Recruiting Intelligence

We have entered the season in which we become fully entrenched in deep thoughts on learning and growing, living and celebrating. There will be memorable moments shared by families throughout the world. It is graduation season, a time when we review accomplishments of the past and look towards future achievements. Celebrated college graduation speakers often draw upon quotes of earlier orators and authors. Those very best life lessons are distilled into brilliant quotes for future generations to share and appreciate. We at Intead would like to commend all recent graduates, as well as the individuals who are called upon to give the commencement addresses. Our passion for education runs deep; we celebrate and promote education everyday on our site Why Education Matters. 

If you are a regular reader of this blog you might have noticed how I fondly reminisce about my experience as an admission counselor. I spent three years working at my alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis. This was my first real job so the experience was pivotal in shaping me as a budding professional. I can appreciate firsthand how the last few months have been an utter whirlwind for admission counselors. From a winter spent in the depths of file reading to a spring spent trying to enroll all of the admitted students, there has been little time to breathe, let alone spend time reading this blog. So today I want to point out some blog posts you might have missed over the last few months.

Don't be the last to learn about Opportunity University's innovative tuition pricing model. This changes everything in higher education.

International travel tours and college fair attendance are two of the biggest expense items in most international admissions departments that utilize this recruiting channel for their international student enrollment.  We have developed a list of criteria for you on how to select vendors for these trips.

This year, we have been asked to recruit 10% more international students to internationalize our campus and to raise the necessary tuition revenue. Yes, we understand the financial pressures that we are under as a college and greater international student enrollment can be part of our long-term viability as we have been tracking a trend of weaker demographics in our typical domestic recruitment region. In talking to prospective domestic students and their parents, I know the pressure our higher tuition bills put on families.

I love what we accomplish as a college. We may not belong to the elite group of colleges, but I know we do change lives. More precisely, our professors, academic and other advisors, counselors, and fellow students change lives.

The visa interview is one of the unpleasant steps in the process of becoming an international student in the United States.  We recently had a conversation with Tony Edson, who worked for the State Department for 28 years and dealt with the visa process.  We suggest five activities to help your prospective students feel more comfortable with the process.  You can dispel online and offline rumors that make your students nervous during the interview, set the right tone and show that you care about your students. You will be doing your job better, increasing the odds of your students receiving the visa without a hitch and allowing them to enroll at your college. Don't leave it up to chance. 

During the winter break, I found more time to read lots of books and magazines. Let me share one headline that stuck with me.  "Average is Over." It's the title of economist Tyler Cowen's book about the future of our economy. But beyond the title of this book, this theme was prevalent in many of the books and articles I read. Competition is intensifying across all product and service categories, and product cycles are decreasing. Higher education is no exception to that increased competitive environment.  And you, the admissions and marketing departments, stand at the forefront of that competition for qualified and motivated students.  

The three years that I spent as an admission counselor at Washington University in St. Louis included some of my favorite experiences. Looking back a dozen years later I recall that ambitious, young, eager, college graduate embarking on an exciting and life-changing first job. I attended Washington University as a double major in architecture and American history. After the long hours I spent in the studio, spending time in the admission office giving tours, meeting students, and participating in admission presentations was a welcome break. As I realized in my final year of college that I didn't want to pursue a career in architecture, my friends (future colleagues) in the admission office saw an opportunity to encourage me to join the team. Although I didn't attend college with the intention of becoming an admission officer who would ultimately lead a fruitful career in higher eduction, this was one of those occasions in which an indeterminate path led to great future gains. Though I've chosen to stay in higher education for fifteen years, colleagues in the admission office moved in many different directions. The skills we learned in our time as admission counselors arguably had a profound impact on us as professionals.