recruitment is not a four letter word

Recruitment is not a four-letter word

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

2:00 – 3:15 PM

Text 33233 - copelandrecruit

Tim Copeland

DemandEngine

2014 CALEM, All Rights Reserved.1

It is a gross understatement to say that your

May 29 invitation to the Georgia Conference

enraged me. As the President of a 112 year

old family-owned for-profit college, your

insulting comments in the email made me

see red.


2014 CALEM, All Rights Reserved. 4

“For profit colleges educate a significant number of students every

year, filling a void not met by the public and non-profits. We exist

because they don’t meet the needs of all students or they choose to

turn their back on those who are in need, but can’t throw a football or

shoot a basketball. As an industry, we graduate hundreds of

thousands annually. Our college has two campuses and an online

venue, but much of our growth comes from word of mouth –

graduates recommending us to family and friends.

If we were the “pushy for-profit college” you note in your email, with

loathsome tactics as you allude, we wouldn’t have thrived for over a

century. It’s important to point out that in a recent article about the

10 colleges with the worst graduation rates in the USA, none were for-

profit!”

Here’s the problem …


Agenda

1. Discuss five common

organizational models.

2. How important is

recruitment … really?

3. What steps can you take

to modify or strengthen

your efforts?


Five common models

1. Program coordination

2. One-stop shop

3. The outsourced call center

4. Recruitment team

5. Abyss


The Abyss …


The Pros/Cons of the Abyss

• Pros

“The nicest thing about

not planning is that

failure comes as a

complete surprise and

is not preceded by a

period of worry and

depression.”

John Preston, Boston College

• Cons

– Really?


The One-Stop Shop


The Pros/Cons of the One-Stop Shop

• Pros

– Brings all the

enrollment functions

into one place

• Cons

– More about moving

chairs than

reconfiguring how we

enroll students


The Program Coordination Model


The Pros/Cons of Program Coordination

• Pros

– Subject matter expert

– Close to faculty

– Close to students

• Cons

– This is rarely the case


The Outsourced Call Center


The Pros/Cons of the Outsourced Call Center

• Pros

– Solution!

– Structure

– Measurable

• Cons

– Aren’t we essentially

saying that we are not

good at talking with

our students?


The Recruitment team


The Pros/Cons of the Recruitment Team

• Pros

– It’s how we’ve

managed

undergraduate

recruitment … for a

long time.

– Dedicated staff

members with the right

skill sets

• Cons

– Most are made up of

recent college grads

– May not develop the

depth of knowledge

required


Agenda



2. How important is


3. What steps can you take

to modify or strengthen

your efforts?


What your students say …


Source: ALIM 2014 Survey Results

What customers say and do are often at odds


Customers insist

price and product

aspects were

dominant decision

factors …

Customers insist

price and product

aspects were

dominant decision

factors …

Yet upon

examination

product and service

knowledge and the

overall sales

experience were

actually important.

Yet upon

examination

product and service

knowledge and the

overall sales

experience were

actually important.

Buyers cite three practices as most damaging (64%): too much contact; Lack of

about products and competitors; and lack of knowledge about usefulness of

product.

Source: Mckinsey & Company survey of 1,200 purchasing managers in the US and Western

Europe. 2010.

Are you getting the basics right?

• Your front line is a critical player in the pre-enrollment process

• Students want to be contacted …

• Staff should know the programs

• Students need information on how the program will help them

achieve their goals and improve their situation

• While price is often the objection, a satisfying experience is

ultimately more important.


Agenda



2. How important is


3. What steps can you

take to modify or

strengthen your

efforts?


How do we move beyond

random acts of recruitment?


Step 1: Value it

• Change our mindset from

visions of being pushy to “how

can we help students make

decisions?”

• Test out your own experience

• Build the business case and

fund it


Step 2: Organize it

• Dedicate staff for follow-up

– Manager, recruiters

• Establish goals

• Make it a part of marketing, not program

coordination or registration

• Think Levels 1, 2, and 3

– Level 1 – Basic info, start dates,

program requirements

– Level 2 – Career goals, choosing the

right program, why your institution

– Level 3 – Subject matter experts,

faculty “closers”


Step 3: Train for it – Program Enrollment Profile


Anticipate Questions


Step 4: Support it

• CRM software

– Manage contacts

– Track interactions

– Create “cases”

– Monitor activity


Step 5: Measure it

• Metrics

– Monitor contact activity versus

goals

– Measure pipeline velocity by staff

member

• Tie activity back to the pipeline

• Use your conversation plan to time

phone call follow-up

• Run mini-campaigns as necessary to

drive metrics


Summary

1) Value it

2) Organize it

3) Train for it

4) Support it

5) Train for it


Evaluations

Text


Tim Copeland

CEO

DemandEngine

[email protected]

912-354-8007, ext 725

recruitment is not a four letter word

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