Information Sessions
Information sessions are common practice in recruitment efforts. Providing background on the company and benefits of working with the company are essential to capturing the attention of employee candidates. These information sessions may happen through various avenues, such as going to student organizations, hosting an independent event on campus, or inviting pre-screened candidates to a private session.
What’s the best way to go about an info session? Here are some tips:
Who: Potential applicants + Expectations
Research the majors available at the target university and decide whether their coursework and typical skills set match your needs. Google recently came to recruit our CIS students, citing our coursework in Network Infrastructure and Databases as competencies which they are looking to train up through their IT Residency Program. Similarly, American Express recruits heavily from both ASU’s CIS and CSE program, and has therefore been taking great pains to encourage joint events between the business and engineering schools.
But don’t just look at what the students can do for you! Ask about what kinds of positions these students are expecting to receive! CIS students at ASU expect more than a help desk position. While a representative proportion of our students are very technical, indeed, we are business students first and foremost, and we intend to use our skills in both business and technology. Don’t makes us throw out half of our degree just so you can fit us into your mold. We picked CIS to avoid sitting in a cube coding away. Most of us like to code, but we also demonstrate people skills. Use them.
What: Information + Food!
Information- Students who may have never given a thought to working for your company will show up to your general and student org information sessions. Tell students who you are, what your company does, why a student should want to work for you, where your career opportunities are located, and how a student can apply.
Things we don’t need to hear:
Don’t drone on and on about how interns won’t just be getting coffee and stapling papers. We got it, we know that. DISC doesn’t even allow companies like that in the door.
Your company’s entire history. We have this amazing technology called the internet, wherein Wikipedia is all knowing. If the history is relevant, such as when American Express explains how they have a history of innovation in from traveler’s checks to working with mobile technologies, then include it! If you have no idea why you’re telling us– don’t.
Things we want to hear:
How you would describe your company culture.
How competitive your salaries are.
What kind of interviews you conduct (behavioral, conversational, technical, case, team).
What traits you are looking for in a candidate.
Minimum qualifications (year in school, gpa, major, experience, etc).
Timeline for application process (due dates, first round, second round, decisions, mixers, other information sessions).
Food- We like to call ourselves “poor college students” for a reason. If you ask us to take the time out of our schedule to listen to your presentation session, please bear in mind that we don’t listen very well when our stomachs are growling. For DISC, we ask that company presenters subsidize dinner for the evening, as our meetings run rather long and straight through dinner hour. This holds true for any event, however, as you will find students wandering in the moment they hear “free food!”
Where: On Campus + Travel Arrangements
On campus events are best when conducting general or student org information sessions. Contact the departments of the majors you are looking ot recruit from and ask where the most convenient venue is for these students. At ASU, the Brickyard is for Engineering majors while the Business Administration or Memorial Union are most convenient for business students. If you want both groups, try to select a location common to both, like the Memorial Union. I’m afraid we aren’t familiar with each other’s buildings, nor do we have parking passes for those parking structures.
If you are hosting an information session for pre-selected candidates and want to do so off-campus, make sure it’s easily accessible or arrange for transportation for the candidates. For instance, mixers should be no more than three blocks off campus, or transportation should be reimbursed. Many companies fly second-round candidates to their home offices for both interviews and information sesson and pay for all travel costs.
When: When convenient
For recruiters from out-of-state, it makes sense to host information sessions within the same week of the career fair or other engagement the company is already set to attend. But be mindful that students have their own schedules too, including which days they tend to be on campus and which days they work off campus. For CIS students, Tuesday/Thursday evenings are the best bet for catching students at a convenient time. CSE students host their club meetings on Wednesdays. We often clear our schedules with these meetings in mind.
Why: Something to Offer
Even if your company is not currently hiring, information sessions are powerful tools to get students thinking about a company as potential employers. The more involved a company is on campus, the more likely a student is to want to work for the company. Companies like Deloitte get involved in student enriching activities all the time, such as C2, our annual consulting conference. Our Public Advisory Board comes to ASU to let the department know what kinds of skills they are looking for in candidates, and we do our best to match our programs with those goals. Recently, DISC has been inviting guest lecturers to our meetings for Business Intelligence Analytics and Project Management. Other companies come in to speak about interviews, resumes, and dinner etiquette to better allow us to put our best foot forward.
How: Reach out!
Contact the university, department, or student organization you wish to work with to host an information session.
Keep In Mind
Just as presenters judge candidates on their behavior during a presentation and after, so do candidates judge potential employers on how they present and behave. Allowing representatives to flounder during a presentation or throwing a co-worder under-the-bus during the question and answer session reflects poorly on a company’s culture. Walking in unprepared can be just as deadly. Know your game plan. Be flexible, but know your game plan. You may never get a second chance to change a students’ impression of your company before the application process is over. The conversation can’t happen if you put people off of wanting to work for you.
