As the world of student recruitment continues to expand, so do the offerings for ways to connect with students.
Perhaps most notably are the many offerings of various ed tech companies, with Keystone Academic Solutions being one of them. Gone are the days of university staff spending countless hours sorting through inbound inquiries, following up on leads, or chasing down students. Now, there’s tech for that. However, despite the many benefits of tech when it comes to recruitment, it can still feel a bit daunting for some. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to. Here’s how tech can recruit harder, and help transform “I’m not sure,” into “I can’t wait to attend your school.”
Related:
- How is technology impacting student learning?
What can tech do for you?
Tech is a tool that can be harnessed to help you make the most of your time when it comes to recruitment. As most admissions teams are currently operating at capacity, schools are looking for “quality not quantity” when it comes to applicants. Therefore, tech can help you sort through qualified candidates to find those who are going to be more likely to be the right fit for your institution. In short, tech ensures schools spend less time by narrowing down their needs, wants, and helping them find the right fits for students.
What services are out there?
While education technology companies originally started out to provide services to help integrate technology into classrooms for increased outcomes for students and educators, the landscape has shifted. Now, many tech companies also provide customized solutions for many universities’ technology needs, from transitioning in person learning to online platforms, converting coursework, marketing strategies, and recruitment solutions.
Companies like Keystone Academic Solutions have risen to the challenge of helping universities navigate the rapidly changing educational experience for students, and universities. As more universities are seeing an increased demand on time for their staff, tech can provide some much needed respite, and free up hours. Additionally, tech also offers access to data that can help inform recruitment decisions without putting the onus on the institution to come up with it themselves.
Some of the services schools can select include higher education marketing, student lead generation, student recruitment, as well as CRM and Marketing Automation software. These services can help institutions stay more organized, manage workflow, and ensure student leads are followed up on. Some companies, such as Keystone, also offer more specific services. For example, Keystone also offers sports and student athlete placements.
How the services are delivered
Once they’ve identified their needs, universities can schedule meetings or calls with their chosen tech company to determine if they’ll be a good fit, and provide the services they need to be successful. These services are delivered by the company, and are designed to help alleviate the work burden placed upon university employees, while improving data driven outcomes.
Services are generally provided in a bundle, or in some instances can be purchased a la carte. When unbundled, this allows the university to pick and choose which aspects of a service they feel will work best for them. Therefore, this can allow universities to utilize tech to focus on areas they want to really excel at, such as recruitment. Rather than chasing leads that won’t go anywhere, staff can spend time cultivating relationships with students who are going to attend their school.
How can tech help recruit
In a time where students have increasing options, it’s important for universities to stay ahead of the game, and be constantly innovating. This is where tech can help increase the recruitment process. Anne-Marie Canning, director of social mobility and student success at King’s College London, is a huge proponent of utilizing tech to help narrow the margin for human error, and increase recruitment outcomes. Of using tech, Ms. Canning said, “Gaps exist in all shapes, sizes and forms, in education and labour markets...Universities can’t solve these on their own, [they] need major innovators and employers to think about how they recruit and to understand talent and its potential...You have to know how to look beyond the usual suspects in terms of recruitment practices – particularly in technology, where we know that diversity is critical for creating innovation.”
This is where tech comes in. Rather than relying on human labor to sort through data, and draw conclusions for moving forward, tech can provide the solutions. Keystone Student Recruit will do the work for you, but taking over the calling and emailing of student leads. While only 11% of schools are actively calling leads, 85% said they wished they could, but didn’t have the time. Therefore, by sharing the workload with a tech company, important connections, and ultimately leads, won’t be dropped. Students will feel more connected to the university, and have their inquiries responded to in a timely fashion. After the application process is completed, the information will be handed over to the university to continue onboarding the committed student. By incorporating the use of tech in recruitment, universities can spend less time chasing after leads that won’t amount to a commitment, and spend more time cultivating leads that will ultimately end up attending their university.
While some may feel wary about the use of technology and artificial intelligence in the recruitment process, when used in partnership with human judgment, the outcomes can be beneficial for all. Tech can be utilized to help connect students with the right programs, as well as ensure they’re being matched with universities that fit their needs, skill sets, and will be more likely to accept them. This means students will not only feel a stronger sense of satisfaction when it comes to making their commitment to their school, they’re also more likely to stay committed. Staff will also feel less stressed, as they won’t be counted upon to continue filling in the gaps the tech can handle more efficiently.
Technology serves as a useful tool for higher education institutions. Through the use of tech, universities can sort through leads, identify, and cultivate the ones who are most likely going to be turned into commitments. As a result, they will save time, money, and resources that might have otherwise been spent chasing down leads that would ultimately have been a dead end. Decisions about recruitment, data management, as well as gathering data will no longer have to be managed in house. Rather, this data can be presented in a way that helps schools make more informed decisions that increases their chances of capturing a student’s attention, and keeping it.
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