Mark Lawson
A day in the life of a recruiter
Overheard at a night fair: “Artists starve, sweetie. Look at a business program.”
06:30:
Wake up (Which city am I in again? Time zone? It’s raining…okay, must be Vancouver) and reach for my phone. After running through the morning emails (Academica Top Ten, messages from the boss, random junk mail), I flag what needs to be responded to and head to the gym for a good workout. It’s important to stay fit out here, particularly with the wild hours/random eating habits you get used to on the road.
08:00:
Breakfast, more emails, and go over the school list for today. I have three “fair” format visits today, so there will be a lot of driving and about six hours interacting with students. Fairs are set up like trade shows, with 30-40 universities in attendance, and more free pens than you could ever want. I figure out my driving route and head down to the parking garage.
08:15:
The Gaitermobile and I whip onto Dunsmuir in downtown Vancouver. My GPS, as usual, can’t seem to find its bearings, so I aim in the general direction of the school and wait for it to catch up. I can hear the emails coming in on my phone, but resist the temptation to check them. I’ve watched too many accidents happen as a result of distracted driving…
08:45:
Arrive at my first school. Grab my big pop-up banner, my bag of promo books and head in. I watch as reps from the other schools arrive and go through the same motions. As the students line up to enter, everyone takes a deep breath and prepares for the onslaught.
11:00:
As the dust clears, I realize I’m running low on business cards, books, and energy. Some great questions this morning, and some real doozies. I winced as one parent asked whether we were closer to UBC or UBC Okanagan. I make a note to improve our “Where we are” stuff on our posters, and head for the parking lot. Over 500 kids came through the doors this morning, with varying questions and interests. The students who are more timid always take me back. I sometimes forget how daunting the idea of moving away from home can be. It wasn’t that long ago, but I guess I made the same decision. I pack up and head back downtown. I forgot my phone charger (rookie mistake, Lawson) and need to get some stuff from my laptop.
Toronto Renaissance
Friday, October 30th Well, the bags and boxes are all packed, so it looks like I’m about to end my time here in the city of Toronto. I have to admit…I really enjoyed my month or so here in the city. I’ve had the chance to interact with a few thousand students here, and [...]
Friday, October 30th
Well, the bags and boxes are all packed, so it looks like I’m about to end my time here in the city of Toronto. I have to admit…I really enjoyed my month or so here in the city. I’ve had the chance to interact with a few thousand students here, and I’ve had a lot of fun with it.
So what did I learn during my time as a temporary Torontonian? This is a bustling, crazy, 24-hour city, alive with culture and energy, jolting from Film Fest to Fashion Week with alarming efficiency. Living downtown was an educational experience, particularly since I’ve never lived in a city before. From my apartment in the Soho, I had a view of both the Skydome – I refuse to call it the Rogers Centre – and the CBC, places where great Canadian memories have been made and reported on. The city managed to enrage me with its traffic, charm me with its food and culture, and – of course – make me sad to be a Leafs fan. But it’s not until my final day in Toronto that I really came to see what the city was about.
On my final day in Toronto, I called my family doctor and asked him if I should get the H1N1 vaccine. A severe asthmatic as a child, I was a little worried about the flu, particularly since I’m in airports and high schools for the rest of the fall. He recommended that I visit a clinic, so Friday, I joined the huddled masses in front of Metro Hall in downtown Toronto, waiting for the vaccine. Like everyone else, I joined the line, checked my e-mail occasionally, marvelled at the media coverage, and – it being Toronto – rejoiced when someone brought me a latte. In line, the hardened, tired faces I’d become used to on the sidewalks and in traffic seemed to vanish. In their places stood fragile human beings; parents, children, the old and infirm. Everyone tired and a little bit fearful, but prepared to be patient. The people I met in line were personable and helpful. We talked about the news, family, careers, and whether this H1N1 thing had been blown out of proportion. I made friends, traded laughs, and lamented the weather. It was the most Canadian of experiences, mimicking the conversations occurring in Tim Hortons across the country. Of course – it still being Toronto -we exchanged Facebook/LinkedIn coordinates prior to leaving each other’s company.
