Why Should You Attract And Hire Students at Your Company?

For that reason, companies are creating specific programs that would enable them to approach and recruit this group of talent in the best possible way. However, the process from scouting students with relevant degrees to getting a well-equipped new hire is quite long and demanding. Still, since the "battle for talent" is nowhere near slowing down, companies should be strategic and well prepared for leveraging this valuable group of talent.

For that reason, in the following paragraphs, we'll explain everything you should know when creating an initiative to hire students and the steps you should take to make an extensive talent network of students. 

Provide an exceptional experience from start to finish

The student population represents a specific group of talent. When thinking about the talent whose attention we are trying to grab, we often distinguish passive from active candidates. These characteristics give out a lot of information about candidates and make it easier to attract them. It becomes a bit more tricky when dealing with the student population; this group of potential future employees are the most curious ones, least experienced, and often with a very loose sense of urgency or an idea of where their career path will end up going. The ambiguity about the future that goes along with being a student gives companies with a structured recruitment process and adequate programs offering relevant experience and additional education an advantage when attracting them. 

However, hiring any group of talent strategically and systematically requires planning and good preparation. Students are no different. By creating events specifically tailored to explain the benefits of working at your company or explaining the specifics of the sector in which your company operates, you are giving them an exclusive look into the yet unknown world for them, allowing picturing themself in such surroundings in the future. For that reason, a guided approach of creating an event with "one-on-one speed dating" followed by personalized email communication and company visits can teach the students to choose your company as the place where they will kick-start their careers.

Why should you organize a recruitment event?

Events are always a good idea to communicate your values and connect with a broader audience. And the great thing about events is that everybody loves their informality and insightfulness. So despite having to allocate bigger budgets than simply by sending a newsletter - at the end of the day - a well-planned career event is a win-win for everyone involved! 

Many students are already aware that they are entering a job market in which even junior positions require a certain level of experience. With most employers being strict with their requirements for entry-level positions, students are looking for employers that would offer employment opportunities during their studies and eliminate the possibility of getting stuck as a young unemployed graduate. That is precisely why you can leverage creating an event and let students know that your company would be excited to have them on board.

Here are some specific benefits for employers who decide to throw an event for students and their potential future employees:

1. Spread your messaging

2. Build a wider talent pool

3. Inform your audience about hiring at your company

4. Engage with your talent pool

Spread your messaging

All recruiters aim for the same goal: to build an extensive network of working professionals with whom they can establish long-term relationships. Firstly, by creating a live or online event, you can leverage social media advertising and introduce your desired audience to your brand. By spreading your message through various channels, potential future employees can get acquainted with the values that your company stands for, the type of candidates you're looking for, and the culture you embody. This is a powerful way of becoming or staying relevant among the talent. In addition, this is a powerful way to position yourself as a suitable employer for a younger and less experienced population when it comes to students.

Target your recruitment marketing efforts accordingly

Find the channels that will resonate with the students you are trying to attract: which social media channels do they use to find jobs? It could be LinkedIn, but it could also be that they are leveraging Facebook or LinkedIn group memberships or maybe a specific job board dedicated to students specifically. Target your recruitment marketing efforts specifically and spread your messaging among the relevant target audience. Let the student community know you are throwing an event for them!

Career site event

Create a separate landing page for your career site visitors where you'll invite them to the event. This can work for any event you want to host to strengthen your employer brand. In this particular case, creating a landing page for a student event can help you communicate everything you wish to in one place while using your own branding. Make sure to express your values, the culture of the firm, and the specifics of the event all in one branded online space. In addition, offering your visitors the link to register for an event can be one way to further grow your talent pool. 

Build a wider talent pool 

By creating an event, you can build a wider talent pool. Events are a fantastic opportunity for meeting new people and networking with potential employers. They are the place where you can, either in person or through a video conference, establish a personalized relationship and answer all the questions your potential candidates might have for you. Once you exchange all the information and the candidate introduces themself to you, it is far more likely that by the time you decide to start a new hiring campaign, the candidate will be ready to engage with you in a more meaningful way. 

To stay in touch after the event to build a long-lasting relationship with your talent pool, make sure to give out clear contact information to everyone interested in working for your company. Additionally, invite them to leave out their contact information so you can keep in touch and inform them about the news from your company or future opportunities.

Inform your audience about hiring at your company

Once your event has finished, you can keep in touch with your potential future employees by creating a communication sequence that will keep them informed about everything they need to know about your company. Whether you'd like to demystify how the work-life looks like at your company, or you'd like to inform them about a recent success your company had, or ultimately which positions are you opening. You can easily plan the best approach for you to attract students to apply for an internship program at your company! 

Especially for students, it is sometimes difficult to fully grasp what goes on in the "working world." Therefore, it is beneficial for them to learn and manage their expectations and clarify the details about each position. 

Engage with your talent pool

Once you inform your candidates about the openings at your company, your work is not done yet! You can distinguish two groups of talent once they receive the information about your hiring - the ones who applied for a position and those who did not yet! You can further divide these two groups into two different talent pools and engage with them differently from that point on. 

You can educate the ones who already applied for a position about the next steps of the recruitment process, and for the ones who did not yet apply, you can create more relevant ones, depending on which position they could apply for. Nevertheless, take the opportunity to divide your targeted group of students into smaller interest groups and make sure to nurture their interest in your company. 

Good engagement makes candidates reapply

Ultimately, hiring students at your company has numerous benefits, including getting a new fresh perspective on some common issues and injecting a dose of enthusiasm into the workplace. Therefore, employers should recognize the extra value and build an extensive and engaged student talent network. For that reason, events can be one of the tactics to attract young talent and keep them informed about the openings at your company. 

However, whether you decide to organize an event to attract fresh talent or go for another tactic, the mindset should remain the same. Every candidate or a potential candidate wants to engage with you in a personalized way regularly. This establishes long-lasting relationships and creates candidates who come back!