Is campus recruitment still effective?

We hire a lot of people using social media and sometimes, print media depending on the position that we’d like to hire. Unfortunately, we don’t get many qualified applicants from those channels. Can we do campus recruitment instead? – Wind Flow.

There are many possible approaches to advertising job vacancies. We don’t want to exclude one in favor of another. Every approach is useful, including a referral program where you pay current employees a bonus if their recommended candidates are hired.

Much depends on the organization’s size, the significance of vacant posts, the urgency, budget limits, and media channels. Everything is useful as long as they are easy, cheap, and fast.

Prudence dictates that we not discount the other approaches, like campus recruitment. First and foremost, you must understand the objective. College recruitment is suitable only for finding entry-level candidates. You don’t hire fresh graduates to fill jobs that require years of experience.

If you intend to hire people with unique talent, or are looking for line supervisors or managers, try other solutions like job ads, in addition to your announcements on social media. But a holistic approach would require that you start with considering promotions from within.

That means giving priority to your current employees for promotion, if they’re qualified. Start by announcing the vacancies through company bulletin boards and intranet. To avoid any issues when hiring internal candidates, you should spell out in advance the job specifications, performance standards, and qualifications required of applicants.

If you’re successful in promoting someone from within the organization, the entry-level or junior posts should be easy to fill from the pool of fresh college graduates.

CAMPUS RECRUITMENT
We do college recruitment for entry-level positions, on-the-job training, and other roles that require basic knowledge, like those in information technology, mass media, accountancy, and many more.

One caveat though. If you focus on recruiting from prestigious universities, prepare to compete for applicants with major organizations. That could happen if you as a potential employer don’t possess the brand or image that people want. You must also manage the preferences of their parents.

This may not be obvious at first glance, but given the fact that social media is all around us, there’s a chance that your organization may have received negative comments from job applicants, even disgruntled employees who may have resigned out of frustration.

Aside from campus recruitment, there are many approaches you can take in hiring entry-level candidates. These include:

One, job and career festivals. Usually, these are organized by the Department of Labor and Employment during Labor Day celebrations in May. There are also occasional job fairs organized by local government units in partnership with manpower agencies and consumer goods companies.

Two, campus visits. You must be in touch with alumni associations to improve your organization’s chances of being invited to campus job fairs. Arrange for an attractive booth and marketing peripherals to catch the eye during fairs.

Three, apprenticeship programs. Many companies use this program to provide structured training and employment platform for young individuals, including graduating students, to learn a trade or profession through a combination of on-the-job experience and related instruction.

Four, social media. Employers use Facebook and other social media platforms to connect with students for possible employment opportunities. They also use the same platform to improve the company’s image by publishing employee activities and milestones.

MANPOWER AGENCIES
Some organizations rely on hiring from employment agencies or labor cooperatives. It’s advisable to do this for temporary workers to fill positions when regular employees are on maternity leave, prolonged sick leave, or sabbaticals.

It’s an excellent avenue for filling seasonal needs for manpower services. However, the qualifications and experience of such hires can be uneven. If so, it’s easy to find replacements without violating the Labor Code.

I’ve seen and interacted with a lot of working students. Many of them are temps at major firms and business processing organizations. They are a different breed. If you have the chance to hire them for regular, entry-level jobs, you don’t need graduates from prestigious universities. They’re a lot better, with none of the arrogance.

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