I think if push came to shove, I could live in Toronto. It’s a huge city, and comes packaged with tons of issues and opportunities. But deep down in places we outsiders don’t often get to see, Toronto is still capable of small-town charm, and a friendliness I never associated with Canada’s largest city. It is with mixed emotions that I find myself leaving, and I look forward to next time.
So, on the university side, what have I learned at the end of 60 days?
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Students are actually LOOKING for help and guidance, to the point where I meet freelance guidance counsellors on a fairly regular basis. These are usually former guidance counsellors, who leverage their years of experience to the benefit of their clients. As for what I think this means…Well, it could be any number of things. One read on it is that students – or parents – are working to make sure they make an informed decision, and looking for outside help. Another is that the system is failing its students, to the point where private industry has sprung up. I don’t truly believe it to be the latter, and look forward to examining this issue more closely.
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QUIP is a pretty good time, and my days have taken on a bit of a different flavour since I teamed up with McGill and Concordia. Sara and Sarah – (the reps from McGill and Concordia)– present very differently from me, and I’ve learned some valuable lessons from each of them. I’ve learned an awful lot about both universities, and had fun working with them. While the presentations are pretty uniform from day to day, it’s cool to watch the elements we switch, learning and reacting to each other. I often wonder, if I was in high school, would I have been able to read between the lines and see the different experiences available at all three schools?
- Parents are intimately involved in the university decision, asking pointed questions about outcomes and lifestyle. One parent even confronted me with the legendary Bishop’s fight song, showing that parents are really doing their research.
Next up…Regina, Winnipeg, and a 3-week adventure in BC. Stay tuned…
Dear Parents…
Not every student will be a doctor or a lawyer. But you know what? That’s okay.
Dear Parents,
I meet a lot of you each day, at university fairs, at QUIP visits, and in hallways. Every time we talk, there’s a mixture of emotions that runs over your faces. First, you evaluate me to see if I’m the kind of person you’d want your son or daughter to associate with. In assessing me, you assess the university I represent, and, if I make the cut – fingers crossed – you start asking questions. You usually want to know about our programs, our class sizes, how long it will take your student to get home, what our reputation is like…the list goes on.
But, behind all of that, these are the questions I think you really want answered. I’m not a parent, and this obviously isn’t a comprehensive list. But I think if we were honest with each other, these are the two of the questions you’d ask, and the responses I’d try to give you:
- Will my son or daughter get a job?
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No matter which university your son or daughter chooses, there’s a good chance they will get a job. This country needs educated people to fill jobs that the knowledge economy will continue to create. I promise, no matter which university your child chooses, they will find gainful employment.
But can I ask you one big favour?
Don’t make them decide what that job will be just yet. The four years they spend in university will have immeasurable impact on their personality, their passions, and their priorities. They will love and lose, experience success and failure, and return home each holiday season full of new lessons and experiences. It is through those experiences that your child will decide the kind of person they want to become, and how they will make their impact on this world.
I hate to break it to you, but not every student will be a doctor or a lawyer. But you know what? That’s okay. We need nurses and engineers. We need social workers and community leaders. Most importantly, we need people with open minds, who can face the challenges of the future. Please, give your child the chance to do that.
- Will my child be “okay”?
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Well, that question is relative. Will your student face challenges in university? Absolutely. Those challenges will come inside and outside the classroom. They will come when you least expect it, and require split-second judgment. You know your child, and you know what they’re made of. You’ve instilled values in them since birth, and you should trust your instincts when they head off for the first time. Will they make mistakes? I sure did. But I learned from them, and so will they.
