If you are a small business, the best source of highly-motivated workers is college graduates. You surely can’t compete with big companies when it comes to qualified workers, but you can attract ones that are just starting and shape them according to your needs. In this review, we will present you with several innovative campus recruitment strategies you can use to attract a quality workforce.
You can go without recruitment strategies, but be aware that your competitors will use them, and you will have a lot of trouble finding qualified workers. The demand for college graduates remains high, but only 57% of recent grads work full-time in their field of study. That means you have a lot of opportunities to identify and recruit workers that will make a difference in the future.
Only ¼ of employers think that new graduates are not prepared for full-time work from the start. Meaning that the majority of graduates possess skills such as strategic thinking, resolving complex problems, and clear communication that employers can use.
As a matter of fact, according to a study by CareerBuilder, 74% of employers plan to implement recruitment of students in their business. From our experience, we can say that most of these companies use traditional models of recruitment students for certainty. Meaning they go to campus and give flyers to anyone interested enough.
Of course, in these modern times, that isn’t enough or efficient. You need to employ some of the innovative campus recruitment strategies we will describe in the extension of the articles.
1. Create an Attractive Landing Page on the Website for Students
When someone is applying to a work position within your startup, the first thing they will look upon is your business site. That will be the most valuable source of information for them when they start looking at whether your company has what they’re looking for.
Keep in mind that all of them are using the Internet and technology every day, and will not settle for less than an informative site with a quality user interface and well-written articles. Creating a strong brand within your website can help attract top talent to your campus recruitment program. Promoting your company’s mission, vision, and goals can help students identify with your brand and get excited about the opportunity to join your company.
Some of the tips for creating an attractive landing page include:
- Create an appealing visual design with lots of high-quality pictures, videos, and infographics.
- Describe the work you do from inside, so students can see what works for you will bring them.
- Add personalized messages to make students feel valued and engaged.
- Include testimonials and success stories from real-life people.
- Write a compelling headline because your headline is the first thing students will see when they land on your page.
After reviewing dozens of landing pages from various colleges, we found an outstanding example of a landing page for recruitment students:
2. Use Social Network for Your Campus Recruitment Strategy
Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are powerful tools for campus recruitment. Especially because students spend most of their free time online on social networks.
You also need to modernize your office space. One LinkedIn survey showed that millennials consider innovative work environments to be one of their most important factors when looking at a company. So you will want to keep up pace with modern times to be able to attract young workers.
To implement this innovative campus recruitment strategy, you will need:
- Facebook/Meta profile where you will post videos, images, and regular updates about your company.
- Twitter profile for promoting open positions and your blog; you can also share pictures and videos on Twitter.
- Instagram profile where you will post high-quality pictures of your work environment.
- LinkedIn profile form makes new connections, building your brand and generating leads.
Remember, you can create targeted ads and sponsored posts to reach out to students in specific demographics or with specific interests. Use that to your advantage when you get into the recruitment of college graduates.
3. Visit Campus More Than Once a Year
Companies usually came to the campus near the end of the school year to set up a stall and share flyers and pamphlets about them. But that’s not enough because anyone can do that. You need to be more creative and be present on campus more.
You can employ campus ambassadors that will help spread the word about your campus recruitment program by sharing their experiences with their peers. It is very important that students get familiar with your company and you leave a positive impression.
Besides campus ambassadors, you can use some of these techniques as well:
- Conduct on-campus interviews or information sessions to further engage with students.
- Create mentorship programs for students.
- Organize workshops and try to include as many students as you can.
- Analyze what students are organizing and offer your help and expertise (for example, global warming, anti-war protests, animal abuse, etc.)
- Organize fun and engaging events where everyone can participate.
4. Be the Host of Fun & Engaging Events
We mentioned that you should organize events on the university campus. They are a great way for college students to think about their future careers and have fun at the same time.
You can organize job fairs, career expos, and other recruitment events on campus to connect with potential candidates. But you need to creatively do that, not be dull like old-fashioned career fairs. You can organize skill challenges and award the best students with small prizes.
These days one of the best events for student recruitment is Hackathon. Hosting a Hackathon or coding challenge on campus is a great way to attract top engineering and technology talent. This can be a great way to identify candidates who have the technical skills and problem-solving abilities you’re looking for.
5. Offer Internship Programs
Internship programs for college graduates are probably the best way to attract highly skilled young men and women to your company. In many cases, it is beneficial for both parties, your company and the students. You will get new workers and time to adjust them to your needs, and they will obtain much-needed professional experience.
You can go with the micro-internship program as well. Micro-internship refers to short-term projects for students to work on. You can use them to evaluate candidates’ skills and potential, while also providing valuable experience to students in the short term.
Some of the interns you can allocate to social media strategy and use their skills for increasing the reach of your posts. Young people are the ones who know the audience you want to attract the best. They will form a pool of talents from which you can choose the most qualified candidates.
6. Set up a Student Referral Program
Among innovative campus recruitment strategies, an important place is reserved for the referral program. It costs less than sponsored ads, and you will surely get great results. The good old “word of mouth” marketing strategy still works!
In the referral program, you can include everyone who came to your mind, from your current interns’ friends and family to university teachers and professors. You can include your workers as well and collaborate with student organizations.
Student referral programs come with various benefits including:
- Referral candidates often have a higher success rate, as they have been referred by someone who understands the job and knows the candidate’s skills.
- It can increase employee engagement because encourages your current employees to take an active role in the hiring process.
- This hiring process is much faster than traditional ones.
- You will reduce the cost per hire.
7. Create VR Tours
Consider using virtual reality (VR) technology to give candidates a tour of your workplace and present your products and services. This can be a great way to engage with new generations and give them a feeling of what it would be like to work for your company.
You can post these virtual tours to your social networks to reach more candidates. With VR tours, many candidates will get the complete picture of your company without needing to leave their homes. Or they can see it on their phones or tablets.
8. Use Data and Analytics to Measure the Effectiveness of Recruiting Strategy
After you’ve implemented some or all of the innovative campus recruitment strategies mentioned above, it is time to see whether your efforts are paying off. You need to analyze the results you got.
If you want to know at which universities you were most successful and what strategies are most effective, make sure you track the following metrics:
- The number of students you hired through your campus recruitment at each university.
- What hiring channel you used to hire them? Was it through social network ads or Hackathon event?
- What is the offers-to-acceptance ratio?
- For how long your new hires remain at your company?
We can conclude that the recruitment of students is very challenging and requires time, dedication, creativity, and patience. But, with the help of innovative campus recruitment strategies we presented, your company can gain a competitive advantage in attracting talented and qualified young people who will improve your business.
Good luck with your campus recruitment!