29 Jan How to Win at Graduate Recruiting Before You Step Foot on Campus

With the graduate recruitment window fast approaching, it will be yet another grind sifting through the vast number of University students. What’s worse is having those hard-found graduates get plucked by other recruiters from right under your nose, and at the last moment too!

If your University recruitment process looks something like this:

Then you might be left behind. The most innovative organisations are using the time on campus to not meet students for the first time, but to make offers to the brightest prospects.

Graduates are all about speed, so if you can can engage students and identify the top candidates before meeting face-to-face, you can snatch them before your competitors are even in the running. As they are meeting students for the first time, you’ll be giving them job offers.

Shaking Up Traditional Graduate Approaches

Don’t let conventional processes stop you: online campaigns are an easy way to facilitate virtual introductions before the official meet and greet. Scout out the best using multiple touch points so you can make the move before everyone else.

Campaigns can start out just as you would launch marketing outreaches. Take full advantage of social media and your employees’ networks to reach the target student and graduate audience. From there engage with potential candidates from the get-go: align your website and recruitment pages with your company brand and culture before directing them to an interactive assessment process for screening.

Once you get a feel for the promising prospects, begin the conversation early through the multitude of online communication channels at your disposal, leading up to the eventual face-to-face meet.

The graduates of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. This is the digital paradigm of today and it’s here to stay:

• 92% used social media during the University application process. (Scheider & Associates, 2014)
• 75% say the smartphone is their device of choice (IBM, 2016)
• 68% prefer chatting with people online (IKEA, 2015)

Some recruiters may feel this trend is beginning to remove the “human” from human resources. But with the wealth of engaging and predictive screening methods today, offers can be kept in your back pocket when meeting students for the first time. This way, you’ll always be one step ahead of your competitors.