GUIDE. University Career Fairs A Guide for Employers

Transcription

1 GUIDE University Career Fairs A Guide for Employers

2 Planning for the Career Fair Clarify your graduate recruitment strategy Determine which departments and positions in your company you wish to hire graduates for. Define your target graduate profile including subject of education, personality attributes and any soft skills required. Identify your company s key selling points (value proposition) for graduates including training offered, compensation, responsibilities and expected career progression. Based on your target profile and resources, select which initiatives you wish to use for communicating your message to graduates e.g. internships, career fairs, university presentations, and student competitions. Develop your strategy for the career fair Choose your target universities, based on factors such as: Degree subjects covered University s profile and caliber of students Your past successes in graduate recruitment Determine your objectives from participation and how the career fair fits in your overall graduate recruitment: Branding: Promoting your company as an employer of choice Sourcing: Collecting CVs from students or getting them to send their CV by or online Screening: Reviewing CVs, interviewing and short listing suitable candidates on the spot Choose which other activities may be suitable to perform alongside your attendance at the career fair e.g. sponsoring the career fair or running a presentation about your company. Communicate with the career fair organizers Get a good understanding of the venue and facilities available, and communicate to the organizers any special requirements you may have (e.g. meeting room for interviews). If it is the first time you are recruiting from a particular university, get the organizers advice on how you can make the most of their event. Ask if there are student volunteers who can be assigned to your company, to help your team get set up and deal with any issues during the event. 1

3 Optimise your marketing material Make sure your brochure or flyer for the event clearly communicate the following: Your company profile Available graduate vacancies Key attractions (e.g. training, compensation & benefits, etc.) Application process If you wish to offer free gifts or give aways to students visiting your stand, try to make them creative so they are memorable, or something useful that they will keep. Choose the staff to attend the career fair Decide the number of staff you need to represent you at the event, based on the size of your stand and expected volume of student visitors. Staff members you select to represent your company at the event should have excellent oral communication skills, and should include a mix of HR and non HR staff. Your non HR representatives at the event can include the following groups. Each of these make a different kind of connection with the students: Recent graduate hires Alumni: Employees who graduated from the same university Nationals: Staff from the same nationality as those you are targeting Senior managers: These inspire students on what they can grow into Unless you are attending a male only or female only event, try to have staff of both genders represented in your stand. Prepare your staff for the career fair Brief your team on your facts and key messages for graduates, including: Your company profile, products and services Your available internships and full time vacancies Required student profiles for each vacancy Learning and training opportunities for graduate hires Typical compensation package for a fresh graduate Application process Typical student questions in past events, and suitable answers (FAQ) If possible, prepare summarized handouts of the above points so your team can read and familiarize themselves with them. 2

4 Managing your presence at the Career Fair Be approachable Arrive at the venue well before the event start time, to ensure your stand is set up and you are not distracted when the students arrive. Many students can be nervous about approaching an employer. Don t sit back at your stand. Try to be standing and making eye contact, so they feel welcome to approach and engage with you. Where possible, proactively start a friendly conversation with the students. After greetings, you can start by asking questions such as: What are you studying? What kind of career are you looking for? Are you interested in a career in finance? Have you heard about ABC Holding? Make sure the stand is always staffed and try not to leave the event before the end. An empty stand may leave a negative impression. If the event you are attending is outside your home country, try to understand and be sensitive to the cultural and professional norms of the host country for example, in greetings between men and women. Make conversations productive Try to talk to as many students as possible. Be conscious of one student taking too much of your time, leaving no opportunity for others. Explain your company s attractions e.g. learning opportunities, training, career development, and compensation and benefits. Make it a conversation rather than a one way speech. Ask questions and give them the opportunity to ask questions. Make it clear how they should apply for your vacancies. After each conversation, give out your graduate recruitment brochure to the student. Don t use the brochure as a substitute for conversation. If possible, refer students to other relevant colleagues at the stand e.g. from the department they are interested in or alumni of the same university. If you are collecting CVs, group them in different folders according to their required next steps. If possible, put brief comments on CVs to remind you of your conversations. 3

5 Things to do after the Career Fair Follow up with candidates Make sure all student applications and enquiries get responded to. If you have too many applications to deal with individually, prepare and send template acknowledgment s to them, with contact details if they wish to follow up further. Review applications and shortlist suitable candidates as quickly as possible. Good graduates get multiple offers and employers who take too long in making a decision are less likely to get their offers accepted. Follow up with the university If possible, ask the university for a CD of all student CVs. Universities are keen to know the results of their events. It would be good if you could inform them of any successful student hires. Get feedback from your team Gather feedback from your team about each career fair, including: Students feedback and reactions Effectiveness of your career fair plan Suggested changes for the future Best practice learnings from other companies Document key findings and agreed changes in your career fair strategy. Measure performance of each event Record and track performance metrics for each event, including: Number of applications received Number of students interviewed Number of offers made Number of successful hires Measure the time and budget spent for each career fair. Compare the efficiency of different events to decide your company s future participation in them. 4

6 About this Guide This guide has been compiled by GulfTalent, to help employers make the most of university career fairs for their graduate recruitment. The contents of the guide are based on interviews with a number of leading graduate recruiters in the Gulf region, conversations with students who have attended career fairs, feedback from university career services, as well as GulfTalent s own experience of recruiting at university career fairs across ten different countries. GulfTalent is the leading online recruitment firm in the Middle East. With over 2.5 million registered candidates, it serves as the primary source of both local and expatriate talent to over 4,000 employers and recruitment agencies across the region. Headquartered in Dubai, GulfTalent covers the markets of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. Feedback, comments and queries regarding this guide can be sent to: research@gulftalent.com Telephone: Fax: Website: GulfTalent All rights reserved. 5