Strengthening Employer Relationships This Fall: 7 Tips for Career Services Professionals

Employer relationships are amongst the core drivers of ROI for your institution’s career development, work-integrated learning, and experiential education programming.

With the busy Fall campus recruitment season in full swing, it can be natural to focus more on the transactional rather than the transformative impact you can have supporting employers in meeting their talent needs.

It’s also very easy for employers to feel overwhelmed by or simply not be aware of the full menu of options available to them for engaging talent on campus.

And, perhaps, what might seem intuitive or necessary from an administrative standpoint can sometimes be perceived as cumbersome or a roadblock by employer partners.

They need your expertise to help navigate it all!

By serving as a guide to the career ecosystem and helping to create a tailored approach to recruitment on your campus, you demonstrate your team's value as a broker of talent and a partner in achieving an employer's recruitment goals.

Here are 7 tips for developing impact-driven employer relationships and keeping them strong all year long!

#1 - Collaborate with Employers to Customize Engagement

While this may be straight out of Employer Relations 101, it is the cornerstone in moving beyond the transaction when providing services to employers.

Most career centres have a promotional piece with an overview of engagement options. This is helpful in highlighting the options that are available. But, to be honest, many employers may not see themselves reflected in all the options on the page or fully understand the value they will gain by participating in a particular initiative. I'd invite you to take things one step further by helping employers to develop a tailored approach to what will be most effective for them to undertake on your campus.

Strategy: Work closely with each employer to:

• Understand Objectives: Initiate a conversation to deepen your awareness and understanding of their recruitment goals, challenges, and target demographics.
• Co-Create Engagement Plans: Use insights and data to recommend tailored activities such as networking events, targeted student organization partnerships, experiential learning projects, alumni initiatives, orientation events or panel conversations.
• Deepen Engagement: This approach not only helps employers achieve their goals but also strengthens their commitment and investment in your campus.

#2 - Be a Navigator and Position Yourself as a Broker of Talent

Navigating campus can be daunting! Often employers look to you for your expertise. And, just because a process makes sense administratively doesn’t mean it’s intuitive or accessible for employer partners.

Rather than simply managing access to events or posting opportunities on your job board, consider how you can position your career centre as an essential broker of talent within an employer's recruitment ecosystem that both helps to guide them and facilitate the connections needed to maximize their recruitment success.

Strategy: Demonstrate the value you and your team bring to the table by:

Providing Quick Start Guides: Offer digital guides (easier to access, greener, less cumbersome to maintain) and onboarding sessions outlining key steps, timelines, and contacts. Be sure to include "insider tip"s to help employers understand the nuances of your campus and how to most effectively engage with your students.

Facilitating Introductions: Facilitate introductions and follow up with both campus and employer contacts to understand next steps and how you can assist as the employer's primary point of contact.

Proactively Communicating Updates: Keep employers informed about staff and student group changes, programming formats, or new initiatives. Modelling this approach also encourages reciprocal updates on their part.

Sharing Data and Insights: Regularly provide data, success stories, and insights to demonstrate your team and institution's impact on an employer's recruitment outcomes AND in meeting their skills/competency needs, fostering innovation, and driving their business forward!

#3 - Help Employers Focus on Their Long Game

Encourage employers to think beyond immediate hiring needs and consider the benefits of sustained engagement with your students on: cementing their employer brand, opportunities to gain competitive advantage by identifying talent earlier; and, cultivating the skills pipeline needed to meet their evolving business and workforce needs.

This approach also creates win-win scenarios for students and your institution, offering opportunities for skills development, meaningful industry engagement, and potential for future alumni involvement and financial investment. All good news stories and value add to your institution stemming from your team.

Strategy: In addition to achieving objectives set-out in an employer's short-term recruitment cycles, enable employers to think longer term and be even more strategic by inviting them to participate in activities like:

• Experiential Learning,
• Practice Interviews and Resume Reviews
• Case Competitions and Hackathons:
• Program Reviews and Advisory Boards
• Mentorship Programs
• Strategic Planning Sessions (both within your Career Centre and beyond)
• Alumni Events
• Donor/Sponsorship Opportunities

#4 - Empower Inclusion, Equity, Diversity and Accessibility (IDEA)

Employers are increasingly focused on connecting with diverse talent, but engaging with equity-deserving student groups can look different on each campus. You and your team are instrumental in guiding employers toward inclusive practices and supporting their IDEA-centered recruitment initiatives.

You can facilitate meaningful engagement with equity-deserving communities on your campus by modeling practices that make recruitment events inclusive by design and helping employers to ensure they are genuinely ready and able to support diverse talent within their organizations.

Strategy: You can empower IDEA through:

• Partnering: Collaborate with campus diversity offices and student organizations to facilitate introductions and collaborative events.
• Sharing Best Practices: Provide employers with insights into engaging diverse talent and highlight specific programs or initiatives on your campus that support equity-deserving communities.
• Organizing Niche Events: Host ecruitment events tailored to diverse talent groups, ensuring these events are anchored by inclusive design.
• Assessing Readiness & Capacity: Help employers evaluate their IDEA policies, practices, and workplace culture. Support them in showcasing their nclusive environment where diverse talent can thrive to students.

