Some employers think campus recruitment is easy, but nabbing top grads at Canadian schools is a year-round commitment that requires a long-term creative strategy, say campus career service professionals.
“Campus recruitment is a field where people want to be cutting edge,” says Dave Fraser of the Canadian Campus Recruitment Institute, an association for career educators and employers. “You want to have the best ways of doing it and to be keeping in stride with every other company.”
Fraser says that if companies want to attract grads to their company they have to do more than post a job on the career board and attend a few job fairs. It’s an ongoing process, that needs a lot of attention and effort, he says.
“Don’t just send a couple of recruiters to a career fair and be done with it. Keep it up actively, show students that you are very interested in them. Show up on their campus five or six times a year, sponsor events, just have a very dynamic, diversified presence and that’s your best exposure.”
And while exposure on campus is critical for employers, the universities report companies are using different tactics to gain that exposure.
At the University of Toronto, employers are using more of a non-traditional style of recruiting. Companies are combining first and second interviews together so they won’t loose good candidates in the lapse of time it takes to conduct two separate interviews.
“You have two interviews back-to-back. The first interview is with the screening person and the second is a senior partner. They have a pow wow, rate the candidates and then make the selection,” says Mary Giamos, a career management consultant at the University of Toronto
The employers that use this style do have a followup visit, but have already decided which candidates they are going to make offers to, says Giamos. She says the companies that come on the campus are competitive because they usually have a large number of positions to fill, which is why this new trend will be picked up quickly by the majority of employers.
“The goal is that they will get more students on board with a higher and quicker acceptance rate for their offers and they (students) won’t get snagged by other companies in the process,” she says. “It may become a standardized recruiting tool, taking the notch up and soon everyone will be doing it.”
Companies who grab talented grads at the University of Windsor have an alternative way of getting students on board. Kerry-Ann Gray, career placement co-ordinator for the University of Windsor, says exposure on campus associated with a club or society seems to be the best method to recruit grads.
“Employers that associate themselves with student groups do very well. If they sponsor a function or host a breakfast, it seems to be very effective.”
Gray says information sessions have worked well in the past at the University of Windsor also, but only if there is a lot of marketing done for the event.
“The employers will invite a group of students to come, sit down and listen to their presentation. Then they speak with them afterwards and answer questions individually. It gives students the opportunity to network.”
Company presentations along with participation in career fairs works well at McGill University, says Gregg Blachford, director of career and placement services. In fact, he encourages employers to have a public face on campus.
“Especially if those recruiters are ex-grads of this university...those still young enough to remember student life.”
In Halifax, Saint Mary’s University keeps an ear to the ground for the various trends in the labour market. Two years ago they started an annual arts and culture career fair, with two other universities and community colleges, to meet the needs of this growing sector. Mary Ellen MacEachern, manager of student employment/co-op education services, says the arts and culture sector, particularly the film industry, in Nova Scotia is quickly developing into a high-demand career.
“We took notice of that and said there are probably opportunities there, so we met with the cultural association and said ‘We’re noticing a trend,’ and we put together a career fair unlike a traditional job fair,” she says.
In addition to this unique career fair, Saint Mary’s also partners with two other universities for what they call the Halifax Joint Career Fair. The event brings in around 100 companies from across the country and 1,300 to 1,500 students pass through every year. MacEachern says this is an excellent way to “warehouse” a lot of employers under one roof, and it’s effective for those employers that are actively looking to fill numerous positions.
Although, career fairs are essential when recruiting, Michelle Fleming, career advisor at the University of Calgary, says their internship program is the best tactic for employers enabling them to find exactly what they want in a new hire.
“They’ve already pre-screened the students and they know who the grads are whereas companies who are cold calling our office (don’t have that information).”
Fleming says the University of Calgary has been extremely successful with its engineering internship program. Around 50 per cent of engineering students go through the internship program each year, and the program is supported by many Calgary-based businesses.
Despite the diverse recruitment strategies among universities, they all agree that for an employer, being a consistent and engaged recruiter brings about the best results, regardless of how many jobs the company has to offer.
“Even if you don’t have a number of jobs available this month in your organization, it’s still a good idea to have that campus presence,” says Fraser. “Having that presence there and handing out toys and gadgets at career fairs, doing information sessions and presentations...just generating interest among students and grads can work for your company...I think that’s extremely important.”
Giamos says the worst thing for an employer to do is back off when their company experiences a downturn in the economy. She says some employers called and declined attendance at Toronto’s recent career fair because of the current economic slowdown.
“Our response was always ‘That’s fine, you can leave it up to the students and the student grapevine as to why you’re not there. Or you can be candid with them about the situation, but offer information on your company’.”
Some companies took her advice and realized afterwards that they made the right move, she says.
