Catching students’ attention, getting them interested in your company, and keeping them engaged are key concerns of many campus recruitment teams. These challenges have been exacerbated by the move to virtual recruitment over the last two years. With virtual recruitment continuing this fall, recruiters are struggling to get their brand out there and connect with students without being able to physically visit campuses.
To learn how recruiters are continuing to build their employer brand and engage students in a virtual environment, we gathered early career recruiters for a community workshop to discuss best practices. Here are the top takeaways from the discussion.
Students want to engage directly with employers & through university channels.
One of the challenges with engaging students virtually is figuring out how to engage them. Based on RippleMatch data, we know that students are planning to attend both company-owned events and virtual career fairs this fall.
When connecting with students via company-owned virtual events, it’s important to maintain a human aspect and keep personal interaction. Several recruiters mentioned that concerns of Zoom fatigue made it difficult to figure out which events students would attend. However, everyone agreed that events that allowed students to connect with recruiters or company employees were expected to be the most valuable.
Giving students the opportunity to break out into smaller groups or even one-on-one with a recruiter or other company employee is a good way to meaningfully engage students during virtual events. Face time with the company is one of the biggest things students miss with virtual recruitment, so finding ways to replicate that experience can go a long way.
Another important theme that was discussed, both for virtual and in-person engagement, was leveraging brand ambassadors from within the company to connect with students. Early career employees often love to connect with students from their alma mater, and can serve as great ambassadors for the company. Some companies will even give new employees a bonus for their commitment to work as ambassadors, which can be welcome extra income for a young professional.
Ambassadors can represent their company either on virtual calls, helping to moderate breakout rooms and attending one-on-ones with candidates, or on campuses when travel is permitted. It can be expensive to send the recruiting team to every school that the company would like to recruit from, but ambassador programs allow companies to reach more students at campuses across the country, while giving their employees a chance to stay connected with their alma maters, an opportunity many relish.
Students care about company substance rather than a company’s well known name.
One of the most significant challenges with building an employer brand is ensuring students know what your brand actually is! Multiple recruiters at our community workshop mentioned struggling to increase their name recognition, either because they worked for small or new companies, or because students may be familiar with brands that their company owns, but not the parent company name.
The good news for these companies is that we’ve found time and time again that students rarely consider company name or prestige as a primary factor in their job search. They’re much more concerned with a company’s professional development opportunities than working for a well-known brand. However, these companies may still need to work harder to source students, as lack of name recognition may mean that candidates are also unfamiliar with the job opportunities at those companies.
In order to do that, these companies can focus on developing strategic partnerships with core schools and on holding large-scale virtual events that can reach students all across the country. By hosting events designed to increase students’ understanding of their company and the roles they recruit for, and sourcing the right attendees for those events on platforms like RippleMatch, companies can overcome a lack of brand awareness. Intentional, targeted marketing can also go a long way to building an employer brand.
Students are concerned with ‘traditional’ job search challenges: Standing out to recruiters and acing the interview.
One more challenge that recruiters face in engaging students in a virtual world is offering events that can connect with them in a meaningful way. Students are concerned about standing out in the interview process, but often aren’t sure how to navigate through the recruitment system.
By hosting events that are designed to help students build the skills they’ll need when applying to jobs, you can really stand out to great talent. Many students are fantastic candidates, but don’t know how to craft a resume or what the proper etiquette is for an interview. By offering resume reviews or hosting events on interview skills, you can attract students concerned about standing out in the application process.
One campus recruiting professional mentioned scheduling intake calls with every candidate he reaches out to. This enables him to learn more about their background and interests, while establishing himself as a helpful resource and point of contact throughout the interview process. By personalizing his outreach and offering to help the candidates, he can help students feel more comfortable navigating the recruiting process, thereby making it more likely they’ll have a positive experience with the company.
Early ID events were also very popular among recruiters, who view them as a great opportunity to build employee brand with candidates years before they’re ready to apply for jobs. Summits or even mini-internships for sophomores give the companies the chance to work with students directly to build useful skills, while creating long-lasting, positive relationships.
One thing was clear from this workshop—in order to stand out to students in today’s recruitment environment, you have to add a personal touch to your efforts. Building an employer brand in a virtual world is less about flashy advertising, and more about making meaningful connections with candidates. Whether you’re meeting a student on campus or in a Zoom breakout room, giving them the opportunity to talk directly to someone at the organization can go a long way and help you stand out to top talent.