Last Updated on June 28, 2022 by Stacey Smith
Colleges and universities across the country are getting ready to welcome a full roster of students for the first time in nearly three years. If you hire students, interns or graduates, now is the time to review your campus recruiting strategy for the coming year. This article offers some tips for finding the best talent on campus.
Define your goals
Most post-secondary recruiting efforts focus on filling specific roles in the business or supporting formal internship programs. But they can also be a key part of other initiatives, including diversity strategies and supporting your employer brand.
In fact, 85% of U.S. employers identify diversity as a priority in campus recruiting and almost three-quarters (73%) use these programs to build up their employer brands.*
As you rethink your in-person and online early talent programs, consider how they map back to your broader recruiting strategy and overall business goals. From here, you can begin to build specific objectives that can measure the success of your campus activities.
Think long term
Campus recruiting is a great tool to add quality future talent to your recruiting funnel. As part of your employer branding strategy, consider how you can stay in touch with students after they graduate and keep your organization top of mind when they are ready to make a move.
Use multiple tactics
Many campus recruiters took their work online during the pandemic, using virtual events and digital candidate contact. But studies show that remote student engagement faded over time.* This is a great opportunity to look at how you can combine the impact of in-person contact with the convenience and repeatability of digital connections.
For example, can you use social media and email to drive attendance at in person recruiting events or vice versa?
Generation Z is all about social proof. This is a good time to collect testimonials and reviews from your current cohort of interns, summer students and graduate hires. Consider using platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to share their stories and recommendations.
Global opportunities
While many students are coming into campuses, most colleges and universities have built solid virtual course offerings that connect students across the globe. If you’re looking for people to join your remote workforce, or you have international hiring to do, make sure you tap into this student cohort.
Depending on your hiring needs, there are many things to be thinking about as you plan for the coming school year. Here’s a quick checklist to get you and your team ready to go this fall.
Back to school checklist
- What can the data from our previous campus recruiting campaigns tell us about successes and opportunities?
- What opportunities do we have to build an immediate on-campus presence? For example, brand ambassadors, and networking events.
- Do the course offerings of the schools we have worked with in the past still align with our needs?
- Have other schools added new skills training that might be relevant for us?
- Do we have up-to-date contact lists for all our campuses?
- Are we using the best technology to build and nurture our candidate funnel?
- How can we streamline our processes to support high-volume hiring and reduce recruiter burnout?
- Are there external groups (e.g. cultural or professional organizations) that can help you target your on-campus recruiting to specific student groups?
- What mentorship and coaching programs are in place to support your students, interns and graduate hires?
- Can we create our own events to reach students in specific faculties?
At HirePower we help some of Canada’s leading employers tap into early talent to build the workforce of the future. Contact us today for help with our campus recruiting needs. Learn more about how we helped a financial institution hire more than 400 summer students.
*Source: Aptitude Research (2022) The state of campus recruiting