We all know that recruiting graduates this year is not business as usual. Advorto has created the 15-minute guide to recruiting graduates in a recession to help recruitment teams get the most out of their efforts in this shaky economic climate. Part 1 of this series talked about using technology, how to deal with an avalanche of applications, tightening up for killer questions, qualifying pre-screened, and making the most of screening.
(If you don't want to wait for the instalments, you can download the entire guide now.)
Use mobile applications. Graduates love mobile phones -- so why not communicate with them in their medium? An eRecruitment System can help you quickly weed out inappropriate candidates by automatically sending them an SMS with a link to some qualifying questions on a WAP site. If they answer correctly, they can be invited to complete an online application form or even directly to a telephone interview.
Know which sources work, and which don’t. Do you really know which sources are really bringing in the top candidates? Some sources may appear to get great results, but do you actually hire any of the respondents? Guessing about this information can easily give you the wrong end of the stick. Tracking stats is the only way to keep a true pulse. Make sure you look at cost per hire and return on investment, looking at not just numbers of applications received from each source, but the quality of applicants as well, i.e. the successful ones. You can also ask which sources influenced candidates to apply to get the softer statistics, such as brand, good time to join, etc.
Choose advertising carefully and make what you do really count. With so many applications coming to you, do you really need to keep advertising spend at pre-credit crunch levels? Chances are you don’t have the budget. Once you have established which sources are really performing (not just the ones you THINK are performing) use what budget you have wisely and invest only in the high-performing areas.
Track EVERYTHING. Don’t let any knowledge slip through the cracks. If you recruit on campus and spot an outstanding graduate – assign them a “fast track” number. Then when they apply online, you will be able to spot right away that one of your staff has already seen potential in this student.
Are you on Facebook? You should be. Students are using Facebook is record numbers – yet not many like to admit it. There are innovative ways to use Facebook to identify candidates, such as having last year’s grads create a corporate page or having them post info on jobs. You can also advertise your grad jobs on Facebook. An eRecruitment System can help you track exactly how a candidate got your online application page.
Don’t be a twit and ignore Twitter. Since Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry started using Twitter, everyone is using it-- especially graduates. There are several ways to take advantage of this craze. You can have a recruitment following that tweets about company news, jobs and information; a key graduate can tweet about what it’s like on the job, the possibilities are endless (and free!) And make sure you claim your Twitter name/URL before someone else does...
Bring sourcing in-house – or at least part of it. Full service agencies are expensive. Do you have access to the raw data yourself to really understand what’s going on in your campaign or do you rely on reports delivered by a third party? Is the system and process your agency is using as efficient as it could be? Bring some of that work in-house and do it yourself. Some companies are taking control of their sourcing and buying the tools to collect and store data in-house. Then you have the choice to do the work yourself or hire someone to do it for you. You win by having control of your sourcing data – and by saving thousands each year on outsourcing.
This post is an excerpt of the whitepaper "The 15-Minute Guide To Recruiting Graduates In a Recession".
-Susannah
Photo credit: laura elizabeth
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