Recruiting 2.0

Over the past few years 2.0's or new, evolved ways of doing things. One of the more recent 2.0's is recruiting 2.0. This term was first coined by Brian Niles.

Brian Niles, chief executive officer of the interactive recruiting firm TargetX and a former university admissions officer, said such efforts indicate that schools are trying new strategies in their efforts to attract students.
The current group of college-bound students, part of the millennial generation born after 1981, is different from their predecessors in the way they respond to information, Niles said. "These teenagers are much more interactive," he explained. "They want to converse with colleges, not be marketed to. They want to be able to ask questions and comment on what they see and hear. They demand the unvarnished truth and are extremely resistant to hype and advertising speak."

Niles added: "I call this new environment Recruiting 2.0. You can no longer talk at students through publications, direct mail, static web sites, and eMail broadcasts. You have to open a dialog with them."

The fact that recruiting 2.0 has come os quite obvious. However, a majority of colleges and universities out there have not evolved with the students that they are trying to recruit. Sending generic pamphlets is a thing of the past. In todays world a generic printed pamphlet of information will hit the garbage before even being opened.

In today's world the expectations are higher. Prospective students do not want to hear why your school is a great school, they want to know why it fits them personally. Many schools are creating web applications like interactive questionaires. These questionaires then match the traits of the student with traits of their university.

There are also many schools that host chat sessions and video conferences online, where students are able to ask them questions and be provided with immediate and personal answers.

Currently, if you have not fully adopted recruiting 2.0 you can still get by and attract students to your school, however, I predict that in the not so distant future, if you have not fully integrated recruiting 2.0, your institution will struggle to survive.