Fall recruiting

Get actionable tips to:

Connect with qualified talent pools by partnering with new schools

Grab Gen Z’s attention by posting on the Handshake feed

Launch a messaging plan that drives event registrations and attendance

Keep students engaged at your booth with the swag they love

And more!

Back to school checklist for recruiters

Summer is hot on Handshake. Get ahead for fall.

Employers

Tips and trends for modern recruiting

Find the talent you’re looking for

A hybrid college recruiting strategy is the best practice for most employers these days, with a balance of virtual and in-person touch points. 

The pandemic paused in-person engagement for a while, but now that it's back in your playbook: have you updated your traditional campus recruiting tactics to engage students based on Gen Z preferences?

Here are four ways to prepare for on-campus recruiting this fall.

Strategy #1: Have fun with swag that makes your brand stand out 

A recent Handshake survey found that 58% of students prefer swag that’s unique to an employer, so challenge yourself to think of clever items that are a play on your brand. 

For example, global potato product supplier, Lamb Weston, hands out squishy French Fry boxes featuring QR codes that direct students to the company’s career site. This swag is branded, action-oriented, and memorable. 

In this same survey, students also gave high scores to practical items like pens, water bottles, and notebooks that they can use at school—while keeping your company top of mind.

Only 6% of students dislike swag—which means you have the opportunity to make an impression of your brand that lasts way past the career fair.

Strategy #2: Proactively invite top talent to meet your team

Criss-crossing the country to attend on-campus career fairs can take an immense amount of planning and energy. But since it’s challenging to budget for every on-campus fair or event, savvy recruiters use Handshake as an extension of their college recruiting teams virtually and in-person.

For example, proactive sourcing and outreach to students means you're inviting top talent to your fair or event before you show up on-campus. Send a message with information about your company and your open roles, highlight your benefits and values, and then ask the student to stop by your table at the career fair to meet you and learn more. 

Worried you’ll come on too strong? Three out of four students say that interactions with employers at career events make them more likely to apply to jobs and keep in contact through career platforms. With proactive messaging and wraparound brand exposure through a student's career center and through Handshake, career fairs can be more about relationship building and making meaningful connections.

Strategy #3: Think outside the box to attract students to your booth

When you do enough of them, on-campus events can feel pretty rinse and repeat. But these fairs aren’t just Groundhog Day for you—students are also experiencing the same thing table after table, booth after booth.

One of the best ways to make an impression is to do something different. For example:

Gen Z wants to connect with current employees in roles that interest them. Invite employees from outside the talent acquisition team to honestly answer questions and authentically speak about their experience with your company. 

Switching up your event formats—such as hands-on learning workshops, competitions, or interviewing tips—can help you stand out with students.

Swag isn't the only way to grab students’ attention. Set up an experiential activity—like games, giveaways, or even a headshot booth—to draw more students to your table and strike up a conversation.

Strategy #4: Remember to capture content

On-campus events are an opportunity to connect with talent—but they’re also an opportunity to grow your employer brand and scale your reach virtually through content once you leave campus. When you’re attending fairs and events, it’s a great opportunity to capture content that you can share to the Handshake feed to show students what you’re about! For example:

Take photos of your booth setup and location

Take photos or videos of your swag or snacks

Record video clips of your team traveling or exploring campus

Record video clips of your team sharing tips to help students get the most out of the fair or event

Take photos of your team interacting with the school mascot

Post that content to the Handshake feed to not only generate awareness that you’re attending the fair or event on-campus, but also to build familiarity with your company and brand for any students who couldn't make it in-person.

How you show up on-campus is part of the candidate experience

There’s so much energy and excitement with the return of on-campus career fairs and events, and so much opportunity for building brand awareness and engaging early talent in what you have to offer.

Campus recruiting has been reimagined post-pandemic to compliment always-on virtual recruiting—and create a more streamlined, immersive, and efficient candidate experience.

These suggestions can help you prepare to make a meaningful and memorable impression on-campus this fall.




4 Ways to prepare for on-campus recruiting this fall

Fall recruiting starts well before the autumn equinox on our calendars. But even if you're in the thick of student outreach and campus events, it's never too late to improve your tactics and measure your impact—and bring those learnings into your year-long planning process.

By knowing when, how, and why students are most likely to engage this fall, you can make sure you’re connecting with candidates and promoting open roles at the right time.

Polish your job postings

A job post is often a student’s first impression of your organization as an employer—and if it’s not approachable and informative, they’ll be much less likely to apply.

Desired skills, working hours, whether the role is remote or hybrid, and salary range are among the pieces of information students are most likely to say are “essential” to include in a job post. We’ve also seen that job posts that include salary details receive an average of 45% more qualified applicants.

Build brand awareness on the Handshake feed as a key touchpoint

Students often need to hear from an employer several times before they take the next step to apply to a job. An overwhelming majority of students (91%) say they'd be more likely to apply if they'd had multiple touch points with an employer—for example, receiving a message, meeting them at an event, and seeing their content on social media.

Building up-funnel brand awareness on the feed—and getting in front of students earlier in their career discovery journey—means early talent can get to know you and take meaningful next steps to engage with you on Handshake.

Maximize your messaging

Meaningful, measurable candidate touch points can also be complementary, creating a “snowball effect” for candidate engagement. Messaging is one touchpoint that plays a critical role in the end-to-end candidate experience, and can have a big impact on your recruiting funnel.

Handshake found that 70% of students are more likely to apply to a job if they receive a message from the employer. When employers promote events via messaging, they receive an average of 2.5 times as many RSVPs.

What makes for a good message?

Character count is key. An analysis of millions of employer messages sent on Handshake shows that messages should be short—but not too short. About 300-350 characters is the sweet spot for maximizing click-through rates.

Achieve better results this fall

Since September and October see the most applications submitted, messages sent, and events attended by students and recent grads on Handshake, you need to maximize your impact in those two months if you want to hit your goals for the year.

To successfully execute on a data-driven recruiting strategy, you need the right tools. Employers using Handshake Talent Engagement Suite can get 6.5X as many qualified applicants as those using Handshake Basic. Get a demo and explore how Handshake data allows you to get more strategic with your early talent recruiting program…and get better results.

Fall recruiting

Back to school checklist for recruiters

Summer is hot on Handshake. Get ahead for fall.

4 Ways to prepare for on-campus recruiting this fall

Gearing up for a data-driven fall recruiting season