#5 - Add Value Through Data and Insights

Employers value information that can refine and enhance their recruitment strategy - for example, insights into student engagement, application trends, and feedback from past events.

By offering these insights, you position yourself and your career centre as a strategic ally that provides the analytical support needed to optimize recruitment efforts.

Strategy: After recruitment events, deliver summary reports to employers that include key metrics such as student turnout, interests, and feedback. Use this data to offer tailored recommendations that help employers adjust and improve their recruitment strategies.

Additional Examples of Data/Insights to Share:

• Student Demographics: Provide information on the academic backgrounds, majors, diversity metrics (self-identified) and year of study of students who attend your recruitment events. This helps employers understand the types of candidates they are reaching.
• Engagement Metrics: Share data on student engagement levels during peak campus recruitment periods, including participation in career fairs, workshops, coffee chats, and networking events. This can highlight areas of high interest or engagement.
• Application Trends: Offer summaries of trends across campus related to application numbers, perceived quality of applications by employers, and any shifts in the types of roles or companies that students are interested in.
• Event Feedback: Include qualitative feedback from students on what they found valuable or challenging during recruitment events. This feedback can guide employers in refining their approach to better connect with students.
• Conversion Rates: Provide data on how many students who engaged with employers at events went on to apply for positions or participate in follow-up activities. This helps employers gauge the effectiveness of their outreach.
• Benchmarking Data: Compare the performance of different recruitment events to help employers identify best practices and areas for further refinement in their campus recruitment strategy.

#6 - Support a Smart Blended Approach

In-person engagement offer significant value but often comes with higher time and financial investment on the part of employers. In a time of tighter budgets and competing priorities, its important to support employers in coming up with the right mix of in-person, virtual, and hybrid engagement for their goals and needs.

Throughout the pandemic, virtual and hybrid events have also proven to enhance accessibility and extend reach.

The key here is to guide employers in choosing the optimal formats for their objectives and maximizing their impact during on-campus visits.

Strategy: Support employers in balancing making the most of their recruitment events while managing resources effectively by:

• Optimizing Format: When an employer indicates that they would like to host virtual events, help them to select formats such as coffee chats, small group networking or information sessions (that go well beyond what is on their website) to complement their in-person efforts.
• Maximizig Campus Visits: Help employers to make the most of their time on campus by facilitating meetings with key contacts (e.g., student group leaders, past/future talent, alumni offices) or inviting them to host a niche networking event when they are already on campus for a career fair or other recruitment event.
• Providing Support: Ensure tech platforms for virtual and hybrid events employers are using are user-friendly and promote engagement. Offer ongoing tips and best practices to help employers effectively engage both virtually and in-person.

#7 - Show Appreciation and Recognize Contributions

Everyone likes to feel valued and acknowledged. Simple yet meaningful gestures, such as personalized notes or hosting recognition or value-add events, convey this and reinforce the value of your partnership.

Strategy: This approach helps build a culture of mutual respect and collaboration, ensuring that your employer relationships remain strong and productive. Some examples of how to put this philosophy into practice are:

• Host Appreciation Events: At the end of the recruitment season or key milestones, organize an appreciation event to celebrate and thank employers. This could be a small gathering, a virtual event, or even a casual networking meet-up.
• Send Personalized Recaps: Provide tailored summaries of their engagement, highlighting specific impacts they’ve made, such as successful recruitment outcomes or positive student feedback. Include any data or success stories that showcase the value of your work together.
• Public Recognition: Recognize employers through your communication channels, such as newsletters or social media. Public acknowledgment not only shows appreciation but also reinforces their commitment to your institution.

As we move through this busy time on campus, remember that the effort you invest in understanding and addressing the unique needs of each employer will pay dividends in the form of strengthened partnerships and enriched opportunities for your students in the long term.

Let’s continue to innovate, support, and celebrate the successes we achieve together! Your dedication and expertise make a significant difference— let's do this!

Trevor Buttrum is an award-winning leader with 15+ years of experience in talent strategy, employer branding, and career education. He is proud to be the Executive Director of CACEE / ACSEE , the leading authority on the journey from post-secondary studies to career success!

Prior to joining CACEE in the Spring of 2022, Trevor was the Director of Operations at TalentEgg - Canada's largest career resource for students, new graduates, and early career talent, and led a national talent and career education initiative on behalf of the property and casualty insurance industry at the Insurance Institute of Canada .

About CACEE

The Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers (CACEE) is a pan-Canadian network and the leading authority for professionals focused on supporting students on their journey from post-secondary studies to career success. As a not-for-profit professional assocaition, CACEE empowers its members by providing access to the expertise, tools, exchange of ideas, relationships, thought leadership, and resources needed to excel in their work.

CACEE’s offerings to its professional community include micro-credential and certificate programs, regional PD events, community of practice roundtable discussions, virtual workshops and webinars, networking opportunities and social events, research and advocacy initiatives, access to other national and international associations, and a national conference.

Want to learn more or collaborate? Send Trevor a message.