How to Create a Successful College Recruiting Program – Define/Refine Program Targets (Part 6 of 14)

The purpose of this series of CollegeRecruiter.com Blog entries is to define and describe the basic steps to create a successful college recruiting program. In the first entry, we defined success and laid out the steps to the program. In this sixth entry, we’ll discuss how and why you should define and refine your on-campus recruiting program targets.

Now that you have assessed internal and external factors which may affect your program, evaluated your recruiting program performance, described and identified your target audience, and figured out what schools to target, it is time to decide how you will determine your college recruiting program success. What targets will you set for your company?

As mentioned in the Introduction, the recruiting managers interviewed mentioned targets in the form of metrics as follows:

1. Number of students/interns. It is also possible to break this particular number into number of students/interns per school.
2. Costs per hire.
3. Retention rate of prior recruits, rate of promotion to next level.

These measurable targets are based on factors assessed previously and budgetary figures.
In addition to targets which can be precisely measured, less-tangible targets can be set. For example, Marie Artim of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, describes another important way to determine college recruiting program success — program recognition and accolades. Enterprise’s program is highly recognized industry-wide by NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) and is cited in the Princeton Review’s annual book, Best Entry-Level Jobs.
Another example of determining program success was described by Allison Nicholas of Acxiom Corporation — “you know your program is doing well when hiring managers ask for college recruits to fill their open positions.”