We’ll take care of your child, and make sure that the services they need are readily available. But we look forward to the day when they no longer need our help. That’s how we’ll know that we’ve done a good job, building on the foundation you’ve left us
I’m not here to sell you something. It would be foolish for me to believe that my five-minute speech seals the deal on a $40,000 decision. Consider me a resource, and use me as such. I’ll answer anything you want to know in an honest way. I want to help your student make the right choice. If that means that they attend the university I represent…great! If not, that’s okay too. But be sure to ask the questions you want answers to. Nothing is silly, or redundant. I’m here to help you with this process, so please…ask the questions you really want answers to, and let me help.
Sincerely,
Mark
Recruiter-Speak
To give you an idea of the alphabet soup recruiters live in day-to-day, here’s a quick snippet from a conversation I had recently with a colleague.. “How are your ISVs going?” “Good, good. Collecting lots of IRC’s, but I’m heading on QUIP next week so we should see more.” “Nice. I’m seeing a lot of [...]
To give you an idea of the alphabet soup recruiters live in day-to-day, here’s a quick snippet from a conversation I had recently with a colleague..
“How are your ISVs going?”
“Good, good. Collecting lots of IRC’s, but I’m heading on QUIP next week so we should see more.”
“Nice. I’m seeing a lot of interest in WSB, seems like the BBA is popular.”
“Right on. Well, good luck with QUIP, I’m heading out to Calgary with CUE.”
For those of you totally mystified by that little exchange, let me break it down:
Quebec University Information Program (QUIP): When you see McGill, Concordia and Bishop’s presenting together, that’s a “QUIP visit”. As the three English-speaking universities in the province of Quebec, we travel together throughout the fall. We figure that if you’ve already made the decision to come to Quebec, you might as well hear from all of us at once.
Information Request Cards (IRC): When I attend schools, I typically ask interested students to fill out IRCs. This info gets sent back to Bishop’s, put into a database, then broken down by faculty, sport of interest, region, etc. That way, you only receive information about the programs that interest you. Or, if we’re holding an event in your region, you hear about it. It means that students don’t receive the kind of general junk mail that we all hate.
CUE (Canadian University Event): To be honest, I had to look this one up. I’d internalized it, and its meaning has slipped my mind. However, CUE is when universities from around the country tour places like Vancouver and Calgary, holding fairs and visits together. This cuts down on individual bookings (see ISV), and also gives guidance counsellors the opportunity to meet up with schools they may not otherwise interact with.
More acronyms to come…
Road Stories
Hungry teens choose between lunch and a university recruiter. Guess who wins.
I’m working on a – long overdue – breakdown of the madness of Student Life Expo in Toronto. Had an interesting day though, and thought I’d post some quick stories. Enjoy.
My final school visit today was a strange one…
Typically, university visits are well-publicized affairs. High schools put up posters, sign students up, and there’s a small group waiting when I arrive. We have a good conversation, I leave, and repeat at the school down the road. Today however, things were a bit different. At this school, I was sent to hawk my wares in front of the cafeteria at lunch hour. I’m not sure how many of you remember the high school cafeteria, so let me refresh your memory:
Hundreds of hungry teens invade over the course of 10 minutes at the beginning of lunch hour. They camp out there for the next hour, before reversing the process on the way to their afternoon class. Needless to say, it was not the most productive experience I’ve had. In their single-minded quest for food, students weren’t exacty thinking about a small liberal arts university in Quebec. My notes from this visit will recommend that we hand out hot dogs next time, since that’s probably the only way we’ll get anyone’s attention with this format. A strange set-up, and certainly not the best way to facilitate interaction.
One of the more memorable moments so far is from one of my visits to an independent school in Toronto. I was sitting down with a small group having a great conversation, when the guidance counsellor spoke up:
‘What about the parties?’ he asked.
I was surprised by this, since most students are too shy to broach that topic. Then, he qualified his question, speaking to the group.
“Remember guys, classroom education is only part of the university experience. The social aspect is really important, and you shouldn’t lose sight of that.”
