On-campus recruitment
The world is evolving at a fast pace: technology is at its peak, science is experimenting, social life is advancing and so are the values of World affairs. With such a drastic alteration in every field of society, businesses have shown a similar surge of incompetence. Everyone wants the best of opportunity and to grab the goody-two-shoe employees for themselves. Hitherto, traditional methods were employed to achieve various economic goals; however, in the time of Gen-Z a new class of strategy has been put into play for ensuring diverse possible goals for a particular company: On-Campus recruitment. If you want to participate in this modern age of competence, you have to step up your game by adopting its modern culture as well, by means of which you can make your company grow and prosper in the best possible manner. The concept of On Campus recruitment deals with three main points:
1. Sourcing
The term source means to “identify” the most suitable and desirable candidates (fresh graduates or research students) for your organization or company. These candidates could be either hired for the internship, or entry-level positions, or may also be for managerial seats, depending on your requirements.
2. Engaging
The term “engaging” shows relevance to additional two sub-point
- The first idea is to engage and attract the desired candidates, from colleges and universities, to apply to your vacant and needed position of jobs. There are various strategies to accomplish “engaging” in On-Campus recruitment.
- The second idea is to create a talent pipeline all over the year; regardless, of the time of semester in universities or colleges. This talent pipeline will satisfy your talent requirements throughout the year.
3. Hiring
Recent research suggests that around 70% of employers will hire university and college students in the future through the On-Campus recruitment technique. Hiring of employees through the mentioned strategy could be grasped in several manners.
On-Campus recruitment is basically the amalgamation of Sourcing, Engaging, and Hiring. The companies that utilize this strategy could deal in both small hand activities, e.g. University career centers, source talent, and career fairs, to large-scale engagements, e.g. visiting the desired institutions and attending different recruiting events. Either small and multinational companies both are taking advantage of this approach for large-scale job requirements.
Cry of the time (why)
The above-mentioned information was to enlighten you about the basics of On-Campus recruitment. Now, the surface question arises: Why the employer needs this strategy contrary to the more traditional and conventional employment methodologies? This blog alone can provide you with convincing reasons that can most definitely embolden an employer to adopt this fashion of employment.
1. Talent and competition
Research conducted in America (2015-2016) shows that around 1 million and 98 thousand students graduated in a single year. These young and ambitious individuals carry great goals for their future, which ultimately has already led to vigorous competition among them. The talented students and the desired candidates are most probably to join companies and organizations whom they know about, and whose culture and values they attract. A company using On-Campus recruitment does catch the focus and eyes of such talented students which soon carry them into their companies and in return the employees pay them by giving dedication and loyalty.
A survey carried out by COU UNI WORK in 2015, Canada reports that the unemployment rate in Ontario is only 4.2% among Gen-Z. This survey vividly suggests the fierce competition and the sheer talent that embodies the young and talented graduates. On-Campus recruitment provides a substantial platform for employers to develop a talent pipeline for their future and grab the best candidates for their required services
2. Lower cost
On-Campus recruitment reduces costs in two possible manners:
· In the first place, it minimizes the cost of employment of a candidate because the basic aim of On-Campus recruitment is to develop a talent pipeline that will provide, groom, and nourish the subjects according to the requirements of the company. The employer needs not visit different places all over the world for the quest of employment. Travel, food, stay, and other miscellaneous expenditures are efficiently avoided by the company which has established a talent pipeline once and for all in the selected universities by maintaining healthy relations with their respective career centers.
· In the second position, because of many peas in a pod, the employers have the leverage of Choice during selection. They have a wide variety of candidates at their door who are willing to accept reasonable pay for a mere opportunity in the company. These are relentless Gen-Z, who are born in the world of competence and knows how to make their way to the top. Students at a young age are ambitious and are ready to take on the world with their uniqueness.
A report put forwarded by CNNs journalist, Jose Pagliery, suggests that the actual cost of employment is 18% to 20% more than the workers’ base payment. This employment cost could be efficiently reduced with On-Campus recruitment.
