Does your campus recruiting process look more like 1951 than 2021?

What I’ve heard over and over again from students and other job seekers is that the bulk of online, information sessions and other career events are, in their words, “a waste of time” and “boring”. In short, the candidates see no compelling reason to attend. They’re getting more information faster from the employers’ career sites and so they’re actually making a pretty rational choice by not attending.

Decades ago, most did the bulk of their shopping in department and small (by today’s standards) grocery stores. Technology and consumer preferences advanced and now most of those dollars are spent online and in superstores. Employment marketing, of which campus recruiting is a part of, is also advancing despite the threat those changes pose to those whose way of doing business more closely resembles 1951 than 2021. For most employers, that means a far more effective and efficient way of recruiting that is centered around their needs and wants and those of the candidate instead of the school. For decades, schools controlled access to students as employers could not succeed in their recruitment efforts without physically visiting the school, often multiple times a year, and perhaps also spending a lot of money on events and other sponsorships that did not each drive positive ROIs to the employer but were seen as necessary to maintain a good, working relationship with the school. 

Today and accelerated by Covid, the bulk of employers understand that schools are good partners but far from the only game in town. Employers need to market their opportunities where their consumers — the candidates — are and how their candidates want to receive that information. Like those on the other side of the recruiting desk, candidates want an effective, efficient process. If they can learn about your company by watching a three-minute video on YouTube or spending 10-minutes on your career site, why would they want to set aside an hour to attend a virtual event that likely delivers less information to them and a time that is less convenient to them?