The use of commission-based recruiters by U.S. universities appears to be growing rapidly since the NACAC decision ending the ban on this recruitment channel. We suggest that you think of these counselors and agents as an extension of your admissions and marketing offices for your recruitment activities. You should consider them as part of your team. Hence, you should be mindful in how you select them. You want them to represent you well and be ethical in their practices. They also need to be motivated and in a position to deliver results for you.
Where can you find them?
1) You can certainly ask your colleagues at other schools; from our experience word-of-mouth is the biggest source.
2) In addition to calling your colleagues, we suggest that you review websites of universities which publish their agent networks. We think that publishing your network is a good practice for showing honesty and transparency. In fact this is required in Australia. Check out the University of Cincinnati or the SUNY system's websites. You will find agents that have been vetted by these institutions. You will still have to do the work of contacting the agents and convincing them that you are an attractive partner. These agencies will be interested in adding attractive additional universities, but they are not chasing every partner who approaches. They are professionals and they know well what makes an attractive study destination and will look for your support to market correctly and actively.
(Source: www.UC.edu -March 2014)
3) Attend fairs and meetings for recruiters and universities:
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ICEF Fairs -- [For full disclosure, we have been partnering with ICEF for several years and have become a sponsor at their events]. ICEF is a German company that organizes agent meetings around the world. One indicator that the use of agents is growing in the United States is the fact that ICEF events have been growing in attendance every year in North America. They are efficient places to meet many pre-selected agents from around the world in one location.
There are other companies offering these types of fairs, such as WEBA Fairs . WEBA is a Swiss company which organizes agent meeting around the world. We don't have first hand experience with them.
4) American International Recruitment Council (AIRC) is a standard setting membership organization, which has universities and agents as members. AIRC maintains a list of certified agents which you can find on their website.
There are thousand of agents around the world, selecting your agents is just step one. As we learned during our extensive research for our ebook on Building and Managing Agent and Counselor Recruiting Networks (Free Download) , building and maintaining the relationship with agents requires on-going and dedicated work by your institution.