3. Retention of employees and talent-pipeline
In this age of opportunities and talent, young graduates are often perplexed in their decision of job-related questions: Which company should I join?, what am I supposed to do after college? which is my category of interest? which company could be suitable to my values and my culture? etc. These are a few of the many questions that arise in the mind of a graduate and soon-to-be graduate; however, here the companies can play a vital and crucial role by establishing relations with universities career centers and my arranging career fairs inside institutions. By doing so, the companies can Source, engage, and Hire their targeted candidates or in short establish a career-pipeline track. On the other hand, the students will develop a relationship with different companies and get to know about their Employer brands. It is a Win-Win situation for companies and students, both.
In the period between 2009 and 2013, the retention ratio of TD Business Banking was recorded at 98.6% for the 600 of its MBA students it plucked off Canadian campuses.
4. Technology Orientation
One of many promising differences between millennials and Gen-Z is that the millennials came into the cusp of technology, while Gen-Z is born in the era of smartphones and social media. Keeping in view this point, an analysis by Pew Research Center surveys that around 90% of the new generation owns their own Tablets and 86% of Gen-Z uses social media. It would be grotesque not to realize the importance and vitality of social media for business promotion and job employment. A number of big firms are using digital media to secure talented candidates and promote their business models on social media sites. It is an understandable idea that the use of the Internet has benefited each and every corner of life; therefore, the extravagant use of technology proves to be an eye-catching factor for companies that should adopt an On-Campus recruitment strategy.
Being a campus recruiter
If you are planning on adopting campus recruitment as your full-time job, or either being an inquisitor has some questions regarding it, this section will lay it down for you frugally. A campus recruiter officer is dedicated to sourcing, engaging, and hiring university or college students for internships, entry-level positions, or managerial seats. He is expected to carry technological, managerial, marketing, and relation-building qualities. Some of the highlighting mottoes of this job can be classified into:
- a. Finding, and sourcing candidates
- b. Managing the marketing of the company to engage candidates
- c. To promote and showcase the Brand employer during recruitment events
- d. To design student communication plans
- e. Define the salaries
- f. Cooperate with the manager to conduct interviews, extend job offers and evaluate the interviews.
How to build an on-campus-recruitment system
This is a crucial and technical part of the overall strategy, for a proper and strong based strategy could provide you with efficient and valuable candidates and vice versa. Similarly, an impromptu and spur-of-the-moment decision could also land an unfavorable fortune for a company if it does not plan and establish a vigorous system of On-Campus Recruitment. In order to realize an almost perfect system, the following key points are to be kept in mind:
1. Define your purpose and need
Before deciding anything, the first question you need to ask yourself should be,
- What type of knowledge do you need to satisfy your requirements?
- Which are your best possible shots in the shortlisted institutes?
For example, if a company has a vacant position for Engineers, it should go for universities that have Engineering as its main focus. Defining your purpose in your job posts will attract the targeted and eligible students you. Secondly, the advertisement of your company should decree your culture, values, and employer brand in a vivid fashion. The advertisement should be designed with professional tactics as it is your advertisement that represents you before students and leaves behind a first impression.
2. A team
After you have structured your purpose and defined your needs, the second step is to organize a Team.
- Every team has a Leader and Followers, being the administrator of your company, it lies in your domain who should lead the team. Each decision in the building of a team is supposed to be unbiased and solely on the basis of performance and leadership quality because your assigned leader will help you achieve the goal of plucking off talented candidates from various campuses.
- The on-campus recruitment system quenches the need for large-scale candidate requirements, which cues the establishment of several teams by a single company. One team is appointed to visit Universities and colleges to attend career fairs and career centers, the second team may take the control of fort behind them and the third team may collect and search for eligible candidates. In this way, a company is most probable to find talented staff for their future and ensure a safe tomorrow.
3. Companies and career centers’ relationship
The relationship between companies and the universities’ career centers may determine the ratio of a successful system. Depending on the company, each job vacancy has particular requirements and in order to meet those needs, a company needs to have fruitful and healthy relevance with career centers so that the company does not miss out on any valuable opportunity for employment. A career center has the data of its students who are eager to enroll themselves in different companies, and the companies rely on these career centers to help their quest for employment and secondly, career centers inform the registered companies of any recruitment events that are to be held.
