Enhance your On-Campus Recruiting Efforts

Enhance your On-Campus Recruiting Efforts Enhance your On-Campus Recruiting Efforts Enhance your On-Campus Recruiting Efforts Shillan, MonsterCollege Marketing Manager As we move toward the spring recruiting season, MonsterCollege gathered first-hand advice for employers hiring students and recent grads for internships and entry-level opportunities.  Marianna Savoca, Director of the Career Center at Stony Brook University (SUNY), and Donna Cassel Ratcliffe, Director of Career Services at Virginia Tech University, have provided the following insight to create and sustain a successful college recruiting  season: 1)  Relationships   It’s all about relationships!  Get to know the universities on your target list.  Start with career services â€" which can provide a central and consistent point of contact and help you navigate your way through various entities, departments and student organizations that would make the best fit partners for your needs. 2)  Internships and Cooperative Education Programs All companies should create internship (single term) or cooperative education (multiple term) opportunities for college students.  This is a win-win situation. Students gain experience and exposure to the organization and to the field.  Companies can observe the promising new professionals in the workplace, thus creating a talent pipeline for hiring the best talent upon graduation. 3)  Meet with Key Campus Contacts   Prior to your efforts to recruit top talent,  meet with career services staff and faculty to discuss your hiring needs in terms of skills and knowledge required for  successfully recruiting college graduates, career paths for newly minted graduates; identify key stakeholders at the institution who will help communicate your needs to students. 4)  Campus Ambassadors Use your assets. Returning interns can be your most effective ambassadors on campus, spreading your news, marketing your brand and engaging in peer-to-peer promotion of your company brand and its opportunities. 5)  Using Social Networking Websites   Candidates are turned off by companies who seek them out over social networking websites, but a well created company fan page is worth creating.  Let the students come to you within these arenas. 6)  Send Alumni to Campus Alumni make great representatives of your company as well; consider involving them in your campus recruitment efforts. Dispatch alumni to campus to serve as greeters, interviewers, and presenters. 7)  Personalize the Process With the onset of online application requirements, it is important for employers, when possible, to take extra steps to personalize the process.  For example, for companies who do not accept resumes at job fairs, take time to talk with candidates, look at resumes, make positive comments and then refer them to the website.  Taking the extra steps to apply might not be welcomed by all students, but encouragement and a smile can go a long way to motivate. 8)  Be Upfront   Being upfront during the search process is better than leading student candidates along.  A few examples:  If a company sends representatives to job fairs, students will assume that they actually have jobs. When talking to company representatives, students would like honest feedback (suggestions) on their resumes and credentials. 9)  Keep Students in the Loop   After candidate interviews,  keep in contact with top candidates while decisions are being made. Send an email; give a call. Reaching out to students during this stage keeps student interests alive as they pursue other companies as well. 10)  Communicate Outcomes Inform career services and any faculty contacts you’ve made about the number of offers extended, number of accepts /rejects, names of new hires for both internships and full time offers;   share your perception of how the candidates performed in comparison to students from your other target schools.  Provide feedback and accept feedback. Communication is the key to maintaining not just relationships, but a true partnership with your target campuses, which will result in long term success. “These insights from campus experts are valuable and are a great benefit for employers” says Jill Bodino, Education Relations Manager for MonsterCollege. “Experts such as Marianna and Donna work with hundreds of employers each semester and truly know what works to reach top talent on-campus.” With the kickoff off of spring recruiting, use this expert insight to plan and execute a successful campus recruitment effort to meet all of your internship and  emerging workforce  hiring needs!