“There are so many opportunities to come on campus without hiring. (There are) information sessions, panels, and presentations. Students see this and that’s what is empowering to a student...information.”
“Campus recruitment is a field where people want to be cutting edge,” says Dave Fraser of the Canadian Campus Recruitment Institute, an association for career educators and employers. “You want to have the best ways of doing it and to be keeping in stride with every other company.”
Fraser says that if companies want to attract grads to their company they have to do more than post a job on the career board and attend a few job fairs. It’s an ongoing process, that needs a lot of attention and effort, he says.
“Don’t just send a couple of recruiters to a career fair and be done with it. Keep it up actively, show students that you are very interested in them. Show up on their campus five or six times a year, sponsor events, just have a very dynamic, diversified presence and that’s your best exposure.”
And while exposure on campus is critical for employers, the universities report companies are using different tactics to gain that exposure.
At the University of Toronto, employers are using more of a non-traditional style of recruiting. Companies are combining first and second interviews together so they won’t loose good candidates in the lapse of time it takes to conduct two separate interviews.
“You have two interviews back-to-back. The first interview is with the screening person and the second is a senior partner. They have a pow wow, rate the candidates and then make the selection,” says Mary Giamos, a career management consultant at the University of Toronto
The employers that use this style do have a followup visit, but have already decided which candidates they are going to make offers to, says Giamos. She says the companies that come on the campus are competitive because they usually have a large number of positions to fill, which is why this new trend will be picked up quickly by the majority of employers.
“The goal is that they will get more students on board with a higher and quicker acceptance rate for their offers and they (students) won’t get snagged by other companies in the process,” she says. “It may become a standardized recruiting tool, taking the notch up and soon everyone will be doing it.”
Companies who grab talented grads at the University of Windsor have an alternative way of getting students on board. Kerry-Ann Gray, career placement co-ordinator for the University of Windsor, says exposure on campus associated with a club or society seems to be the best method to recruit grads.
“Employers that associate themselves with student groups do very well. If they sponsor a function or host a breakfast, it seems to be very effective.”
Gray says information sessions have worked well in the past at the University of Windsor also, but only if there is a lot of marketing done for the event.
“The employers will invite a group of students to come, sit down and listen to their presentation. Then they speak with them afterwards and answer questions individually. It gives students the opportunity to network.”
Company presentations along with participation in career fairs works well at McGill University, says Gregg Blachford, director of career and placement services. In fact, he encourages employers to have a public face on campus.
“Especially if those recruiters are ex-grads of this university...those still young enough to remember student life.”
In Halifax, Saint Mary’s University keeps an ear to the ground for the various trends in the labour market. Two years ago they started an annual arts and culture career fair, with two other universities and community colleges, to meet the needs of this growing sector. Mary Ellen MacEachern, manager of student employment/co-op education services, says the arts and culture sector, particularly the film industry, in Nova Scotia is quickly developing into a high-demand career.
“We took notice of that and said there are probably opportunities there, so we met with the cultural association and said ‘We’re noticing a trend,’ and we put together a career fair unlike a traditional job fair,” she says.
In addition to this unique career fair, Saint Mary’s also partners with two other universities for what they call the Halifax Joint Career Fair. The event brings in around 100 companies from across the country and 1,300 to 1,500 students pass through every year. MacEachern says this is an excellent way to “warehouse” a lot of employers under one roof, and it’s effective for those employers that are actively looking to fill numerous positions.
Although, career fairs are essential when recruiting, Michelle Fleming, career advisor at the University of Calgary, says their internship program is the best tactic for employers enabling them to find exactly what they want in a new hire.
“They’ve already pre-screened the students and they know who the grads are whereas companies who are cold calling our office (don’t have that information).”
Fleming says the University of Calgary has been extremely successful with its engineering internship program. Around 50 per cent of engineering students go through the internship program each year, and the program is supported by many Calgary-based businesses.
Despite the diverse recruitment strategies among universities, they all agree that for an employer, being a consistent and engaged recruiter brings about the best results, regardless of how many jobs the company has to offer.
“Even if you don’t have a number of jobs available this month in your organization, it’s still a good idea to have that campus presence,” says Fraser. “Having that presence there and handing out toys and gadgets at career fairs, doing information sessions and presentations...just generating interest among students and grads can work for your company...I think that’s extremely important.”
Giamos says the worst thing for an employer to do is back off when their company experiences a downturn in the economy. She says some employers called and declined attendance at Toronto’s recent career fair because of the current economic slowdown.
“Our response was always ‘That’s fine, you can leave it up to the students and the student grapevine as to why you’re not there. Or you can be candid with them about the situation, but offer information on your company’.”
Some companies took her advice and realized afterwards that they made the right move, she says.
“There are so many opportunities to come on campus without hiring. (There are) information sessions, panels, and presentations. Students see this and that’s what is empowering to a student...information.”