Recruitment is a conversation.
11-15-2011
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Recruitment Faux Pas
This past summer, I had the opportunity to participate in Mock Interviews with GE Healthcare(GEHC). While this was indeed an event where I got to pretend I was interviewing for a position at GEHC, the Mock Interviews were not being hosted for the benefit of the interns. No, they were being hosted for the sake of the interviewers, looking to become campus recruiters. That’s not to say I didn’t learn something important from the Mock Interviews, however. In fact, I learned one very important lesson that I keep in mind every time I speak with a recruiter or act as a recruiter.
Recruitment is a conversation.
Often times, students attending career fairs will approach a recruiter and hand the recruiter a resume, expecting to either hear more about that company concerning the positions the student is interested in and perhaps a validation of whether or not the student would be a potential fit for that company based on his or her resume. At this point, the recruiter has several options:
- assume the student has no clue what the company does and regurgitate a rehearsed spiel about why a student might be interested in the company
- skim the resume and ask further questions about the student
- ask the student what questions he or she has for the recruiter
- suggest to the student how to apply online
Each of these responses are completely valid and correct in their own right. The only problem is determining when to use them and when to switch tactics.
Recruitment Faux Pas:
Scenario 1- Continue to speak about the company for longer than 30 seconds.
Just as business students are taught the 30-second elevator pitch, so should recruiters be aware that students have busy agendas, including the need to talk to several different company recruiters and attend classes, which in most cases, start 5 minutes after they reach the front of the line at a career fair. If a student wants to know more about your company, they can do their own research or ask you more specific questions. Spending an exorbitant amount of time lecturing on your company negates the conversation aspect of recruiting. If you never let the student tell you why you should hire them or ask you their burning question, the student will walk away somewhat frustrated, and you will have no clue whether the student’s resume should go in the Yes, No, or Maybe pile. Recruitment is a conversation.
Scenario 2- Ask the wrong questions (a.k.a. ask students to repeat information you can find on their resume)
Sure, “when do you graduate?” is a perfectly valid question when judging how to pitch your company’s career opportunities. But when you begin to ask “So what programming languages do you know?” when they are clearly listed in the Skills section of the resume, I have to ask if you’re asking the right question. Surely, when you ask about programming languages, you want to know if I’m any good at programming. You want to know what value I can add to the company, you want to know whether I ever did anything amazing with my programming skills or how long I have been using a particular language your company uses. You don’t want me to tell you the name of every programming language I have ever learned the syntax structure for. That’s a waste of your time. Before going out to recruit for specific functional areas or positions, take some time to understand what the ideal candidate looks like and how you will distinguish them from other candidates. How would you word the questions you intend to ask in order to coax that information out of a student? “Tell me about a project where you have used your <insert desired skill here>?” If you understand what traits or skills you are looking for in a student, the answers to these questions can be extremely revealing, from whether the student is well-prepared, a good communicator, or knowledgeable about the topic.
Scenario 3- Asking the student for questions without providing a framework of your own knowledge set
In cases where a recruiter has just given a presentation about their company and/or their experience with the company, asking a student outright for any questions they have for you when speaking with them one-on-one makes a great deal of sense. The student doesn’t need to hear an extra blurb about how great the company is, that’s been said and done. So you can reasonably assume they have approached you to ask a question or tell them why you should hire them. When meeting the student for the first time at a career fair, however, starting the conversation with “what questions do you have for me?” is a big mistake. By giving the student an opening to ask you anything about your company, you give them the opportunity to interrogate you on specific details you may not be knowledgeable about. I have heard students ask very specific questions about a company’s litigation suits or about disaster recovery plans, when the recruiter in question was simply a human resources employee. Allowing a student to do so puts you on the spot and under pressure. Sure, you can tell them that that is not your area of expertise after they have already asked, but then you steal the student’s only discussion opener. That is why you must provide a student with your background and a bit about the company’s opportunities in order to allow the student to formulate a more relevant question to which you do know the answer. If you still do not have the answer to the question, know who does or how to find that answer. Even better, follow-up with the student with that answer! Keep the conversation going!
Scenario 4- Tell the student how to apply online without telling them why they should do so
Students who wish to guarantee themselves employment in the near future understand that the more companies they apply for, the better their chances at finding a job. Students, however, also have school work, group projects, and other extra curriculars. In fact, the best candidates are also the busiest candidates. These students have companies vying for their attention! If you cannot explain to a student why he or she should spend an extra hour to fill out an application for your company, you may be actively throwing away your chances of getting that perfect candidate to pick your company. Remember, if you do not take the time to have a conversation with the student, the student may not feel compelled to initiate the conversation.
Overall, recruitment is about communication. You’re looking for that skill in a candidate, but remember, students have their own agendas as well. If you can’t communicate well with them, you might find yourself in the “No” pile!