Engaging Your Audience:

1
Engaging Your Audience

• How to Make Career Services Workshops and
  Presentations More Attractive by Including
  Employers

2
Overview

• Identifying the problem
• Marketing Strategies prior to introducing
  Employers
• Reasons to market to Employers
• How to market to Employers
• Marketing workshops with Employers
• Employers-Getting the word out!
• Is this a National Trend?

3
Career Services Workshops

• CS 101
• Interviewing Skills
• Resume and CV writing
• Workplace Ethics
• Arts Science Workshops
• Deciding on a Major

4
Identifying the Problem

• These workshops were held at least 4 times a
  month.
• Even with the frequency of these workshops we
  noticed the following
• Lack of student interest
• Lack of attendance

5
Marketing Strategies prior to Employer
participation

• Classroom and Club presentations
• Flyers
• Announcements on our websites
• Emailing students using PantherLink/NaceLink

6
Reasons to market to Employers

• Employers bring in different perspectives to the
  topic/workshop.
• Employers discuss current trends regarding their
  employment habits
• Employers might be willing to sponsor the
  workshop with food and giveaways
• Creates a closer bond/relationship with the
  employers

7
How to market to Employers

• First identify which employer would be available
  to attend and then make initial contact.
• You might have to modify the time and date
  according to the employers availability
• Try having the employer participate in workshops
  before/after the Career Fair
• Have the employer participate in a workshop the
  day of their employer information
  session/recruitment dates

8
How to market to Employers

• Introduce to the employer all of the possible
  Career Services workshops for that month with a
  brief explanation about each.
• Let the employer know that you will begin the
  presentation with general knowledge regarding the
  topic, and that he/she will be given time
  afterwards to address the same topic

9
How to market to Employers

• Let the Employer know that the workshops are a
  great marketing tool to introduce their company
  to the students.
• Unlike Career Fairs, workshops are smaller and
  more personal for both the students and employers
• Let the employer know that the workshops are
  another great tool for recruitment

10
Marketing Workshops with Employers

• One can still use the traditional methods of
  marketing to the students
• Flyers
• Emails
• Announcements on the Career Services Websites
• Club and Classroom presentations

11
Marketing workshops with Employers

• However, make sure you include on the marketing
  materials, information regarding the special
  guest
• In addition, ask the employer to send you
  marketing materials regarding their company and
  employment opportunities. This will further
  catch the students interest.

12
Employers-Get the word out!

• Many employers when they present about their
  companies, many are very vague about the
  different career opportunities
• Or
• Many employers choose to speak about the hiring
  process for the company
• But is this what the students really want to hear?

13
Employers-Get the word out!

• Depending on the students level-Junior or Senior
  status, they will be looking for different types
  of information.
• Overall, students are interested in very concrete
  facts that will affect their decision in choosing
  your company/organization

14
Employers-Get the word out!

• What is a Junior level student thinking about?
• INTERNSHIPS- paid/unpaid/college credit
• PAY-how much
• DURATION-starting and ending dates
• GEOGRAPHY- do they have to relocate
• RELOCATION-is there assistance
• POSITIONS- number of slots available

15
Employers-Get the word out!

• What is Senior level student thinking about?
• POSITIONS-availability local/nationally
• SALARY- Range
• PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT- Continuing Education
• TRAVEL TIME- Percentage
• RETIREMENT- Pension
• BENEFITS-Holiday/Vacation
• RETENTION- staff, roll-over
• PROMOTIONS-Transfers

16
Example of a previous workshop

• This workshop was tailored for History,
  Economics, Geography, and Political Science
  Majors
• Research was done to identify which employer
  would recruit these majors State Department
• Students with those majors were emailed using
  Pantherlink about the upcoming workshop
• Classroom presentations were done to inform and
  invite students to attend
• The day of the workshop, the recruiter brought
  giveaways for the students
• There were over 30 Students in attendance
• By the end of the workshop, the recruiter
  accepted 3 resumes, of which one was hired.

17
Is this a National Trend?

• Researched 80 universities and colleges
• Only 8 had employers as special speakers for
  their workshops
• More employers were used as special guests for
  the individual colleges ex. College of Business,
  Law Schools.

18
Is this a national trend?

• University of Tennessee
• Washington State University
• University of Oklahoma
• Rice University

• University of Missouri in St. Louis
• University of Illinois at Urbania-Champaign
• Miami University

19
Quick tips for Marketing to Employers

• Know potential employers
• Identify target majors for classroom
  presentations
• Research potential employers and their
  recruitment procedures
• Make the workshop attractive to employers (sell
  your product)
• Promote collaborative development of workshops
  with employers to peek their interest and ensure
  future interactions
• Make it fun and engaging for students (I.e.
  giveaways, forums, employment opportunities)

20
Florida International UniversityCareer Services

• Jose Toscano, MA
• Assistant Director, Career Services-College of
  Business
• For further information please contact me at
  [phone] or email toscanoj_at_fiu.edu