Connect with students via email after campus recruitment season for deeper engagement

For many employers, September was a blur of information sessions, career fairs and on-campus interviews.

You’ve made dozens of new connections, and encouraged students to check out your career website and apply for open positions, but the relationship doesn’t have to end there.

One of students’ biggest concerns with career fairs and information sessions is that they are told to check out the company website for more information. However, sending a follow-up email is an effective way of re-engaging students after an information session or career fair, or after they’ve applied via your applicant tracking system. Email is a great way to remind information session attendees and job applicants of where to find online resources to help them during the hiring process.

Whether you send a basic text email or a fully-branded and professionally designed marketing email, the key to engaging with students is the content.

Here are a few tips for crafting your post-campus recruitment season emails to students:

Re-connect students with your company

Remind students about your organization’s online career resources: your company website, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It’s where they can find out more about your company, history, cultural values and more. They can dig deeper to determine if the company will be the right fit for them or do research to prepare for their interview.

Tip: Be specific. How will visiting your website or connecting with you on a social network benefit them?

Be concise

With email marketing, short and sweet is usually best. Develop an idea of the key points you want to communicate and create a message that will entice students to connect with your company further. You don’t have to tell them everything about your company or career opportunities in one email – that’s why you’re directing them to your existing career resources.

Invite students to ask you questions

Students will follow you online, but they may be intimidated to ask questions and connect with you directly. Invite them to contact you with their questions on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, and provide prompt, personalized answers whenever possible.

Tip: Cross-post questions and answers to each of the different social networks to maximize your reach and save time.

Link to relevant company blog posts and FAQs

Your FAQs or campus blogs offer great insight for potential applicants, but they may be buried deep within your careers page because they’re not relevant to all candidates. In your email to students, you can highlight them front and center! Link to specific topics where you find students’ awareness to be particularly lacking.

Include an image that links to video content

If you have video content specifically for students, this is an appropriate time to share it. You can’t embed video directly into an email, so use a small still image from the video and include a short text description about what they can expect if they click through to watch it.

Discussion: Does your organization follow up with students near the end of or after campus recruitment season? What are your best practices for emailing students?