Posted by Emma on 6 Sep 2023
Welcome to September!
It’s the start of the Pumpkin Spiced Latte season, but most importantly the start of attraction campaigns and application windows opening for students.
Our recent LinkedIn poll told us that 35% of you are feeling fully ready for the new attraction season and about 65% are still planning.
So, we thought we would give you a hand in ticking some bits off your list and getting ready to ace the new season.
Think about your key goals and make sure that different elements of your attraction campaign are meeting them.
It’s often better to have specialist initiatives for goals such as DEI or specific target areas than taking a mass approach.
For example, if one of your goals is to increase brand awareness but another goal is regional recruitment, you will need to consider different approaches for each goal and know where to prioritise your time.
Think about how a digital campaign can support your brand awareness and invest your face to face activity at the localised priority areas.
Perhaps you’ve signed up with your suppliers and partners already or are in the process of confirming them. Great stuff.
As the busy period gets into full swing, make sure to lean on them to support you for stats and reporting. This will enable you to adjust the campaigns throughout the season to ensure you’re achieving maximum results. Keep them in the loop and ensure you are communicating how they can support you - they will be super happy to help.
Our recent student survey to over 2,000 students told us that the top motivator when deciding if to submit an application or not is salary. Being transparent on this can ensure students know this upfront and can decide whether or not to apply.
Students have told us that they have felt ghosted by employers and have also ghosted employers back!
If you are not able to provide feedback quickly, can you send an automated email update or host a drop in session about common application mistakes to give a sense of feedback even if it needs to be on a mass scale?
Also if you are running events or activities, ensure you are signing students up. It’s an efficient way to look at the ROI from your initiatives and will help you to keep in touch with ease.
If you need support on how to do this, we are happy to help and have a platform that makes the process very simple. Learn more here.
While some employers open for their apprenticeship campaigns alongside their graduate/undergraduate recruitment cycle, many don’t.
Apprenticeship recruitment often takes longer as there is so much choice and misconceptions still. This means it is a good idea to have longer campaigns for this market and build an annual presence.
Is now a good time to mention RateMyApprenticeship.co.uk…..
I know, I know we are talking about Autumn here - give you a chance, right?! Hate to break it to you but lots of employers are already thinking and planning their spring time activity.
Perhaps spring is more of a focus on harder to fill roles, early engagement or boosting your employer brand for rankings such as Times Top 100?
Either way, it is a good idea to start thinking about this in the Autumn term so you can have all your plans in place live and ready to go after a well deserved festive break.
Cheers to a fab new season, you got this.