As companies compete to attract and retain top-tier employees, the college campus is quickly becoming the best place to build a pipeline that will produce quality hires down the road. College recruiting offers companies the benefit of time. Over a four-year, or longer, period companies......
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Author: Michele Richardson
A seasoned HR/organization development professional turned copywriter in 2005, Michele Richardson specializes in content strategy and writing for the digital world. When she’s not working or writing, you can find her curled up with a book and cup of Americano or training for her next half-marathon. Catch up with her on Google+ or Twitter.
I agree. Organizations should make it easy for any student that is somewhat interested in a career within their industry or at their specific company to show interest. Applying to a job or leaving a resume should not be the only option you give to students.
The entire “college experience” is a process of experience, growth, and change. As college students go through this process their interests, goals, and passions change. Today’s biology student could change their major and be tomorrow’s accounting rock star. Maybe your company can be the catalyst to this change by showing them how awesome your industry/company is.
Too many companies (most actually) turn away students that are Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors. They directly and indirectly tell students to “come back next year” to apply when you are Senior.
The best practice in today’s market is for organizations to make it easy for any student, with any major, at any school to say “I’m interested.” You’ll have a bucket full of talent that you can reach out to let them know when you’re headed to their campus, or posting specific jobs/internships that they can apply to.
If you’re measuring the results of your collegiate program wouldn’t you rather know how many students are interested in you than how many people have applied?
Bonus: Let’s say say your college recruitment program is geared towards engineering majors and that’s your sole focus. When your Chief Marketing Officer calls and wants a marketing intern, you’ll have an instant bucket of Marketing majors that you happened to connnect with that are already interested in your organization. Instant additional value from your collegiate program.
This article provides some great insight on College Recruiting! It is so important to target these students early on in their careers to ensure that they are aware of your company, culture, opportunities ahead of the game. We have an Intern Program at WilsonHCG where we focus on recruiting Junior-level students to become potentially hires with us in the future; it is a win-win for everyone because they get the opportunity to see if our organization is a match for them, and we are able to evaluate them as potential hires.
There are so many competitors out there for the top talent, so it is important to gain access to these students before they do!
Great article, Michele!!
Thank you Kelly. So nice to know WilsonHCG is connecting with college students early, so important! Appreciate you chiming in on the discussion.
Thanks for adding to the conversation Nathan, good stuff. Companies are losing amazing talent when they turn away students who are not graduating seniors. Companies must engage all students when they’re interested and hungry for more, regardless of where they are in their college career.
Companies don’t have to hire every student that they meet, but they should make it easy to engage with them!
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