Recruiting Intelligence

Dr. Carlos Cortés has had an amazing career and tells a great story. He was one of our keynote speakers at our International Student Recruitment Bootcamp back in January and we’ve captured the best parts of his talk here in an 18-minute podcast.

Along with a great talk and discussion over dinner, everyone who attended received a signed copy of his book Rose Hill: An Intermarriage Before Its Time. This was a treat. And now we can share it with all of you.

Dr. Cortés addressed campus diversity and cultural competency issues from a unique perspective. And he asked us all to consider some provocative questions that are hot issues on campus today. How do we evaluate our desire for freedom of speech when students are fighting to squelch offensive speech? And what does this mean for the integration of international students who are learning English as a second language?

Take a listen to his fascinating talk. You’ll be glad you did.

Now that the year’s conference flurry has ended (no pun intended for those of you currently getting snow!), we wanted to take the time to reflect back on all of the great information we gathered and presented at the AIRC conference this year.

There was great discussion around what universities should be doing in the months and year ahead given the new political landscape, where institutions should be allocating budgets as they plan for 2017, how tech systems (CRMs and MAPs) can help your recruitment and digital marketing efforts, and how language schools are being used to support some institutions more effectively than others.

We were thrilled to be a part of it. And we really enjoyed the warm Miami weather ;-)

For those who were not able to attend our sessions, or for those who want a closer look at our slides, you can download these below.

But even better than that, you can come meet us in San Diego at our first annual International Student Recruitment Bootcamp (theme: What Works Where), presented in partnership with CGACC. The conference will cover implementing effective strategies, measuring results, and determining what works where. Spaces are limted to just 200 attendees. 

As a loyal reader, we want to extend a special offer: $75 off both registration fees if you sign up with colleague, now until January 5, 2017.

This conference will be a great opportunity for your marketing and international recruitment leadership to come together and build effective global recruitment and marketing plans. As we work with our clients, we have found those institutions that build a strong partnership with their internal marketing and IT colleagues are in the best position to attract and convert their student leads. This conference will help your counterparts gain perspective on global marketing (as distinct from domestic marketing) in ways that will help you be effective going forward. 

Important Reader Note: The Recruiting Intelligence Blog will be taking a short, 2-week break for the holidays and will return on January 4, 2017 with a great set of must-read posts coming your way in the new year. Wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday season wherever you may roam.

Read on to download our AIRC slides!

Moving is such a drag! We’ve all been there. Packing up all our belongings. Having to make hundreds of rapid fire decisions. Should I bring this? Do I need that?

Intead has recently moved our offices (we are still in the Boston area; just 2 blocks from our old location). Our experience has been exciting and exhausting.

Still, our experience moving is insignificant compared to what your international students do to move half way around the world to reach your campus. With moving, it is the sheer number of big and small decisions that require and consume such energy.

We need to do all we can to make those decisions as easy as possible for our students. We need to control all those things we can control to make our international students confident and comfortable.

And yet, there are plenty of things that are well beyond our control. Today’s blog post addresses government policies and how we, as international student recruiters, must adjust how we do things as those unwieldy governments make our jobs difficult from year to year. We have some specific examples about policy changes in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, UK, Canada, and the US that are instructive for all of us.

Bottom Line: As government policies come and go, we need reliable international student recruitment systems in place to stay on track and adapt to the student mobility motivations and trends. The best and most creative among us use social media marketing to address the topics of the day in our marketing messaging. We adjust our marketing to meet the specific concerns and aspirations our prospective international students are experiencing. Want to know how your team can take advantage of the political turbulence to help your prospective students make good decisions? Read on...

What a summer it has been! No one could have imagined the dramatic and troubling international events that are now having an impact on our international student recruiting plans.

• Turkey: A coup attempt and university closings
• UK: Brexit (need we say more?)
• Vietnam: Regulatory changes to how agencies operate
• Canada & US: Regulatory changes to conditional admissions requirements
• Brazil: Significant currency fluctuations

And that's not all! Our point: International students' motivations and plans to study in one location or another are certainly changing. Domestically, fewer US students will be choosing the for profit college option (ITT we're looking at you).

Bottom line: We have a whole host of international student recruiting trends to write about this fall and beyond.  

Our goal now, and always, is to keep you informed and competitive as you make some tough decisions about where the most valuable student recruiting sources are. You have a limited recruitment budget, let's help you spend it wisely. [read on...]

…Can be found on our blog! Or, at least that’s our goal! We want our blog to be a trusted source of information to help you make strategic marketing and international student recruitment decisions. We choose our post topics based on current trends, countries of interest and the latest tools in marketing and recruiting. So we are asking, which topics most interest you?

Take our quick 6-question survey and guide our work to meet your needs!

2015 was a strong year for international student recruiting. And looking back, our blog was filled with many new insights, guest writers, and the important research and trends in international enrollment marketing. As we dive into 2016, we wanted to take the time to showcase what all of you told us was most valuable: our 7 most read blog posts of 2015.