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Tag: Student Jobs (page 5 of 5)

Campus Recruiting Forum- Observations from a great day

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being a presenter at the Waterloo Campus Recruiting Forum, run by Graham Donald of Brainstorm Consulting.

We started the day with a presentation by Graham Donald himself, which provided an interesting overview of the current Campus Recruitment ‘market’ including high-level results of the From Learning to Work survey that Graham, along with DECODE recently published.

The audience (Campus Recruiters from various well-known companies) also shared their challenges, ranging from how to keep up an employer brand when there are no jobs available, how to deal with lower recruitment budgets, how to fill the pipeline given the conflicting economic forces of the times (massive retirement coming up, recession).

In terms of results from From Learning to Work, some of the most interesting were:

  • 54% of students would like to find an organization to spend their whole career.
  • Students want to be dedicated to a casuse and feel that they’re serving a greater good
  • Students care a lot about a progressive working environment, high ethical standards, and a selection of other non-tangible qualities.

Before presenting our panel on ‘Recruiting Outside the Lines’, I had a chance to also attend panels from TMP, CareerJoy, as well as a panel of current students.

The panel of students was possibly the highlight of the day. For both the content as well as the fact that when asked what they do to find jobs for after graduation, one students said she uses TalentEgg! This, of course, made my day.

Apart from making my day, the student panel shared information on what they think of info sessions, company gifts, etc. I found it all to be interesting but at the same time was very aware that these students represented ‘typical’ ‘top’ students. I.e. They were chosen by career centre staff, meaning that they were students who used their campus career centre to the point that they had developed relationships with their advisors and where their advisors felt they should be chosen to speak. I also thought that the students were sharing their opinions (i.e. ‘We think companies who advertise on Facebook are unprofessional’) rather than their actions.

It would have been more valuable to get more personal answers from the panel. For example, instead of ‘What do students think of Info Sessions? How do we attract them to our Info Sessions?’, it may have been more valuable to ask ‘What Info Sessions have YOU attended in the past and were there any non-traditional incentives associated with attending?’.

And in the case of Facebook, statistics speak louder than opinion.

Our presentation was the last of the day. It was a panel comprised of myself, Cathy Chin of I Love Rewards, and Keturah Leonforde of the WLU Campus Career Centre. We intended to speak on the value of Arts degrees but instead mostly addressed some of the buzz topics of the day, such as the Economy, the Facebook issue, and how to tie everything together.

Overall, a fantastic day. I learned a ton and got to meet some great people. Some TalentEgg employers were even in attendence, and it was great to get a chance to ‘socialize’ with the great people from Winners, Reynolds & Reynolds, Kraft, SunLife and more.

I also have to say that the staff from the WLU Career Centre were extremely nice and the facilities were incredible.

We're Learning a lot about Sales

Another post, another lame title. I’m going to have to get better at this.

We’ve recently had the pleasure of receiving some feedback from someone who found a fantastic entry level role through TalentEgg.ca.

Matt Faust recently started working at EF Tours and things seem to be going very well! It turns out that Matt went through a bit of soul searching before landing at EF Tours, and he very kindly agreed to write about his experience for our Learn section.

Here is a brief excerpt:

“I had graduated from Dalhousie University in 2006 with a degree in International Development Studies and as soon as I got home, I began looking for a job. I wanted a job that would draw on not only my academic accomplishments, but my extra curricular ones as well….When I returned from university, I started working at a restaurant.”

You can read the rest of the article here.

If you’d like to contribute a story to the Learn section, let us know!

Employers and students: Not N'Sync

Yes, this is quite possibly the corniest blog title…ever…But never mind that!

A few observations on the disconnect between employers and students in Canada:

In our day-to-day dealing with employers and students, we’ve had the opportunity to pick up on a lot of trends in the entry-level recruitment market.

One that particularly stands out, and that has been coming up a lot lately is the fact that many big-brand employers do their campus recruiting in September for new-grad roles.

I’ve come to understand the reasoning behind it: Whoever’s first to campus gets the best candidates. If you wait too long, all the ‘top’ people are already recruited.

The problem is, the majority of students spend September registering for classes, gathering books, settling into their homes and social lives, joining clubs, trying out for sports teams, etc. For most, September is not the time to think about careers. Actually, scratch that. Most ‘involved’, well-rounded students are not thinking about careers in September.

So this is my conclusion:

For employers searching for students with top grades, or students who put career ahead of all other on-campus events, or students in particular programs where professors and career advisors make sure to alert students to Employers’ September time lines (i.e. accounting programs), September is probably the best time to get on campus and collect those applications.

But if you’re an employer that wants to work with students on THEIR schedules, and perhaps an employer who values extra curriculars over grades, then it might make sense to have a more balanced, full-year plan.

On top of accommodating busy students with conflicting schedules, this method has a few extra benefits:

  • It allows employers to take the time to consider additional aspects of a candidate’s potential fit,
  • It allows for more time to brand your opportunities- stand out from the rest.

Most importantly: Because Oct-Dec and Feb-April are much quieter on campus, it means there’s a chance to find the ‘hidden’ talent and to speak with that talent without all the ‘noise’ that comes with the busy September and January recruiting season.

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