Description:

For the past 15 years, university recruiting teams have slowly integrated virtual formats into their recruiting strategies. Then COVID-19 hit, and suddenly, the gradual, piecemeal approach to virtual engagement was no longer an option. Disruptions due to COVID-19 required rapid innovations from career services and university recruiting teams. Now, the key task is deciphering which COVID-19 innovations are worth keeping as students and staff return to on-campus life. Since the start of the pandemic, Ivy Research Council (IRC), has closely tracked experiments in and learnings from virtual recruiting. In this talk, we will highlight a handful of salient takeaways from across dozens of IRC’s research reports, including input from 4,000+ students and 200+ employers. Of note, this talk will showcase in-depth, qualitative data from IRC’s Fall 2020 Mapping the Student Journey Study, a weekly diary study that tracked a cohort of students throughout the fall recruiting cycle. It will then overview quantitative insights on the challenges and opportunities in virtual career fairs based on IRC’s surveys of career fair attendees at 16 virtual career fairs at eight universities. Finally, this talk will situate these findings in an equity lens, examining how virtual environments have differential impacts on students. Attendees will leave this talk with a greater understanding of the challenges students and employers face during virtual recruiting, the opportunities and challenges that exist in virtual career fairs, and the equity concerns present in a virtual environment.

Audience:

University Relations & Recruiting

Level:

Intermediate

Track:

Sourcing, Recruiting & Talent Acquisition

Type:

Traditional

Main Speaker:

Chelsea Schein, Ivy Research Council

Additional Speakers: