Recruiting Intelligence

Grad students Poorajith Sasikumar Thenmozhi and Anurag Bansal needed a problem to solve. As founding members of ColibreClub, a student-led organization at Worcester Polytechnic Institute Business School, they were gearing up for their inaugural student hackathon and were in search of a real-world problem statement their competitors could sink their teeth into. 

That’s when the Business School’s Assistant Dean Sandhya Balasubramanian stepped in. Sandhya a friend and colleague of ours reached out to the Intead team to see if we had ideas. Our answer: Always! 

Trend watchers and challenge seekers, we didn’t take long to share one of the many higher ed research topics that interest us in the area of student success. Prior to and through the Covid-19 Pandemic, we watched student mental health concerns grow dramatically. We also noted that issue rising on the list of major worries being carried by university presidents and provosts.   

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Data underlines the urgency. Sallie Mae’s How America Completes College 2024 report on undergraduate barriers to graduation reveals 42% of at-risk students who consider leaving school do so for reasons involving motivation and mental health issues. When asked what resources would have helped them stay, 30% said more mental health resources/support.  

In our work with academic institutions, we’ve seen such a range of responses on campuses that make services available to students in different ways and importantly, help students become aware of and access those services in different ways as well. 

Assurances to help individuals who are struggling academically/mentally/physically are part and parcel of student communications. You know as well as we do that prospective students and their parents care a lot about this topic so including it in your recruitment materials has become routine. For some families, wanting to know about academics and sports top the list as they evaluate an institution. At some point, a growing number of parents worry about whether their kid, as mature as they are, is going to have the support services they need to succeed, including mental health services. 

So, the Intead team has been thinking a lot about actual accessibility, or lack thereof, of these types of programs. Some universities promote the services and access far more than others. Are they living up to their promises to students? Are there innovative ways to improve both student communication and accessibility? The WPI student hackathon tackled these questions with gusto!

Read on...

It’s awfully cold up here in Massachusetts these days—but that’s just one of the reasons we’re daydreaming about the AIRC Conference in Florida this past December. As most of you know, the American International Recruitment Council (AIRC) conference is one of the highlights of the year for our professional community.

We have been attending AIRC for 8 years now, and every year we meet insightful industry experts with valuable perspectives to share. This is the learning and networking conference we enjoy most. We send a significant Intead staff contingent every time to get the most of what AIRC has to offer our community. International student expertise from all over the world gathers and shares their firsthand perspective and in-country student experiences. 

This year, we were honored to share our own marketing intelligence with our colleagues from universities and other experts in the field on a wide range of recruitment topics. We saw many of you, our valued blog readers, on the conference floor, jotting notes in AIRC seminars or lounging poolside with a drink (don't worry we won't share any photos)—but if you missed it (or hey, just miss us!) our slides are here for your perusing pleasure. 

Seats are still availble for the Intead/CGACC International Student Recruitment Bootcamp. Sign up while you still can. February 11-13 in San Diego. We can't wait for the warmth! 

Read on for a review of our presentations and a link to the slides for each one...

To all the friends we saw at NAFSA, I hope your week was valuable on many levels. I found this year’s conference more inspiring than the past few. Perhaps because we all have a renewed sense of purpose to prove the value of our work and our worldview.

I shared this sentiment with a colleague the other day and she sent back, “Agreed!”

There is much to consider as we move forward with our international student recruiting strategies. One thing is clear: waiting for the dust to settle is NOT AN OPTION!

When we shared our 2017 survey results with a nice-sized crowd at NAFSA this year, there were a few uncomfortable moments. The data regarding student sentiment about the US and the UK is not good news. What is important here is to take steps to mitigate the negative sentiment that is out there.

No question, international students are annoyed with US and UK foreign policy statements (to say the least). We can only imagine what it must be like to be a young person with a global mindset watching the leaders and citizens of important countries say, in effect, “We don’t want you here!”

Thanks for dashing idealism and entrepreneurialism around the world!

By making visas harder to obtain. By making customs more annoying to navigate. By reducing access to jobs and training opportunities. When posting salacious international headlines on a regular basis. The fires of discord are being stoked.

So what do we do in times like these? Read on for a subset of tips we shared at the conference. Our slides will be available next week.

…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!