What is a recruitment strategy? What is a Campus Recruitment program? By definition strategy is a plan of action to achieve a major goal. So then your recruitment strategy is your plan of action to hire for that job opening in your company.
One plan of action can be through a Campus Recruitment Program. In simpler terms a reoccurring co-op program where you have a new co-op student every 1-2 months, which is the typical length of a co-op term at your local college or university.
When would a strategy like this make sense for you? You could be a small business where you might not be able to hire a permanent position but you need to have someone in place to pick up the work that you can’t take on yourself. For instance, if you need help with a special project then a co-op student is a great resource. They help you to complete a short-term task that doesn’t warrant you hiring someone for that role, because it would be hard to fill an opening that only lasts 1-2 months.
In addition, a co-op position by nature only lasts 1-2 months because the student is still completing their studies, so their availability is for a short time. It’s cost effective for you, because the cost of co-op student’s pay rate is lower than a full time permanent employee. There is also a government of Ontario Co-Op education tax credit that reimburses employers’ expenses incurred (for more information http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/bulletins/ct/4014.html or https://navigator.wlu.ca/co-op/employers/why-laurier/tax-credit.htm).
For the student it’s an opportunity for them to gain “real world” work experience to put on their resume. From a business owner’s perspective you can also start to position yourself as an employer of choice if there is a specific school that has a particular program that fits with roles you will have open down the road. What better chance to reduce your time to fill a role by already having a captive audience in those graduating students who have already worked for your company and know your processes, company, & products/services!
A client of ours used a Campus Recruitment Program to do just that. They had an entry level role within their department that constantly had high turnover, so they were constantly hiring for this one particular role. We suggested that they target a specific university that had a program that would give the students the skills needed for the role. We set up this reoccurring co-op role for 4 terms so every 3 months we were hiring for the co-op term. By the second term we had worked out the kinks of the process so we had a smooth and efficient hiring machine.
During the times when we were filling the co-op terms, we also attended events at the university to target the graduating students for the upcoming year. We were promoting the company as an employer of choice to those students because we had previous co-op students give us testimonials of what it was like to work at our company, thus making us an attractive company for those graduating students to think of applying to when they start looking for full time work. A win, win situation for all: the company, their employer brand, and the students!
Thinking of using Campus Recruitment as a hiring strategy for your business? Instead of going straight to Google to start looking for local schools and what co-op programs they offer, MKS HR did all that work for you! Here is a local GTA Campus Recruitment Guide to colleges or universities, specific co-op programs, and most importantly contact information!
To download your free GTA Campus Recruitment Guide click here!
Thinking about setting up your own Campus Recruitment Program? Contact Us to book a complimentary Discovery Call & let’s talk more!