Campus relations
April 11th, 2009 | Published in whatever...
In my experience helping with recruiting over the last few years I have come across a couple of tips that many companies haven’t picked up on yet, so I thought I’d share them.
Key point: Campus recruiting is about establishing relationships
If you want your candidate pipeline to be full of talent, you need to establish lasting relationships with the schools that you recruit from. This doesn’t mean conducting information sessions every semester and calling it good. You need to get to know both the students and the faculty so the students know to attend and apply and the faculty know to promote your events and to recommend promising students to you.
A few related tips:
- Turn your interns into evangelists. Get them to talk about their experience with other students and help you connect with potential candidates.
- Establish a campus ambassador program. Either formalize the role of former interns or allow passionate students to get involved. They can help coordinate and promote events on campus, promote the company and its products, and can also provide valuable feedback about how you’re doing.
- Give stuff away. Get students using your company’s products. As the tobacco industry used to say, hook ‘em while they’re young. Once they go off into industry they’ll bring their experience with your products with them.
Also, giving away free food during finals week doesn’t hurt either. 
Tags: recruiting