I was blown away. It’s nice to have a frank conversation with students, and this broke down the last set of walls with these students. Allowed to discuss social life, I talked about parties with open invites, great nights at the Lion, and seeing professors at wing night. For students looking for that type of experience, it was perfect. For others, they’ll look elsewhere. But at least now they know.
My challenge to those of you choosing universities? Ask the questions you really want the answers to, no matter how unorthodox. Be brave, and you may actually end up at the school that best suits your needs.
Lessons from Week One
Now more than ever, university recruiters have a responsibility to be honest with prospective students
The shine has come off the new academic year, and that means it’s time for universities to start visiting high schools across the country. For yours truly, it meant an 8-hour drive to Toronto from Lennoxville, ending at the downtown apartment I’ll call home until the end of October. From here, I’ll be canvassing the Greater Toronto Area, before heading west to Regina, Winnipeg and Vancouver.
While I’ve written previously about the high-tech ways in which universities pursue students, individual school visits remain incredibly important. A recent article in Ad Age talked about the multi-billion dollar ad campaigns schools like UCLA have undertaken to bring in more students. I finished the article convinced that marketing and advertising were of paramount importance in higher education. That is, until I read the comments section, in which “university people” talked about the fact that personal relationships remain the most important way they can help students choose a university. After all, students aren’t buying an iPod, or picking out a pair of shoes; they’re making a serious decision that will cost upwards of $40,000 and have a lasting impact on their career, lifestyle, and friendships.
With these weighty things in mind, I rocketed out of the parking garage early Friday morning, bound for Upper Canada College. I should mention that if you are lucky enough to come across Bishop’s Dodge Caliber – affectionately nicknamed the “Gaitermobile” – feel free to wave. I arrived at UCC, set up my banner and promo materials, and proceeded to have a great discussion with UCC’s Head of Guidance, David Matthews. The guidance counsellors I met with at UCC, North Toronto, and Branksome Hall reminded me of the pressure GC’s are under on a daily basis. As senior students shift their attention toward choosing a university, counsellors are inundated with requests for assistance. They are responsible for helping students recognize the school that would best serve their long-term goals, even if those goals may shift over the four years the student is away. It’s a daunting task, to say the least. Thankfully, I think the students at the three schools I visited are in good hands, with people like David Matthews and Susan Bates aiding them in this important decision.
So what did I learn in my first week? I think, more than ever, university recruiters have a responsibility to be honest with prospective students. In today’s economy, universities are going to fight to bring students in. With the demographic dip looming for university-age Canadians, the battle will continue to be fierce.
Don’t get me wrong: If I think you’re the kind of person who should attend BU, I’ll do everything I can to make sure you end up there. But if you’re looking for a program or experience unavailable in Lennoxville, I’m not going to waste your time or tuition dollars convincing you of something you’ll likely reject in the end. As a student heading off to university, ask your guidance counsellors for help finding the right fit, so that you can build a short list of schools right away. Once you build that list, have a frank discussion with the recruiters from that university about your goals, priorities, and the life you want to live both during and after university. From there, you can start to get some idea of which school would best fit your needs.
That’s all for this morning. See you out there!
Is your school a party school? I hope so.
Debunking the myth that fun and academic success are mutually exclusive
Last week, we started interviewing student ambassadors here at Bishop’s. I asked each candidate to submit a video answering a few questions, including this one:
“A parent makes the statement, ‘I’ve heard this is a party school.’ How do you respond?”
While the answers varied, candidates danced around the elephant in the room. The fact is most universities don’t like to be known as being places to party. And I think that’s too bad.
It goes without saying that, first and foremost, students are looking for a formal education. The kind that happens in a classroom, typically accompanied by beakers, books, and sleepless nights at the library.
But students also like to have a good time. When the lectures are over and Friday night rolls around, most want to kick back and relax. And yes, they might enjoy a few cocktails in the process.
