Being on a college campus is a magical feeling. Perhaps it reminds you of a simpler time, when grades were your greatest concern. Maybe it’s a monument to how you overcame adversity to pave your way to a better future. Regardless, it’s hard for many people not to look back at their college experience without rose-colored glasses.
But if you’re in early-career recruiting, it might be time to take off the glasses.
Why? Well, because a recruiting strategy that’s campus-based creates inefficiencies throughout your hiring funnel. More important, it often results in a two-tiered system, one that treats online applicants like second-class applicants.
The path to a more efficient hiring process may sound counterintuitive because a better campus recruitment strategy doesn’t involve being on-campus. Surprising, right?
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But it makes more sense because of sourcing effectiveness. On-campus recruiting isn’t beneficial from a cost perspective. In fact, it’s almost three times more expensive ($6,275 with personnel costs included) than staying off-campus ($2,027).
Add this to the fact that it causes your team to be less strategic and overly tactical, it’s not an efficient use of your team’s resources.
Why can an on-campus recruiting strategy cause your team to treat your online applicants like second-class applicants? Think of how you treat the applicants you meet on campus, with personalized outreach, company culture presentations, Q&A sessions, special receptions, etc.
But what about online applicants? They’re not given the same resources. And that’s not fair, plus it’s actively hurting your company. By focusing on your company’s online recruitment tools and application process, it levels the playing field. All applicants, whichever institute they’re from, receive the same treatment and resources.
Case in point: A lot of top talent doesn’t come from the top 50 schools in the country. In fact, your current recruiting strategy may be overlooking great diversity talent pools such as historically black colleges and universities. Having a more balanced recruitment process and prioritizing job sourcing platforms (like WayUp!) will help you more easily find qualified diverse candidates.
Currently, the national time-to-hire average is 24 days. Three-and-a-half weeks, though, is nothing compared to how long it takes if you still have your team on campus—which is three times as long.
With a tight labor market, the longer your team takes to hire, the less likely qualified candidates will still be available. ERE claims top talent is off the market within 10 days, which means delays in the hiring process cost your team its preferred candidates.
So if you want to reduce your team’s time-to-hire, getting off-campus and going online helps.
Before social media, sharing good news was an arduous task. People had to use a phone to call each person, or they had to get everyone together. These antiquated methods are still being used, with a slight variation, when it comes to promoting an employer brand. Companies make their on-campus recruiting teams showcase their brand to students through either one-on-one conversations at career fairs or in large groups like clubs, organizations, and societies.
Thankfully, companies can use social media to more easily showcase their employer brand. Smart companies are building their brands on these platforms. Those who do it well are being rewarded with a lower cost-per-hire and a more effective use of resources, since it’s significantly cheaper to recruit digitally than other methods. In fact, if your company builds up a strong social media presence, it can post job openings organically on Facebook, LinkedIn, and others. A method that allows you to attract top talent at no charge? Now that’s part of an efficient hiring process!
College will always be a great reminder of one’s salad days, but on-campus recruiting has become soggy. It’s time to get a fresh approach to finding top talent—through digital recruiting.
