Welcome to our four-part series: Yale SOM Insights for Employers: Campus Edition. Here we will share ways we have seen employers embrace new approaches to enhance campus recruiting. Our intent is to provide inspiration from what has worked for others, and hopefully, to spark interest in furthering your recruiting partnership with us 😉
Part 1: Don’t Feel Limited by Limited Resources
Many organizations – and recruiting teams in particular – are doing more with less: less time to commit to recruiting for a given role, fewer financial resources, and in some cases fewer human resources. Virtual recruiting has been a solution for many, and this medium has grown in familiarity with candidates since COVID. However, in the campus recruiting environment, the return of on-campus and other in-person employer engagements has been welcomed by students. This has put a strain on some recruiting teams, who, due to budget and other constraints, cannot travel frequently, or at all.
Tip 1: Focus on the Four I’s of recruiting
Whether recruiting is all virtual, all in-person, or a mix, staying focused on what candidates/ students value will help make the most of your efforts. Based on qualitative and quantitative data from Yale SOM students, these values can be represented in the Four I’s of Recruiting:
INTERPERSONAL so both students and employers can get to know each other
INTERACTIVE so students can engage with employers and not feel “talked at”
INFORMATIVE at every step with new information shared during every touchpoint, respecting students’ time and tapping into their eagerness to get to know the employer
INCLUSIVE throughout the process so all feel welcome to participate, learn, engage, and pursue opportunities
Tip 2: Strategically time your visit to campus
For organizations that can visit campus once, the tendency is to schedule this visit as the “kick-off” recruiting event, often involving a presentation followed by either Q&A or a networking session. This common effort certainly works, especially for established organizations. However, for organizations new to recruiting at a school, or those looking to revive their brand, this often leaves a long gap between an in-person touchpoint and application deadlines. These organizations instead should craft a recruiting calendar designed to build momentum in candidate interest. Two organizations recently adopted this philosophy:
- Both hosted virtual kick-off sessions to a broad multi-school audience early in the recruiting season, when student participation and energy is high
- A few weeks later these organizations hosted on campus in-person Ask Me Anything sessions and coffee chats to personally connect with students
- Virtual recruiting engagements wrapped the season a few weeks later just prior to application deadline
Such an approach helped these organizations manage limited resources, embrace the 4 I’s and kept them top of students’ minds during the recruiting season.
Tip 3: Make the most of your trip to campus
The above examples also showcase that a visit to campus can involve multiple activities, maximizing the return on the time and financial resources spent on the visit. At the bare minimum, multiple touchpoints in a day allow students to navigate their schedules while also connecting with organizations. When these engagements take on different formats, students with different engagement preferences find ease in connecting, sharing, and learning. The result is that organizations can connect with more students in valuable ways.
Other effective ways to optimize your efforts when in New Haven include:
- Marketing your visit as an event. Dub your visit a “Takeover Day” or “Day with ____” – I personally love puns and alliteration and am happy to help ideate an event name! The point is to create enthusiasm for the day.
- A large tech firm has taken this approach the past few years, timing its visit about two weeks before application deadline to provide a burst of application enthusiasm.
- A boutique consulting firm hosts a takeover day in the midst of their multi-week virtual education series to pump up interest during the long recruiting season.
Invitations to Takeover Days can be directly emailed to targeted students, including event details and bios of representatives. Work with our office to further spread the word to affiliated student clubs and explore other breakthrough marketing opportunities.
- Network with SOM students during every visit to New Haven. This is one of the biggest opportunity areas for employers. Many employers visit New Haven for conferences or to recruit undergraduates/ students pursuing graduate degrees in arts & sciences, environment, public health, public policy, and more. Adding a touchpoint with SOM students – even if there is not an immediate hiring need – is an efficient and effective way to leverage time already in New Haven to build a recruiting brand for when hiring needs arise.
- Last year a number of investment management firms recruiting undergraduate Yalies invited Yale SOMers in the Masters in Asset Management program to their networking events. Although these students would recruit for different roles, all valued the opportunity to connect, learn about the firm, culture, and how to continue the recruiting relationship.
Our office works closely with the career offices in other Yale schools, and we can collaborate with you to optimize your day in New Haven and build your brand with potential hires across Yale.
- Don’t let work stop you – we can help. Lean on our office and our facilities, so you and your colleagues can mix work and recruiting pleasure. Onsite, we have dedicated private workspaces, a recruiters’ lounge and conference rooms. We can schedule your day of recruiting to navigate work demands, including during interview days.
- Most recently, one bank took advantage of our capabilities to ensure that they could continue with their desired in-person interviews while balancing last-minute work demands that arose for some interviewers.
Final Thought:
Hopefully you have found these real-world examples interesting and inspiring. The key takeaway is that by focusing on the Four I’s of Recruiting, recruiting can be robust even when resources are not. The Yale SOM CDO is your partner – use us to strategize the most effective and innovative ways to advance your recruiting. Stay tuned for future issues on recruiting that embraces format variety, shows “the love,” and expands your brand.