I think there’s this myth that the two are mutually exclusive. You can’t party and still do well in the classroom. In my opinion, it takes knowledge of both to achieve success. Development of life skills should be right up there with receiving that degree. It’s how you meet friends, react to challenges and opportunities, and decide what kind of person you want to become. And, for better or for worse, some of the development is impossible inside a classroom. However, it’s probably possible on a Saturday night, hanging out with a bunch of friends.
Travesty, right? Wrong. Some of the most successful people I know came to university because they’d heard it was a great place to both learn and have a good time. One of my closest friends came to university because he wanted both those things. So, did he fall apart once he got here? Not even close. He sat on the university board of governors, won awards at graduation, and is starting an M.A. this fall.
Look at the top twenty party schools in the U.S., as identified by the 2009 Princeton Review. Topping the list was Penn State University. That school boasts a billion-dollar endowment, and its alumni are Congressmen and CEOs of companies like Nike. Closing out the top-twenty is Arizona State University, where President Barack Obama spoke to the graduating class this past May. Those places seem to be doing fairly well for “party schools”.
To the future students out there, I’m not saying you should go out every night. That’s the long walk off a short pier that will see your university career end prematurely, sans degree. What I would advocate is that you choose a school where your free time can be filled with interesting people and places. Find a school that’s proud of its social scene, and recognizes the utility of developing well-rounded people.
So if you’re choosing a school this year, choose the one that caters to your every need. Choose the program you want, with the qualified and distinguished profs you’ll thrive under. And then, if you’re facing a choice…take a tour, and ask your student ambassador, “is this a party school?”
Student recruitment in the information age
Sometimes, the best ideas are the simple ones
This week, I’m working on Bishop’s University’s new “teaser” piece for prospective students. It’s a booklet destined for distribution across the country. In some homes it will line the bottom of the birdcage, while other students will find exactly what they’re looking for buried in its pages. For years now, Bishop’s – along with every other school – has published this viewbook with the requisite smiling students, pictures of the campus, and pithy catchphrase. But, when you’ve got 95 universities across the country doing the same thing, how do you make your school stand out?
That brings us to the Internet. While some university homepages have sat stagnant for years, many schools have recognized the importance of online exposure. Companies like EDGE even design websites specifically aimed at student recruitment. EDGE’s “EZ-Recruit” is a top-selling product in use by schools such as University of Lethbridge and Acadia University for their “Future Student” portals. The result is a clean, bright portal that addresses the precise needs of prospective students.
EZ-Recruit also uses data provided by students to create targeted communications. Are you a student from Halifax, interested in biology? There’s an e-mail with your name on it, prepped and ready to be sent out. Targetting means that recruitment departments don’t have to send as many blanket communications. Each e-mail and message feels personalized, so that the student receives only the information pertinent to him or her.
Outside of packages like EZ-Recruit, the pickings are slim. For places that are supposedly hubs for research and development, most university websites aren’t terribly engaging. If you look south of the border, the opposite appears to be true. Oberlin and Bennington are two sites that work particularly well, making information available in a captivating manner. Australia’s Bond University even has a minute-long television ad extolling the virtues of attending that particular school. (Just in case living on the Gold Coast wasn’t motivation enough!)
Back to Bishop’s. While we won’t be releasing an award-winning television ad anytime soon, I’ve spent most of my day on the same sites you guys have: Facebook and YouTube. The difference being that it’s my job to overhaul our social media presence, and I’m getting paid for my Facebook/YouTube time. That’s because a little while ago, it dawned on universities that prospective students were spending a lot of time on Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and other study distractions. So, why not go to where your audience is? Schools ran towards Facebook and YouTube, populating those two sites with content. Recognizing the trend, YouTube developed “YouTube EDU”, which helps educational institutions transform this into this.
With Facebook, targeted ads allow universities to get in front of potential students in a way they never could before. Is there a particular high school in Vancouver you’ve had multiple applications from this year? Why not give them a bit of a nudge during decision time, and purchase targeted ads in their high school network. The Internet opens up new avenues for targeting potential students that universities are still discovering.
