Off-campus recruitment occurs when representatives from colleges and universities attend events outside of the college campus in order to recruit new students. This type of recruitment is a proactive form of marketing and promotion used by a college or university to entice students to enroll.
Recruiting can take place in a variety of settings and in a variety of formats. College recruiters can conduct off-campus recruiting by attending college tradeshows, which are typically organized and hosted by one or more local high schools. Recruiters from colleges typically attend a variety of tradeshows. They set up a table, hand out college information, discuss the college’s benefits with students, and answer any questions that students who stop by their table may have.
Off-campus recruitment can take the form of an information session. The recruiter could rent a meeting room at a nearby hotel or hold the session in the high school library. The information session is open to both students and parents. The recruiter will speak to the group about the college and distribute information packets. Recruiters may also arrange for one-on-one meetings and tours of the campus. The recruiters will also take questions from the audience at the end or during these sessions.
Some off-campus recruiting is done on a one-on-one basis. Because of their high school academic record or athletic abilities, a college or university may have their sights set on a specific student. In this case, the college or university may conduct off-campus recruitment by dispatching a recruiter to speak with the student and his or her parents.
Off-campus recruitment, in a nutshell, is any action taken by a recruiter to proactively make a potential student aware of the college. Once the student is aware of the college, the off-campus recruiter’s job is to sell the college’s or university’s benefits to the students in order to persuade them to apply to attend. Off-campus recruitment can even include the steps a student must take to apply.
Recruiters may offer advice on how to complete the admissions application to the best of their abilities. They may offer advice on how to complete the essay or suggest other ways to improve a student’s chances of acceptance.