Recruiting Intelligence

Your feedback keeps us on the right track. You, our blog readers, tell us with your clicks and your comments. We welcome the likes, the corrections, the whole shebang.

As we look ahead to what is shaping up to be a bustling 2023, we’d love to hear what topics you’d like us to tackle. Send us a note and we’ll take it into editorial consideration. Maybe even throw a shoutout your way.

Just coming off a whirlwind December with presentations at the AIRC and ICEF conferences and our full day workshop at San Diego State University, we have so much to share with you in the weeks ahead. Reflections, insights, slides. All in the name of making your student recruitment marketing plan that much tighter. You’ll be glad you are along with the ride.

Right here and now, we’ve compiled our readers’ top 10 posts from 2022. These are the blog posts that you said were most enticing and valuable. You clicked, you shared, and hopefully, you put into practice some of what you learned.

Big Picture: our analytics show in no uncertain terms that everyone wants to know more about China, TikTok, new market development, data analytics, and the student mindset. We'll have more on those topics throughout 2023. Still valuable: Read on for quick hit summaries and links to the content that most drew your attention, and the attention of your colleagues, over the past year.

Enrollment professionals around the world tapped and clicked throughout 2021 looking for insight. They found it here on the Intead blog and now you can see what resonated most. Presenting, our Top 10 Blog Posts of 2021.

It was a tough year with far too much ambiguity. Intead’s global network kept readers abreast of what students and parents are thinking and how marketing messages can reach them.

Would you like a cup of coffee in New Orleans with us at AIEA? We’ll be there and look forward to a busy schedule. Be in touch if you’d like to connect. We have a few amazing restaurant recommendations we can share, assuming that kind of gathering is safe and comfortable by the time the event rolls around.

Read on for our Top Posts of 2021 (links included). Great for sharing with your team to help them think creatively about their respective roles and assignments.

Traditionally, we kick off this annual post with a “Phew, what a busy year!”-type comment, but in the year that was 2020, that feels like a bit of an understatement.

In a year full of unprecedented uncertainty, ever-churning news cycles, and constantly shifting plans, we kept up each week, delivering Recruiting Intelligence insights and providing strategic and tactical guidance throughout the storm.

Today, we’re sharing the insights that resonated the most —
the top 10 viewed blog posts of 2020.

With many of these top posts containing our advice from various stages of the early pandemic, you may be wondering — what value do they provide now? We’re a whole year (and a whole pandemic) wiser, right?

Great question and we’d venture that these posts are all the more valuable now, as you and your team reflect on 2020 and build for the future. Seeing our past recommendations validated may provide you with an even stronger foundation as you push your colleagues to adopt forward thinking plans in 2021!

Consider the strategic guidance contained in these 10 posts your checklist. Do you have everything in place for 2021 and for the enrollment curveballs yet to come?

Share this with colleagues who can use these insights in the new year. They’ll be plenty more posts coming your way in 2021. Do you know anyone who would appreciate receiving our weekly blog insights? The share button is at the end of this post.

Read on for our Reader's Choice Top Posts of 2020 (links included) and two bonus perennial favorites that consistently draw readers via their Google searches.

While the holiday season may look a little different this year, our gratitude for this community remains steadfast.

If this year has proven anything, it’s what we’ve known all along, that the education community is resilient. That connection and communication, whether from six feet away or six thousand miles away, via text, email, Slack, Zoom, FaceTime, and even TikTok, is what keeps us moving forward and growing together. Here’s to weathering the storm, together, whatever may come our way.

Two more pearls of wisdom validated this year:

• Taking care of yourself is relief work.
• You are never far from that source of community and energy that helps keep you going.

Turns out the airline safety videos had it right all along: put your own mask on first and then help those around you put on theirs.

We will be taking next week off from the Recruiting Intelligence Blog and hope you’ll be taking some well-deserved rest, too.

Read on for a preview of the year ahead (new research, insights and more). Plus, a look at how Ben has been faring alone in the Intead office while the rest of the team works remotely...

You have spoken!

After a busy year of developing academic recruitment plans, speaking at conferences, creating compelling marketing campaigns, publishing new innovative research, and of course, sharing all the best stuff with our blog readers, we can now tell you…of all our publishing in 2019, these posts most caught your attention.

And since you have been busy as well, we know some of you may have missed our most useful stuff.

Below are posts that had the most clicks and shares – so as you peruse, note the “email this post” button at the bottom to help out your colleagues who are responsible for one enrollment thing or another.

Read on for links to 2019’s Top 10 blog hits and (bonus) our inspiring Staff Pick!

Well, 2018 has come and gone—and here at Intead, we’re catching our breath after a busy year of developing academic recruitment plans, creating compelling marketing campaigns, helping clients assess their institutional strategies and international web presence...and, of course, dishing up blog insights week after week. 

