Campus Recruiting Software: 2023 Buyer's Guide

In today's economy, talent teams are shrinking and recruiters now have to do more with fewer resources. How can you give talent the best recruiting experience possible while still keeping your time and resources manageable? Campus recruiting software can help you reach more candidates while being a cost-effective option for you and your team.

For Gen Z talent especially, candidates are expecting high-tech recruiting and onboarding processes. With the job industry becoming more competitive than ever, utilizing this kind of tech is one way to attract the best talent, and retain them in your pipeline throughout the hiring process.

What is campus recruiting software, and how can it help your team?

Campus recruiting software or university recruiting software is designed specifically for entry-level and internship positions for talent just entering the workforce. It helps streamline every part of the process to make your job easier.

High-quality campus recruiting software is able to manage a high volume of candidates, which is often a challenge after a career fair or large recruitment event. This kind of software also makes it easier for you to advance the right candidates through the recruitment process.

This optimization makes the hiring process easier for you as a recruiter, as well as more streamlined and user-friendly for the candidates.

What are the different types of campus recruiting software?

Depending on your needs, you may want to look at different types of college recruiting software until you find what fits your needs and serves your talent pool. Here are some of the main types you should look at.

Applicant tracking system (ATS)

An ATS is able to take the candidate through the hiring process from when they first apply, to selecting the best candidate for the job. ATS software will usually have a range of features including resume parsing, interview scheduling, and candidate management.

Candidate engagement software

As recruiters foster relationships with candidates, candidate engagement software can assist in building that relationship by sending follow-up correspondence after events, collecting resumes and other information easily, and evaluating candidates on mobile devices. Candidate engagement software can also help schedule interviews and make sure the candidate feels prepared leading up to their interview.

Candidate sourcing software

Finding and engaging with top talent can be one of the biggest struggles for recruiters, especially with Gen Z talent, since their work experience isn’t developed or recorded fully. Campus recruitment software that specializes in helping you source talent is able to help you manage campus connections and track the ROI of your relationships with universities. This type of software can also help you build engagement around recruiting events and market opportunities to attract top talent there.

What should you look for in a good campus recruiting software (and what to be wary of)?

Not all campus or university recruiting software is equal or the right fit for you, and in order to get the best ROI possible, you need to find software that caters to your ideal talent network. The following are a few questions you should ask yourself during your search for a campus recruiting software partner. 

• Does it help you reach diverse talent? The ROI of DE&I recruitment efforts is undeniable. Furthermore, Gen Z has made it clear that DEI is a core value they expect their employers to demonstrate. Make sure the software you select is designed for DE&I efforts.
• Does it support hybrid recruiting? Gen Z talent prefer hybrid working environments over fully remote or fully in-person positions. Be sure you understand their preferences and that your campus recruiting software is set up to match and can support virtual efforts.
• What is the candidate experience like for students? Candidates these days have high expectations of the recruiting process. Accidentally ghosting a candidate or providing a poor experience can hurt your chances of keeping top talent in your applicant pool. Be sure that you’ve selected software that prioritizes candidate experience and helps you respond to candidates quickly.
• Is the candidate network active? While some campus recruiting softwares have large student networks, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be any closer to getting responses from candidates. That’s because some platforms, such as Handshake, collect information from university’s career centers, meaning students have not opted in to a job searching platform and may not be looking for internships or jobs.      

How RippleMatch can help 

With an abundance of technology at your fingertips, it can be overwhelming to pick a campus recruiting software that fits all your needs, as well as the needs of your candidates. But RippleMatch is designed specifically for Gen Z recruitment teams. With all the above-mentioned points, plus several more features, RippleMatch sets the curve for campus recruiting software.

Here are just some of the features that RippleMatch users love:

• An engaged student network: Candidates on RippleMatch made a profile themselves, and self-report all their own data. You can be sure that the information you see accurately reflects their backgrounds and interests, and that they are actively searching for roles. (That’s why our candidates response rate is 92% — verse 4% on other platforms)
• Streamlined sourcing and applicant review: With RippleMatch you can unify all your applicant sources into a single view, apply our scoring algorithm to all your inbound candidates and see your best-fit applicants right away — quickly rejecting unqualified ones and getting back to top talent faster.
• Recruiting analytics: It’s easy to optimize your recruiting efforts and maximize your ROI when there’s recruitment effort analytics at your fingertips. Plus, you can make sure that your lean team is having the biggest impact with even the smallest budget.
• Employer branding: If your employer branding isn’t optimized, you’re missing out on top talent. Remain competitive with software that helps improve your employer branding and communicates your brand effectively to candidates.
• Event management: Turn RSVPs into hires by having your event management all in one place. Not only will attendance be up, but the excitement will be too. Plus, capture candidate information, and make data-driven decisions.
• Diversity Recruiting: RippleMatch is the most efficient and cost-effective way to make a difference on DE&I. It allows you to engage underrepresented talent at 1600+ schools and 310+ HBCUs and HSIs with a single partnership, and to optimize conversions for diverse talent in your hiring funnel.

Choosing a campus recruiting software can be overwhelming at first, but this one-time decision could save you a lot of time, money, and headaches in the long run. Both your recruitment team and your candidates deserve the best experience possible, so use this technology to your advantage and blow the competition away.

Learn more about why top employers have turned to RippleMatch to support their early career recruiting efforts here.