Campus Recruitment Insights & News
Don't miss out on important news. We publish our newsletter on LinkedIn. That's where our campus recruiting audience is along with many professionals who have a general interest in the segment. To view the latest or past monthly campus recruiting updates go to https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/campus-recruitment-updates-6935077017776177152/ You can also subscribe for automatic updates.
December 2022
Year Round Campus Recruiting?
In a candidate short market, the question often asked of employers is should they do year-round campus recruitment. On one hand it makes sense. However, it’s not an easy implementation for graduate recruitment teams and their hiring managers.
What we’ve seen work well is an Open Registration process run outside the main recruitment campaigns.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/year-round-campus-recruiting-peter-pychtin
November 2022
Campus Recruitment Remains Strong Despite the Prospects of Recession
It’s been widely reported that many large tech companies have put in place hiring freezes or cut back plans for headcount growth. FedEx reported a decrease in shipping volume in the United States and international markets, a sign of a potential global recession.
Yet at the same time as the FedEx report a survey of US employers conducted by NACE points to growth in campus recruiting. In August/September 2022, NACE surveyed employers for their hiring intentions with around half planning to increase student hires. Only 6% expected to hire less. So what’s happening?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/campus-recruitment-remains-strong-despite-prospects-peter-pychtin/
October 2022
Campus Career Fairs Are Back - But Challenges Ahead for Employers
Career fairs are back. But challenges lay ahead for employers. US colleges and employers report a strong turn out by students who are eager to meet campus recruiters and learn about available opportunities. While the experience hasn’t been uniform across all campuses the early indicators are very positive. Yet international experience suggests there will be more challenges ahead for employers. Despite the return of in-person career fairs Australian employers saw lower application numbers, largely a function of student numbers.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/campus-career-fairs-back-peter-pychtin
September 2022
Business Investment in Automation is Accelerating
Unemployment levels are still extraordinarily low. Coupled with changes to workforce dynamics prompted by the pandemic, it has created a powerful incentive for businesses to invest in automation where they can. That’s now leading to an accelerated adoption of artificial intelligence and other automation tools.
August 2022
Fall Campus Recruitment
As US campus recruiters get ready for Fall recruitment it’s worth looking at the experiences of their Australian counterparts to learn what might be coming. In Australia, campus recruitment has just concluded for the traditional main recruitment period, i.e. equivalent to the US Fall season. To provide opening context, a senior recruitment veteran exclaimed “I’ve never seen a graduate season like this”.
July 2022
Virtual Versus Hybrid Student Recruitment Model
Early research and feedback from employers in the US and Australia suggests a direct link between lower levels of student engagement and a 100% virtual recruitment process. During Covid there was no option for employers. With in-person activities back in place many employers have adopted a hybrid approach combining in-person and virtual. We think this is the way forward.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6947041577626132481?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_updateV2%3A%28urn%3Ali%3AugcPost%3A6947041577626132481%2CFEED_DETAIL%2CEMPTY%2CDEFAULT%2Cfalse%29
June 2022
Student Campus Experience
Most campus recruiters do their best to deliver a positive candidate experience. But sometimes there are obstacles to overcome. Like dealing with clumsy technology, the sheer number of applicants to review, internal processes that aren't straightforward or coercing hiring managers to act promptly in decision-making. Faced with time pressures it can leave recruiters taking short-cuts. Despite the best intents, that's when it can lead to a poor candidate experience. In high volume campus recruitment, it's not just one candidate affected but many.
May 2022
Students Swamped by Job Openings
Campus job postings have gone through the roof. Michigan State University alone reports +75% growth. It’s driven by employers of all sizes scrambling to get talent. To broaden their reach many employers have said they will recruit students from any discipline. That’s in addition to increasing the number of schools they target. One employer cited nearly an eight fold increase in the number of schools they recruit from compared to pre-pandemic times.
The downside is that students are swamped by the number of job postings. That’s led to many feeling overwhelmed and simply shutting down to defer the job search process. In turn that means employers face fewer applications from traditional sources.
The alternative for employers is to open up sourcing more broadly. Whether that’s additional schools, third-party sources or advertising. While that can increase applications it creates a different challenge of having the capacity to properly review and assess more resumes.
April 2022
Student Demand and Reneges Both Up
This WSJ article confirms demand for interns and students is hot and reneges are on the way up. https://www-wsj-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/summer-interns-negotiate-salary-perks-11645825566
Some highlights from the article: In order to encourage a sense of commitment to the company one employer "encourages accepted interns to post a company logo on social media to announce the new position. Incoming intern José Eduardo Reyes said he did so on LinkedIn and received a flurry of messages from other employers trying to poach him."
Hmm, sounds like a good move for José. Not so good for the employer. (The article did say José stayed with the company).There are employers who are planning to over-hire, "betting that some percentage of interns will renege on offers before their summer jobs start."
March 2022
Candidate Experience and Why Candidates Withdraw
Great insights from the 2021 Talent Board’s Candidate Experience Benchmark Research Report. The data refers to recruitment at all levels but the insights are definitely applicable to student recruitment. Here are key takeaways.
The three most negative reasons candidates withdrew were:
• The recruiting process took too long
• Their time was disrespected during the recruiting process
• Salary didn’t meet expectations
Organizations that minimized candidates dropping out were consistently ahead of others in four key areas:
1. Setting expectations: Indicating to each candidate how many steps the recruitment process involves, what those steps are and the associated timeframes.
2. Accountability: Recruiters and hiring managers who keep their promises regarding progress, feedback, and next steps.
3. Fairness: Having and being seen to have a fair and impartial process is critical to the candidate experience.
4. Feedback: Candidates appreciate honest feedback about their background, interviewing skills and resume.
To read the report's executive summary go to
February 2022
Does Virtual Recruitment Equate to Less Commitment?
Are virtual recruitment practices contributing to increased ghosting and reneges of job offers? It certainly seems the case in student and graduate recruitment. No-shows on the start date. Renege rates of up to 40%. Random drop outs throughout the recruitment process. Research says the most common reason is a better offer.
The fact that it's a candidate short market is obviously a contributor as candidates size up multiple offers. But how much is due to the shift to virtual recruitment practices? Or the lack of engagement with incoming employees ?
In a virtual process, there’s certainly less skin in the game for candidates and employers. On one hand the virtual world offers a greater opportunity to engage with each and every incoming student, no matter where they are located pre commencement date. But then there’s the risk that the virtual process can become a transactional one. It's easier for both employer and candidate to go through the motions without the personal commitment required in face-to-face meetings
January 2022
The 2022 College Recruitment Challenge: Meeting Hiring Targets
The biggest challenge college recruiters face in 2022 and the foreseeable future is making hiring numbers. It is going to be tough, really tough. Recruiters are already talking about going back to campus in Spring to try and meet targets.
Historically, employers have accepted that a focus on core and target schools overlooks many high caliber students. When there’s been a strong supply of student applications, it really hasn’t mattered. But now we're in a real shortage.
As we know, employers are rethinking campus recruitment. It’s no longer a one-off campaign. They are experiencing 30% job offer renege rates as students receive three times as many job offers than their predecessors.
Doubling down on target schools in a competitive market isn’t a viable solution. It's an efficient way to narrow the applicant funnel. But we all know it’s far from perfect. When it comes to considering students based on the schools they attend, where do you draw the line?