Graduate Recruiting and Retention Workshop Recommendations

Paul Gemperline

October 31, 2012

Below please find recommended strategies and best practices from our graduate recruiting and retention workshop. Please accept my sincere thanks to all who contributed many excellent suggestions.

-Paul Gemperline

I. Improve graduate school and program marketing materials, ESPECIALLY WEBSITES

National data and student panels indicate that information on graduate program web sites is THE primary source of data for prospective students. Many of our competitors are doing a significantly better job. The Graduate School is working with the campus administration to provide professional marketing and website development support. Our plans also included development of templates that Colleges, Departments and Graduate Programs can use to improve online marketing of their programs. More information will be forthcoming as these plans develop.

  1. Information on your web sites should include:
  2. Availability of financial support (assistantships, scholarships, tuition remissions, avg amt)
  3. Tuition and fees (per semester and total cost for the degree)
  4. Cost of living in Greenville compared to other cities in NC and outside NC (link to cost of living calculator on Greenville Chamber of Commerce web site)
  5. Employment opportunities (cite US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, other sources). Be specific. Include average salaries, current unemployment rate, and projected growth.
  6. Include career placement examples for recent graduates: Jobs! Admission to PhD programs!
  7. Include a summary of basic program requirements such as
  8. time-to-degree for full-time or part-time students
  9. List number of credits required
  10. Describe how, when and where the program is delivered (provide links to details for those that want more info).
  11. Application deadlines
  12. Mode of delivery (where appropriate): Online options? Full-time/part-time? Evening options?
  13. If online delivery is an option can all requirements be completed or hybrid delivery with some required on-campus time?
  14. Research interests of faculty (notice how far this is down the list!!!)

2.  Develop promotional videos featuring testimonials of currently enrolled students

3.  Scheduled times for Skype interviews with current students and/or faculty

4.  Post Faculty CV’s on website

II. Increase outreach, prospecting and lead generating activities – strategies for attracting interest of prospective students

Success in this area is all about generating interest and driving prospective student traffic to our web sites. Email and telephone inquiries are often the result of visits to web sites. Rapid and personal responses to queries for information are KEY to success.

  1. Prospecting and lead generation – *new idea*
  2. Generate lists of prospective students with theGRE®Search Service @ $0.43 per contact. The Graduate School will develop expertise and provide support to programs that want to use it.
  1. Develop a cadre of graduate student ambassadors in your program (and senior undergraduates with high level of interest in admission) - *new idea*
  2. Train them to respond to prospective student’s requests for routine information, forward non-routine requests to program director
  3. Advantages
  4. Personal, rapid, connection and communication
  5. Peer-to-peer
  6. Ask to ambassadors to participate in pre-admittance meetings (virtual or on-campus)
  7. Webinars – *new idea* Schedule online webinars to describe your program and answer questions, send links to other schools for dissemination to their undergraduates
  8. Develop pipelines of undergraduate students from your own graduate programs. Invite undergraduates to learn more about your graduate programs by holding information sessions.
  9. Participate in on-campus graduate fairs
  10. Ask similar programs to share extra applications from programs where demand exceeds available seats (for example, MS Occupational Therapy à Recreational Therapy Administration)
  1. Google Ad campaign:
  2. The Graduate School is working with Marketing and Communication to expand online advertising through its “Google Ad Words campaign”. The ad campaign will start in November 2012 and run through April 2013. Specific geographical regions and demographic segments will be targeted in this campaign.
  3. The effectiveness of last year’s prototype campaign was demonstrated by significant increases in visits to the Graduate School’s promotional web site “Why Choose ECU?” with higher than average viewing times and lower than average bounce rates.
  4. It is our aim to provide simple navigational aids on this landing page to drive prospective students to college and department web sites
  5. The Graduate School attends state and regional graduate fairs on behalf of the entire university to identify prospects and generate leads.
  6. Contact information for prospects is promptly distributed to individual program directors.

III. Identify target audiences and increase promotional activities

  1. Identify discipline specific populations and develop mechanisms for reaching out – program directors are best suited to do this. Examples of target populations might include:
  2. Military personnel and family members
  3. Students attending professional meetings and conferences
  4. Discipline specific recruitment fairs
  5. Letters to university departments and community colleges
  6. Continuing education conferences
  7. Invite other school’s program directors to campus
  8. Alumni in the workplace can be some of our BEST advocates.
  9. Keep lines of communication with alumni ACTIVE.
  10. Make personal requests to ask them to help promote your programs in their workplaces.
  11. Advertise at major conferences
  12. Recruit local undergraduates through mechanisms like Research and Creative Activity Week (RCAW)
  13. Advertise via employment list-serves
  14. Advertise via professional societies

IV. Follow-up activities and communication strategies

Timely, personal, and rapid commination’s to requests for information from prospects and admitted students is a KEY strategy.

  1. An admitted student does not automatically become an enrolled student! Personal communication can help admitted students choose ECU over other offers of admission.
  2. See item II.2, above - develop a cadre of graduate student ambassadors in your program (and senior undergraduates with high level of interest in admission) to help with communications to prospective students
  3. Check early indicators of intent and commitment
  4. Encourage students to pre-register for courses
  5. Monitor early registrations
  6. Communicate with those who don’t register early
  7. Develop communication plans with template letters and emails – (and use them!)
  8. Develop a separate communication plan for communicating with early prospects
  9. Develop a separate communication plan for students with incomplete applications
  10. Develop a separate communication plan for students who are admitted but not yet registered
  11. Develop a communication plan for returning students
  12. Use face-to-face campus interviews or Skype for selection & recruiting
  13. Meet and greet, on-site visit day
  14. Arrange to have prospective students meet with currently enrolled students. Ask your currently students to advise you on prospective students’ professional behavior, demeanor, commitment to the program – You will be surprised at what you learn!
  15. Virtual fairs & meet & greet