely look at their ROI for mediums such as radio, billboards, television, and print ads when there are more affordable and trackable advertising methods available.
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Challenging Times Call For Creative Ways
Throughout the years Universities from around the world, from America to Asia, have implemented different ways of recruiting new students. Some of them have been less effective, others were a direct successful strategy of student recruitment.
In order to be successful in your student recruitment efforts your University or College must not only look at what others have done with success but also implement new creative ways to engage students and to make them fall in love with your university, with your programme and with your location.
Here we detail you a list of 6 creative ways to recruit students, that will help you reach qualified students for your university!