We have a feeling you’ve all been awfully busy too—maybe even busy enough to miss some of our most popular posts of the year! So, let’s take a look back at which topics drew the most clicks in the past 12 months. Some are focused on nitty-gritty recruitment tips, some on big picture market trends, and some on finding inspiration in trying times. We are sure there will be at least a few topics in here that will make you think of a particular colleague who just might be able to use those insights. So, we've added a handy "Email this Post" button at the bottom of the page, just for those moments. Read on for links to the year’s Top 10 hits.

As we look forward to wrapping up 2017 and reflect on the year, we are noticing one recurring theme. Throughout 2017, the world of international student recruitment has been hyper-focused on the concerns around a limited recruitment budget.

Many of our colleagues reported that the biggest blow was to their designated funds for travel, and many institutions have endured reductions in staff, limiting their recruitment resources even more. And, as you know, the enrollment expectations from above are as high as ever – if not higher! 

Well, during this holiday season – we’re here to give you some hope (and tips!). 

There are things you can do now, small things, on an even smaller budget, that can make a big impact later. We recommend you consider trying all 10 of our recruitment tips for under $10 and then do them again…and again…and again. Read on to see how you can make a big impact with a little funding...

A quick reminder: we'll be taking a break from the blog next week and you'll see great content here again in January 2018! Odd to write 2018. (There's a joke in there about future sight being 2020, or something like that...). Either way, time flies, doesn't it?

In January, we'll be posting our slides from all of our AIRC and ICEF presentations. Hey, and when you have a moment during the holiday break, check out our International Student Recruitment Bootcamp. Spaces are filling fast -- limted to 100 attendees who will all walk out with a global marketing plan fashioned to their institution with the help of our globally knowledable faculty.

Read on to get your 10 tips all under $10. Happy Holidays from our team to yours. Enjoy the season!

It's 2017 and Intead's Recruiting Intelligence is back! And we are flying forward. So glad you are with us!

2016 saw a lot of change – a new U.S. presidency is just days away, Brexit has made an impact on international relations, safety concerns have heightened, new government policies have changed the landscape across the world, and currency exchange rates have presented challenges for international student mobilization – among many other things.

Throughout it all, we have tried our best to present new research and insights, shed light on new markets, and introduce you to new tools and best practices to make your international student recruiting and marketing strategies work to meet your goals. While 2017 will undoubtedly present its own set of new challenges, we checked the analytics on last year's posts and wanted to share those posts that your colleagues found most helpful based on the readership stats.

Read on, and while you're at it, check out Intead’s new blog homepage! This is just a first step as we roll out our website refresh to make all our great content easier to find and access. Our popular e-books, conference slides, market research reports..everything you use to make your international student recruitment and enrollment plans stronger.

Did someone say "recruitment and enrollment plans?" To start your 2017 planning, come meet us in San Diego on January 29-31, 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. We've held regular pricing in place through 1/25/17. It is a small venue for a highly focused gathering. Spaces are limited.

We are excited to announce our KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Safia Samee Ali (NBC, News Associate) and Paul Jensen (Weber Shandwick, President – Corporate Practices) will present on The Power of Storytelling: Marketing, News Media and the Student Experience. It is sure to be an inspiring talk from two experienced professionals well-versed in the importance of audience engagement. 

Now for our Reader's Choice Top 10 Blog Posts of 2016...

Podcasts can be an invaluable tool for international student recruiting professionals. They inspire new ideas, motivate us to try new things, and teach us industry secrets. And, you can listen to them just about anywhere, from your morning commute, to the coach seat as you fly to your next student fair, or just at your desk as you carve out a few minutes for lunch between all the demands of the day. Listening to leaders and experts in the field of international student recruiting discuss the same topics you struggle with can shed light on new solutions.

These are all of the reasons Intead started sharing podcasts a few years ago, and since then we’ve shared insights into everything from hiring admissions staff to innovative education models, to marketing to diverse audiences. This week, we’ve compiled a list of our top 10 most listened to podcasts. Here’s what your peers found most valuable.

In all, Intead has produced 46 podcasts with international student recruiting leaders covering all the topics you grapple with all the time. At the end of our top 10 list you will find a link to Intead’s full library of podcasts. Find the insights that are most important to you. Special nod to our co-founder, Michael Waxman-Lenz, for all his work producing these industry-leading resources.

Meet Us in Miami or San Diego!

When temperatures get cold here in New England, we seek out warmer weather ;) Join us at the AIRC and ICEF conferences in Miami in December as we share our latest global digital marketing insights at workshops and other presentations. In January, meet us in San Diego at our First Annual International Student Recruitment Bootcamp (2016 theme: What Works Where), presented in partnership with CGACC. Let us know if you’ll be at any of these venues–we’d love to catch up over a cup of coffee!

Read on to find links to our top 10 podcasts, plus one bonus podcast you won’t want to miss. Read on...