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.

Printing is no longer necessary...

Several years ago the University of Wisconsin started sending out informational dvds, they gave students a video tour of the campus and showed interviews with current students.  That year their orientation for new students was more full than it had ever been.

They were an early adopter.  They were the first to realize that multi-media was much more effective in recruiting young people than old style printed pamphlets.  They also realized that in the end the cost to mass produce a dvd, was far less than the cost of printing all of their material on paper.

The use of multi-media for recruiting is not being used by most Universities.  However, sending physical copies of dvds in the mail is now becoming a thing of the past.  Schools have now realized that they do not have to pay to distribute their media.

Now there is www.youtube.com/edu and while many Universities have begun to take part in this online community.  However many schools including the University of Montana have not adopted this highly effective technology.

Eventually I am sure that all schools will take part in this and youtube.com/edu will be a major factor in students choosing colleges.

Real time means realtime...

It is no longer ok to lag behind in communications. People want updates immediately, they want them on the fly. Twitter is a new servic, which is skyrocketing to be one of the most popular internet sites, that allows people and organizations to give real time updates seen by all of their "followers". Colleges have not been slow to jump onto this trend and are now using twitter as a recruiting device, and giving potential students regular updates.
Some notable Universities with twitter accounts are; Harvard, Hofstra, Johns Hopkins University, Marquette University, and Penn State University.

Another way that Universities are mobving towards real time recruiting is subscribing to text messaging services like clubtexting.com, where they can have potential students sign up for text message updates. The time of waiting to check emails is no more. SMS or "text messages" over cell phones are one of the most widely used communication with over 75 billion texts per month and that number increasing 250% per year.

The University of Michigan has a service that students can sign up for in order to receive updates on important dates and deadlines for the application process. They are an early adopter to a trend that I believe we will see more and more consistently. A bulk sms messaging service is extremely cheap and the realtime information that an organization will be able to deliver is easily worth the cost.

Most times being on the cutting edge will cost you top dollar, however not in this case...

In today's environment the competition for recruiting prospective students is becoming increasingly competitive. Universities have begun to utilize modern social technology in order to bring their recruiting to the next level. Harvard University has been on the cutting edge of this recruiting trend.

Harvard has been utilizing online social networks in order to recruit potential students. One example is their promotion of their new "2+2 Mba Program. In order to make the market aware of this program they have created a facebook page, a twitter account as well as created podcasts in order to keep their information accessible.

Harvard is able to draw people towards their information and stay current with these simple and easy to maintain technologies. They are at the cutting edge of recruiting. Typically being at the cutting edge usually means bearing a high cost. However all of these technologies are free to use and easy to maintain. They give Universities a direct link to their target markets. Researchers estimate that up to 65% of high school students, and 85% of college students have facebook accounts and twitter is rapidly expanding.

In today's age a brochure sent through the mail is no longer getting the job done. The younger generation needs to be convinced by multimedia and real time information. I am troubled by the fact that many Universities, including the University of Montana, are not utilizing this technology.

The benefits of using these tools are too many to count, and at the cost of next to nothing, there is little reason not to use them. Maintaining them could litterally be done by creating a student position for a few hours /week. My advice to UM and other Universities is to jump on board as soon as possible and begin creating an online presence as soon as possible; For all ofthe benefit that they bring, you really can't beat the price.

Exploring the use of technology by Colleges: The introduction

I am going to exploring new and innovative ways that colleges are using technology in order to new students and enrich the experiences of current students. Currently, I am attending the University of Montana, a campus that I wouldn't say is really behind on technology but definitely not an innovator. I am especially interested in the way that technology is being adopted in order for colleges to recruit new students.

Social networking sites like facebook and twitter are being utilized by many top schools in order to begin the recruiting process earlier and more in depth than before. Students are being contacted and introduced to schools at far younger ages. Just last week my 7th grade sister told me that she wants to go to Stanford, when I asked her why she said that her friend follows the school on twitter and it seems like the best one.

Many schools are using youtube as a way to promote their schools and are able to give students a much more in depth look at their campuses and facilities, without requiring a visit.

