College Recruiting Outlook for 2022

Entering 2022, the outlook for college graduates is as murky as it was in 2020 as the emergence of the omicron variant wreaks havoc to on-campus recruiting and threatens to stall a vibrant economy. 

Nearly two years of virtual recruiting is completely changing how companies recruit college talent, and how career centers must adjust their programming and educational strategies to maximize outcomes for its students. 

As virtual recruiting persists due to Covid coupled with cost and time savings, vendors (such as Handshake) are encouraging virtual events on their platform by connecting schools to create multi-school events. On-campus recruiting is becoming a relic of the past decade. Consider Handshake’s claim that in 2019 78% of events were school-hosted compared to 47% in 2021.

Changes presents Challenges 

This switch does have challenges for schools. First, many top tier schools that have leaned on target-school status by name-brand companies, are now facing greater competition from other schools to retain their market share. Employers have realized that through virtual recruiting, they can cast a wider net on Handshake and reach many more students they never were touching through the target school model. Second-tier schools, by simply being a Handshake-platform school, are now able to access opportunities that were before out of reach for their students. These students can now compete for opportunities once found only at top-tier schools simply by a concentrated effort to participate in open virtual recruiting events. Collectively, students at these schools are gaining market share with name-brand firms. Meanwhile, students at top-tier schools must compete virtually to retain opportunities that have been commonly available on their local campuses, as well as, obtain new opportunities to offset the loss of market share. This shift will likely result in a “long tail” of companies, as more firms will hire a fewer number of students than what previously occurred. 

As a result, career centers must shift the content of their educational programs, alter their coaching techniques, and connect their students in new ways to the market. 

Consider the following analogy. If a brick and mortar store stayed closed for two years and during that time started selling their product online, would anyone visit the brick and mortar store two years later? Why would a physical store exist if the same product can be bought and sold with less overhead? The question is will the same volume of product be bought or sold without a physical location by customers? Perhaps, but it will require different  marketing and selling activities. Paid and organic search becomes more important instead of newspaper ads and sidewalk billboards. So is the case with college recruiting. No longer is a tailored suit, shaking hands and working a room the focus rather it’s being able to “present in a box” and understanding how to use Handshake technology. Career centers will have to pivot to stay open for business.

Data Insights

One positive trend from virtual recruiting is now all activities are online and therefore measurable. These datasets can now provide never-seen-before insights on the actions of students in their pursuit of employment opportunities. This data, visualized and analyzed, can provide a roadmap for all constituents to create more market equilibrium and efficient uses of time in the job search process.        

Data analysis has discovered some interesting insights. From July 1 to December 15, the year-over-year change in Total Applications to postings in the Handshake system increased 15%, and the number of unique student applicants also increased 18%. While these increases are encouraging, it pales into comparison to the increase in total postings - 103% or 56,618 during the same time period. These postings were generated from 8,548 unique employers - a 66% increase. What’s most striking is that only 10% of the total opportunities available to students in the Handshake system had at least one application. Thus, 90% of all postings did not attract a single applicant.    

Lack of Market Equilibrium

Further analysis, over the past two years since Covid emerged, reveals a lack of market equilibrium. 

• At the beginning of the pandemic (March-April 2020), employers had opportunities they were trying to fill prior to the shut down, but students were stunned and didn’t apply.  
• Once students came out of their coma, during the summer of 2020, the jobs had been filled or deleted.
• In the fall of 2020, employers posted jobs, but there were far fewer than the previous fall. Students at all schools applied at a much greater rate. As a result, employers had many more qualified applicants than in the past. 
• During the winter holidays of 2020-2021, both student and employer engagement paused, as employers were waiting to see the impacts of budget resets, vaccine distribution, election results, stimulus plans, etc., and students were on extended break from classes.
• In March of 2021, employers began posting far more just-in-time opportunities and that’s continued to this day. However, student engagement did not return at the level it was in the fall, as students appeared to be waiting until after graduation. Meanwhile as virtual recruiting and remote starts expanded the applicant pool, these positions were filled immediately to meet pent-up demand.
• For the summer of 2021, there were plenty of employment opportunities for graduates - IF - graduates were acquiring skill sets in demand, or were willing to take a job that may not be their ideal dream job. Employers, students and career centers were all adjusting and planning for a hybrid in-person/virtual norm to operations post-Covid. 
• In the fall of 2021, widespread lower engagement to both virtual and in-person events emerged, yet applications were up even after last year’s up year. Job postings were probably higher than ever. Pent up fun by students and the interruption of their college experience resulted in an unwillingness to act on their post-graduation plans. 
• For the spring 2022, will employers fill their open spots? Likely no and it will require a longer recruiting period into the spring semester. Will the economy keep rolling to hire those people or will omicron, inflation, and a looming energy shortage turn the bulls to bears? The answer is unknown.  

The Next Evolution

The next evolution of college recruiting will modify answers to questions that had been areas of focus in the previous decade: what, where, when, why, how, and how many.

Specifically, over the past few years the industry has honed in on WHERE should students apply - Handshake, 12 Twenty, Symplicity, and other sites. Odds are better for students within their career center sponsored site because company postings focused on talent from their specific institution. 

Second, efforts focused on WHO students should apply based on employer relations outreach strategies targeting organizations with a track record in hiring its students. 

Next, HOW MANY applications became the question. Career centers are encouraging students to apply more and those numbers are increasing.

With enhanced data capabilities developed during Covid, WHEN students should apply based on the peak of postings of an industry addressed the timing of both parties’ efforts. For instance, for advertising, the peak months for postings were April and November, yet applications peaked in March - one month prior to one employer posting peak, and four months after the other peak. Evidence appears that student applications are more spread out throughout the year rather than concentrated at peak times as it was pre-COVID. As a result, employers had hoped to get more applications when they initially posted, but they were finding smaller applicant pools. This likely required employers to extend their college recruiting cycles for longer periods. Students were encouraged to apply immediately when postings were made by employers to enhance their chances. 

As a result of these observations, WHAT should students do? The most effective and efficient action was for students to create custom search agents within Handshake (and other sites such as LinkedIn) that will push new postings within the systems to students on a daily basis to review and apply immediately. 

Finally, WHY are these actions important? It helps career centers, employers and students to maximize results while minimizing effort. And this is the main point, everyone wants successful outcomes for all schools, employers and students. 

The invitation is open for further discussion on the state of college recruiting by supporting or refuting items mentioned above. Together market equilibrium can be achieved.