4. Effective timeline
Now that the employer is informed about the recruiting event, the company needs to design an internal, organized plan to begin the On-Campus recruiting. This step particularly requires focusing solely on structure, coordination, and organization in case of multiple events to be visited, e.g. career fairs, a company information session and interview dates, etc.
The company can make use of the following elements in order to attract candidates:
- Branding material
- Giveaways
- Company representatives
Two channels for recruitment
1. Meeting face to face
As the name indicates that this type of recruitment takes place when the campus recruiter visits the campus of a university and meets the candidates at career fairs, career centers, or in the company professional sessions. The officer collects their resumes and evaluates and shortlists their favorite candidates. It is a time-consuming process as compared to the digital recruitment.
2. Virtual campus recruitment
A more modern approach to hiring employees is Virtual campus recruitment. By means of this system, the company directs thousands of text messages and emails to its candidates or targeted audience for a job vacancy. Through this system, the employer screen candidates and later on hires candidates through software video interviews. According to research, almost 59% of people use technology for enrollment in companies. It is time-saving and also reduces human resources expenditure.
How to improve on-campus recruitment strategies
Now that the companies have stepped up their game by adopting this strategy, there are a few important keynotes that could set you apart from other competitors:
1. Exhibit an impressive brand employer and job posts
In order to obtain the attention and interest in On-Campus recruitment, there are two handy tools:
- The first tool is your Brand Employer because it sets you apart from your competitors on various levels. The brand employer of your company showcases your unique culture, values, and goals for your future. Before designing your brand employer, you are to ask yourself as to: Why would a candidate choose my company over my competitors? , What are you proposing anything different from the more traditional approach carriers? When you find suitable explanations to these questions, then exhibit them at On-Campus recruitment events.
- The second useful weapon for your catch of employees is Job posts. As mentioned above, job posts are representative of your motto for the company. Job posts are the first impression your target audience will receive and to make an effective impression then job posts should be organized while accepting your company brand. The design and fashion of the post depending on what kind of company you have. If it is business related, the post is to be sleek and fashioned accordingly: however, if the company is related to something funny then the post should be of humor. This strategy will for sure attract a decent amount of audience at these events.
2. Utilising social media
Social media has come off as a concrete mean to provide a platform for both employers and employees. A 2018 survey by Career Builder suggests that 70% of employers genuinely utilize social media to screen candidates during the hiring process, while an ample amount of 43% of employers regularly updates their data by constantly checking on current employees. The same company did research in which it was shown that 57% of employers will not interview candidates who do not have a social media profile. Similarly, the young generation is relatively more involved in social media sites as compared to millennials. This is an opportunity for employers to plow off their favorite candidates as 43% of employees look for jobs on social media sites. More than 98% of students use social media with 27.2% of students spending more than six hours per day. Social media is a game changer for the business, you sell and buy on the same platform without being literally present.
3. Applicant tracking system
The age of the 21st century brought the influx of technology into everyday life, from fans to airplanes, every field of life is enlightened with the magic of science and technology. Business, in the same manner, has taken a flight of advancement with the rise of the 21st-century Sun. Many advancements took place in the business community; however, one of the latest addition is Applicant Tracking System. The size of this system depends on the budget and size of the company. This is an automated software that performs three main jobs
- To advertise job posts automatically on a number of platforms.
- To sort the candidates according to their individual talents, skills, and performance
- In times of shortlisting it automatically schedule interviews.
Conclusion
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.”- Albert Einstein. In order to survive the competence of your rivals, you have to think out of the box and take calculated risks, which will help you to bloom your business and the overall outlook of your company, rather than being a blind sheep of your traditional and ancestral customs. This blog enlightens you with a comprehensive definition, reasons to adopt, how you can outcompete your rivals, and different strategies and recruiting plans of the On-Campus recruiting system. By adopting this strategy an employer can witness improved outcomes and reduce his human resources as well as his costs in different sections of the employment process, efficiently.
Reference list
- https://bizfluent.com/13654172/advantages-disadvantages-of-campus-recruitment
- https://educationdata.org/number-of-college-graduates/
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