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Understanding the Importance of Modern Student Recruitment Strategies will make Attaining Enrollment Goals Easier

It’s vital for recruiters to have the tools and innovative campus recruitment strategies they need to meet targets and keep prospects actively engaged.

Maca Navas

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Education institutions have the responsibility to attract the best future talents for the industries they serve. The recruitment experience must immerse students in the culture of the institution with each touchpoint delivering on their brand promise.

It’s vital for recruiters to have the tools and innovative campus recruitment strategies they need to meet targets and keep prospects actively engaged.

Challenges:

Because more information is available digitally and online, students may have less of a reason to connect in person. Connecting with prospective candidates at the right time and with the right message is just one of the challenging tasks.

The issue is further complicated because student applicants aren’t following the traditional “marketing to sales to customer” funnel. Instead, each higher education prospect follows a unique decision path, at a pace that can vary from several years to just a few weeks.

Student Recruitment Strategies:

  • Establishing your student recruitment goals
  • Who is your target audience? Where and when can you best engage with your audience? Identifying your target audience is essential to develop content that will appeal to their needs and offer compelling evidence that your institution is the best choice for them.
  • Creating a student journey map enables your marketing team to visualize what your target audience does and feels at all touchpoints, so you can help steer the path toward a successful recruitment.
  • Reviewing current company strategies and analyzing student recruiting strategies from other companies.
  • Understanding who your ideal students are and what answers they need. How do you communicate with and relate to your ideal students?
  • Deciding on a budget and timeline and using technology to promote widely:
  • Optimizing your company website, career page and job postings. Because of the massive prominence of online research, Hi Ed institutions must create a strong digital first impression!
  • Posting on social media to showcase company brand and values.
  • Building a talent community: Hosting student recruitment events, attending local industry-related events.

One of the most valuable ways to connect with students in person is to form reliable relationships with other organizations that those same students already know and trust. This can mean collaborating with high schools, local businesses, mentorship groups, or community organizations. This is exactly what Career Highways’ career development ecosystem does for the future of work. The platform is designed to guide and accelerate an individual’s career journey through artificial intelligence, while also supporting employers in aligning talent to skills-based competencies for their business.

Liz Eversoll, CEO and Founding Partner of Career Highways, stated, “It is rewarding to see employers, public workforce entities, schools and recruiters respond so positively to our career development platform. We all must work together to provide career development and career opportunities to our next generation. Our content partners are key to providing students and job seekers with the different career options or ‘highways’ that will lead them to career success.”

With advanced technology, institutional leaders can re-envision how they connect and engage with prospective students!