Companies like Inigral and UTours are capitalizing on the push towards the Internet by creating content students are genuinely interested in, on platforms that are both visually attractive, and easy to navigate. In the case of Inigral, they’ve taken it one step further, integrating student information systems with Facebook, in a move that has been called frightening by some, revolutionary by others.
So is this viewbook I’m working on headed the way of the dinosaur? Eventually, yes. You can put more into a few minutes of video then you can into sixteen pages of text. There will always be course calendars and promo materials, but I think there will be a migration away from print, as universities begin to exploit text messaging, iPhone apps, and technologies yet to come. The early adopters will see increased enrolment, or at least increased applications. And the students? Well, they’ll have access to more information than ever before, arriving to them in a personalized and timely package.
While the future of student recruitment looks to be high-tech, there will always be great, low-tech ways to get attention. Last September, Bishop’s hired a chalk artist during the Toronto Student Life Expo. The artist sketched a huge graphic that read “Think Outside the Box”, encouraging students to consider their options outside of Ontario. It didn’t cost much, and it was incredibly effective. It just goes to show that sometimes… the best ideas are simple.
A Brief Introduction
Well, you might have read those extraordinary bios on the way in, and thought to yourself, “Wow, some of these people are pretty impressive…except for that Mark guy, who plays for a hockey team with a mildly offensive name.” Let me clarify; while I love those Motherpuckers, there’s a little bit more to Bishop’s University’s [...]
Well, you might have read those extraordinary bios on the way in, and thought to yourself, “Wow, some of these people are pretty impressive…except for that Mark guy, who plays for a hockey team with a mildly offensive name.”
Let me clarify; while I love those Motherpuckers, there’s a little bit more to Bishop’s University’s newest recruiter.
As the title at the top probably indicates, my name is Mark Lawson. For four fun years, I was a student at Bishop’s University. I played lacrosse, wrote for the newspaper, was a leadership intern, worked with the Model UN, sat on Bishop’s Board of Governors, and capped it all off with a stint as student body president. It was an incredible time, and looking back, helped me grow in ways I never expected. I graduated from Bishop’s in Political Studies, with a minor in English, and a certificate in French from Université de Sherbrooke
With graduation fast approaching – a date that, as a freshman, you never think could actually come – I had a few choices: Grad school? Job? Panic? Cry?
Fortunately for me, Bishop’s thought, “hey, this guy’s got something”, and hired me as the newest member of the recruiting department. Since I liked the idea of working for a place that had given me so much, the answer was a no-brainer: Yes!
Over the course of my blog, I’m going to introduce you to life as a university recruiter. My first impression is that its months of planning, followed by frantic weeks travelling the country. I’m quite new to this, so you’ll have a chance to follow me as I experience the ups and downs of life on the road for the first time.
First of all, let me get one thing out of the way: I love Bishop’s University, and I think it was the best place for me to spend four years. But Canada is full of great universities, and the one I chose might not be the best one for you. Maclean’s didn’t hire me to pontificate, but to report on the unique life of a recruiter.
The truth is that every year, students across Canada – and across the world – choose universities and colleges that suit them for a variety of reasons. You may be looking for a small campus community like Bishop’s. Or, you may be looking for the bustle of a big city to keep you busy, leading you to UBC. While getting a degree is priority number one, it may not be the programs a university offers that make or break it for you. Richard Florida’s book “Who’s Your City?” discusses how people choose which city to live in, and I think it’s the same when students pick which place to spend their next four or five years.
I’ll discuss that concept more in future blogs, where I’ll also touch on “recruiter-speak”, the characters I work with, life on the road, and the tools universities use to identify and convert prospective students. The advent of Web 2.0 is dragging the Ivory Tower into the 21st century, and I’ll write on how universities are using social media to get their message out there.
For now, it’s back to work, as I begin to craft a social media strategy for Bishop’s. Talk to you soon…