Some schools have been able to use increase the efficiency in their career services departments by utilizing text message notifications to inform students of opportunities that they might be interested in.

I am going to focus on the way that colleges are adapting to the "real time" speed that we have come to in our society today and giving examples of both failures and successes.

UFC Fight Night Condit vs. Kampmann

The next UFC event scheduled is a Fight Night event featuring Carlos Condit and Martin Kampmann. The event is scheduled for April 1st and will air live from the Sommet Center in Nasville on Spike TV at 8:00 ET.

I think that this is a very exciting card especially for a Fight Night event. It features many well known UFC names as well as some up and comers. Here are some of my predictions for the card...

Main Event

Martin Kampmann vs Carlos Condit

I must say I am a little bit biased because I have always been a huge Martin Kampmann fan and his submission win over Drew McFedries (link) still ranks as one of my favorite fights of all time.

Kampmann boasts a 5-1 overall record in the UFC with his only lost coming from Middleweight title contender Nate Marquardt. This will be Kampmann's second fight since moving dropping down to the welterweight division. So far the cut has served 'the hitman' very well, he won his debut at 170 against Alexandre Barros at UFC 93 via TKO. He has exceptional Standup ( a former Danish Thai Boxing Champion) but is also dangerous on the ground, with 3 of his 5 UFC wins coming by way of submission. Condit also has the advantage of Training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, which has many distinguished fighters, known for their strategic fight plans.

Carlos Condit is making his UFC debut, with an overall mma record of 23-4, including a 5-0 record in UFC's sister promotion WEC. Carlos was the final WEC welter weight Champion before the organization eliminated the division. He is known for finishing hiw fights with none of his 23 victories going to the judges scorecards. Like Kampmann he has proven himself to be a well rounded fighter with 10 of his victories due to strikes and 13 by way of submission.

Condit has clearly not been facing the same level of competition, which leaves some to question his ability. However I believe that he does belong in the UFC, the only question is, will be ready to face a rising star like Kampmann. I think that Kampmann will dominate the standup, and after wearing Condit down in the first, will finish the fight via TKO in the 2nd. However if the fight goes to the ground I give the adv. to Condit and think that he could possibly pull off a submission win.

I will continue this post with more predictions later, for now I have to work on a group project for class.

First Post!

(My cousin and I: summer 2008)

I am the oldest of 5 kids in my family with 3 younger brothers and a younger sister. I am originally from Seattle, WA but moved out to Missoula to go to college. I have a very strong interest in technology. I love most sports with Seattle teams dominating my favorites, but my favorite sport is Mixed Martial Arts. I love the challenge, the competition and the strategy behind 2 people stepping in to the ring or cage to fight. I am also very interested in real estate opportunities and hope that one day my real estate investments will support myself and my family. The summer after freshman year I purchased a home near the University. The house was definitely one of my biggest decisions but has turned out to be a great situation for me. I love Missoula and am very happy about my choice to go to UM. However, right up until the point that I visited UM it was not even on my radar of places to attend school.

I originally wanted to go to the University of Washington but ended up changing my decision after visiting and seeing class sizes of over 900 students. After deciding that the UW undergrad program was not right for me I was left with little direction on where I wanted to go. I had never been to the state of Montana before and was slightly skeptical when my friends parents convinced us to go and visit UM. After seeing the campus and visiting a few classes I knew right away that it was the place for me. I am extremely thankful to this day that they convinced us to visit Missoula.

Initially when coming to school I was not sure what I was going to major in. I knew that I would end up at the business school but was not sure exactly what I would specialize in. First I was thinking either Management or Marketing, however after acing my first accounting test I changed my major on a whim to accounting. I have done a Management internship and a finance internship and am hopefully going to be doing an IS internship with KPMG this summer. Everything changed after I took IS270 with Dr. Firth. Before 270 I really hadno clue what IS was, however after hearing about the goals of the program and seeing that the IS faculty were really geared towards applying concepts to the real world I did not have any more doubts about the choice of my major. I think that IS really fits me, because I enjoy learning about technology and seeing how its trends affect the direction of the business world.