Recruiting Students from Colleges

Delivered May 5th, 2019. Contributors: Prafful K., Nyaingo J., Sarah D. and

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Top College Student Employment Recruiting Platforms

According to our research, in terms of the companies with the highest revenue, Facebook is the largest US-based online platforms for recruiting college students for employment. Glassdoor has ranked its internship program at #1, two years in a row. In addition to Facebook, other largest US-focused online platforms used to recruit college students for employment based on revenue include LinkedIn, Indeed, and Monster. 

METHODOLOGYInitially, we tried to search for the precompiled lists of the largest US-focused online platforms used to recruit college students for employment based on revenue. While searching through various media articles, blog sites, and statistical databases such as Recruiter, Betterteam, Proven, Statista, and others, we could not find the desired information based on the listed criteria. These sources provided the list of best job posting sites, top 10 social recruiting sites, etc. After confirming that there is no precompiled list of the largest US-focused online platforms used to recruit college students for employment based on revenue, we decided to triangulate the information based on two strategies: 
1. Collecting lists of best or top US-focused online platforms used to recruit college students for employment and then rank them according to their revenue. 
2. Finding out the largest US-focused online platform used to recruit college students for employment and then to identify its competitors via Owler (as it provides a list of various competitors along with their revenue) and rank them according to their revenue.

As mentioned-above, Recruiter has listed top 10 social recruiting platforms. Betterteam listed 47 of the best job posting sites for 2019 for US employers. It also mentioned Indeed to be the largest online recruitment platform in the US followed by Glassdoor. However, while checking through Owler, we were able to identify that based on revenue Facebook is the largest online recruitment platform in the US. Based on the above-mentioned strategies, we were able to identify four of the largest US-based online platforms for recruiting college students for employment.

Top College Student Employment Recruiting PlatformsFour of the largest US-focused online platforms used to recruit college students for employment based on revenue are as follows:
1. FACEBOOK (Revenue — $58.9 billion) Facebook is one of the largest US-focused online platforms used to recruit college students for employment. It offers a program called Facebook University for students of underrepresented communities. The program enables them "to get to know Facebook’s people, products and services." Its Internship program has been "ranked #1 by Glassdoor two years in a row."

2. LinkedIn (Revenue — $4.5 billion)The second largest US-focused online platforms used to recruit college students for employment based on revenue is LinkedIn. It is known as the most popular social network for professionals. The estimated revenue of the company is $4.5 billion. According to its website, LinkedIn offers internship and entry-level job opportunities to college students. 

3. Indeed (Revenue — $868.4 million)According to its website, it is known as the world’s #1 job site. Indeed also helps college students while they are still in school or seeking out their first job opportunity. They have a University Recruiting team dedicated to helping students "find their passions." The team provides the tools to college students "to succeed with Indeed and beyond."

4. Monster (Revenue — $583.5 million)It offers a "set of innovative recruiting tools" that enable employers "to target and reach more college students and recent grads." Monster promotes the employers' recruitment brand among college students and grads. In order to reach college students, Monster has developed "a significant and unique network of alliances with schools and online sites that provide access to the college students and recent grads" according to the job positions offered by the employers.

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Online Platforms College Student Recruitment Strategies

Due to the proliferation of digital tools, organizations can use a range of online tools and platforms to recruit college students for employment comfortably. Notably, events and LinkedIn's 'University pages' are some examples of strategies commonly used in these recruitments. Read on for an elaborate research methodology detailing the approaches used to uncover the information presented.
RESEARCH STRATEGY
Preliminary searches included examining the previously completed project titled "Top College Student Employment Recruiting Platforms" to understand the types of platforms examined. Next, we conducted general researches to familiarize ourselves with the popular strategies online platforms deploy to recruit college students for employment. Further, the search predominantly focused on retrieving information on the strategies used explicitly by top college student employment recruiting platforms. Fortunately, top HR and recruitment sites, blogs, and expert opinions featured essential information on the subject. 

Additionally, the focus of the research was also shifted to examine general information around online college recruitment for the workforce to uncover enough examples of the strategies used. In this regard, the searches’ results revealed that the top strategies commonly used by online platforms in the USA to recruit college students for employment include — events, reach outs, social media recruiting, artificial intelligence (AI), university pages by LinkedIn, and gamification.
1. EVENTS
Events commonly used to recruit college students often invite those interested to the respective company facilities to meet with the business leaders. These events are highly interactive and follow the free-flow events models along with open houses that allow students to come and go at their pleasure. Likewise, these events promote student discussions where they can air their concerns to allow organizers to capture relevant questions, comments, and gather useful data on potential recruits.
2. REACH OUTS
Reaching out involves various sponsorships, which include sponsoring high performing and talented students, organizing college and university events, frequently advertising on campus newspapers, and providing industry-specific presentations on college campuses.
3. SOCIAL MEDIA RECRUITING
Social media channels are increasingly getting used to recruit students. Social media recruiting entails using social media channels for recruitment and the engagement of social media networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter and websites including forums, recruitment sites like Glassdoor, job boards, and blogs to attract, find and hire talent.
4. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)
AI is currently deployed in the automation of the hiring process and driven by programmatic advertising. The automation allows the software to intelligently place, buy, and optimize job advertisements across different online channels such as social media and job boards based on existing data provided by the hiring manager or recruiter. Importantly, AI-powered CV screening tools are used to check candidates’ documents while an AI-powered Chatbot establishes and maintains communication with the candidate. The chatbots can as well answer questions from the candidates. Presently, the technology is deployed to create a smart talent platform that avails real-time talent information of the candidates and provide time and cost estimates of hiring and onboarding new employees quickly.
5. UNIVERSITY PAGES
LinkedIn’s latest product ‘University Pages’ allows students from 13 and older to use the platform to access different recruitment information. The product seeks to attract prospective graduates including students by offering them beneficial career information. Students and graduates alike use LinkedIn for various purposes. Importantly, they use it to create resumes, study and analyze companies, gather interview preparation information, and explore career paths. Additionally, LinkedIn offers information on internships and job opportunities, facilitates referrals and introductions, allows students and graduates to establish business contacts, and fosters an ecosystem where college alumni provide advice to the youngsters.
6. GAMIFICATION
Gamification includes the use of fun, high-tech tools to influence students’ recruitment options and evaluate their soft-skills. Numerous interactive online recruiting tools streamline the interview process. Moreover, gamification makes the hiring process less annoying for candidates and helps them woo talent at campus events. For instance, companies can organize inter-university competitions to create brand awareness, allow the participants to gain hands-on experience in company operations, and establish a connection between the brands and potential employees.

