Graduate recruiting tip #5: Start an online relationship

Make graduate recruiting a continuing process, not a one-time event.

Start your relationship with students well before they leave uni. The Internet makes this an easy, cost effective strategy.

But how do you start an online relationship?

Create a top-notch interactive graduate site that will get graduates’ attention and keep them coming back to your site. A good example of a graduate recruitment site is Hewttt. Microsoft just launched a bit of a wacky one, Hey, Genius! (bonus points for you if you can figure out their games).
Get graduates to your web site and then have them opt in so you can communicate with them.
Use professors, lecturers and assistants at targeted universities to help get students to your graduate site. You can create virtual projects or case studies for them to complete and be reviewed.
If appropriate, “donate” your company’s products to universities. For example, a recruitment software company could donate their software for use in an HR recruiting course, getting students exposed to the technology and the company at an early stage in their career. I did this at my first job (a gazillion years ago) and the programme is still running!
Once students are on your site, keep them there and impress them with your blog, chat room, video feeds, podcasts, etc.
You can use assessment tools to pinpoint top students, and give them special status as “fast trackers”.
Create an e-newsletter to keep students up-to-date and create a positive impression of your company. Add a RSS feed so students can subscribe to receive news.
After a while, you will have a created a positive, online relationship with this group.

What are your thoughts on creating an online relationship? Leave us a comment, we’d love to hear.

-Susanna

PS — Our next post in this series is on “communicating in their language”.

** This post is an excerpt from Advorto’s “15-minute guide to graduate recruiting”. You can download the full report for FREE.

Article By: Susanna Cesar Morton

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.