In the midst of all the associated challenges, companies go to various campuses with an implemented strategy to hire students and graduates and score the best talent straight from the respective campus.
In USA, organizations like Ericsson, Fujitsu, Capgemini, Amazon, Adobe, etc., conduct on-campus branding to attract students for internships, co-op positions, graduate trainee programs, and summer jobs or hire new graduates for full-time job roles.
Recruiters target specific campuses depending on an organization’s industry niche and shortlist those that are known for their academic brilliance in the required areas. Also, every campus has a different salary bracket assigned to them, and recruiters strategize their plan of action accordingly.
For example- Let’s assume there are two campuses, A and B. Campus A belongs to Ivy League, and Campus B is a reputed college but not in Ivy League. Therefore, it is evident that a company will have a higher package for Campus A than B.
But, it isn’t easy to attract the eyes of the students. It comes with a lot of strategic planning and employer branding. The university relationship manager ensures employer branding is done throughout the year and that the students know about the company, which ain't as easy as it sounds.
Since it is a student-driven market, the need to invest in a strategy to gain student attention matters a lot. Therefore, it’s a perennial initiative, and all these efforts finally pay off during the university recruitment drive.
Benefits of Campus Recruitment
No matter if your company wants to hire students or fresh graduates, there are certain benefits associated with campus recruiting. Campus recruiting is about how these companies tap into an extensive network of educated and diverse individuals for hiring, create a talent funnel for future opportunities, and market their brand. As per a study by NACE (2013), 98.1% of companies believe campus branding is the best way to market themselves.
Another great benefit of the campus recruitment process is that the campus career centers established on the campus help the recruiters with the entire process of recruitment, straight from conducting the test to scheduling interviews. Therefore, much of the workforce isn’t required from the company’s end.
The third benefit here would be companies will acquire new graduates who would be eager to learn and contribute more to the organization. An organization needs to make sure they make its process useful and implement it strategically to benefit the most out of it.
5 Ways To Make Campus Recruiting Effective
1. Create a Strategy To Identify Hiring Needs
The first and foremost step is to create a strategy. Any recruiter should first identify their company's hiring needs and then decide on which campuses to target to hire freshers/students. Knowing the needs and level of knowledge required to fulfill these needs will ensure that the recruiters select the right programs to source the candidates from.
It’s also essential for the hiring team to look at the internal functional areas that require staffing, research which campuses specialize in them, and which academic programs match the operational needs of their organization.
For example- An IT company will like to partner with a college or university with an exceptional IT program.
You can also opt for a Skill Intelligence platform (like iMocha) instead of going for the traditional way of testing the graduates. This will help you save a significant amount of time and cost.
2. Maintain Relationship With Campus Career Centers
As soon as the recruiters identify the target campuses, they should reach out to the campus career centers at the chosen colleges/universities. It is essential to have a healthy relationship with the career centers on campus, as each college has its set of guidelines, events, and timelines associated with its recruiting process.
Therefore, close contact with the on-campus centers will ensure that the recruiters don’t miss out on any opportunities to network with fresh college graduates or share job posting deadlines.
3. Assemble Your Resources
Once the recruiters become aware of the on-campus timelines, they need to come up with a schedule internally and start planning for the campus recruiting drive.
When planning, you need to coordinate and pay attention to details, especially if you plan to attend events on multiple campuses. You need to make sure exactly how many people you require from the company, and recruiters should make confirm to the career centers which campus events they feel like attending and if their company has the budget for it or not.
Recruiters would like to participate in events like career fairs, company information sessions, interview days, etc. The resources needed from the company’s end would be company representatives, company merch, giveaways, and other branding material.
4. On-Campus Branding
“As per a study/research which was published on Invesp, word of mouth referrals account for 500 percent more impact.”
When a company gets to set up its kiosk on campus, they get an excellent opportunity to establish a strong brand presence. And the best way to do that would be to let your marketing team in for the purpose of branding. They can come up with campaigns specifically to entice the campus’s audience.
Since the recruiters would be in touch with the career centers, they can assist the marketing team by making them understand how the campus operates and what are the metrics followed by the campus career centers.
You can also educate the students about the company’s culture and the career growth path of each entry-level job role.
5. Onboard the Freshers
If you use skill intelligence platforms like iMocha, it becomes effortless for the recruiters to give away the offer letters. But, campus recruiting continues even after that and stops when the company properly onboards the new hire.
Recruiters should have a clear understanding as to what compensation they want to give for entry-level hires, along with other benefits, and should have an understanding of ongoing fresher market trends.
The student career center compiles and publishes student compensation data for various academic programs and industries, making them a valuable resource for recruiters.
What are your views regarding the above pointers? Do you think these steps will increase efficiency?