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Cost of Recruiting College Students for Employment

 The cost for online platforms to recruit college students varies greatly varies between companies and is dependent on numerous factors such as whether they hold virtual verse physical job fairs and level of AI capabilities.

METHODOLOGYOur research team first scoured the internet, searching consultancy agencies such as McKinsey and Deloitte, and industry reports from National Association of Colleges and Employer, the Society for Human Resource Management, and Glassdoor; in hopes of finding the overall costs to online platforms for recruiting college students for employment. Our results were largely fruitless, as most reports provided information on hiring cost incurred by the company, rather than the online job platform. Here, we learned that the average cost to hire an employee costs between $4000-$7645 and takes approximately 42 days, but this, unfortunately, did not answer the research question. 

As a second strategy, our team located data from "Top College Student Employment Recruiting Platforms." We then researched WayUp, GradLeaders, InternJobs, College Recruiter, and CareerEco, individually, in hopes of finding the cost of strategies involved in recruiting college students.  Here, we found that each of the online platforms provided information on how much they charge the hiring company, but there was no indication of how much each company spent.  We did learn that many of the companies typically hold job fairs to recruit.  Our team was then able to research and locate the approximate costs for both virtual and in-person job fairs. 

As a last and final research strategy, our team referenced "Online Platforms College  Student Recruitment Strategies," and determined events, social media recruiting, reach outs, AI and university pages were top choices.  Our team then researched each of these strategies individually to determine the costs associated with each of them.  Here, we were able to locate a detailed cost of expenses incurred at both physical and virtual job fairs and average cost-per-click pricing for social media recruiting.  We also learned that many universities work with employers and do not charge for such postings.  There were no results specific to reach outs, but we can assume they incur some same expenses as job fairs.  Our team was also not able to locate costs related to artificial intelligence because it is company specific. Artificial intelligence is dependent upon the level of interaction needed and the action capabilities. Pricing can range from $30,000 to $250,000 plus.  Below you will find a deep dive of our results.

FINDINGS1. EVENTSVirtual job fairs cost approximately $8,000. 

Physical jobs fairs cost approximately $27,715.  This includes $3,615 for an event manager, $4,000 for staffing, $4,200 for hospitality, $150 for insurance, $1,000 for technology assets, $5,500 for marketing, $1,000 for parking, and $8,400 for the venue rental.
2. SOCIAL MEDIA RECRUITINGThe average Facebook ad cost per click is 0.64 dollars. 
3. ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCEArtificial intelligence is dependent upon the level of interaction needed and the action capabilities. Pricing can range from $30,000 to $250,000 plus.  

4. COLLEGE BOARDSCollege boards are typically free to post.  Many universities use a platform called Handshake which is free to all parties involved if they chose the basic edition.  

Sources

From Part 01

From Part 02

5 Great Recruiting Strategies to Attract Top Young Talent

talentlyft.com

Publication Year: 2018

Quotes

"Millennials are the largest generation in U.S. labor force since 2015. By 2025, Millennials are going to make 75% of the global workforce."
"Millennials are followed by so-called Generation Z, a whole new cohort of soon-to-be employees who were born between 1995 and 2010. The older members of Generation Z are now entering their final year of college, and they will soon be entering the job market. These new generations are highly educated, tech-savvy, entrepreneurial, self-aware and confident. "
"These new generations are highly educated, tech-savvy, entrepreneurial, self-aware and confident. These demographics, combined with the changes in the recruiting industry, have made it necessary for businesses to engage with emerging talent in new ways to secure their company's future."

Machine Learning In Recruitment & How To Do It Right - Harver

harver.com

Publication Year: 2019

Quotes

"When used correctly, machine learning technology can be very efficient in automating repetitive elements of the recruitment process."

How to Use LinkedIn University Pages to Recruit

theundercoverrecruiter.com

Publication Year: 2017

Quotes

"Studies showed that students and graduates are actively using LinkedIn to research companies, check out career paths, prepare for interviews, get introductions and referrals, make business contacts, extend their resumes, collaborate with college alumni for advice and opportunities and to find internships and jobs"

5 Fresh Student Recruiting Tactics That Will Make Your Company Stand Out

business.linkedin.com

Publication Year: 2018

Quotes

"It’s an exciting time. And if you’re looking to hire new grads, it’s also a competitive time. "
"Obviously, you want to hire the young men and women with the best grades, skills, and relevant work or intern experience. "
"That’s why it’s so important to make your company stand out. One way to do that and get the attention of college students of all ages is to shake up your college recruiting strategy."