Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals
When employers are selecting the colleges and universities at which to recruit, what characteristics do they consider most important?
Employers responding to NACE’s 2018 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey indicate that they base their decisions on their previous recruiting experience at the school, the majors offered there, and the quality of individual academic programs.
More than 90 percent of respondents rated their past recruiting experience at school and the school’s majors offered as “very” to “extremely” important, while 89 percent see the quality of individual academic programs as a key characteristic. (See Figure 1.)
More than four-fifths of respondents also value the diversity of a school’s student body and the interest of school's graduates in the organization.
Data collection for NACE’s 2018 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report took place from June 20, 2018, to September 10, 2018; 218 firms participated. The report will be released later this winter.
Figure 1: Target school characteristics rated “very” to “extremely” important
|
Characteristic |
% of responses |
| Past recruiting experience at school |
91.4% |
| Majors offered |
91.2% |
| Quality of individual academic programs |
89.1% |
| Diversity of student body |
83.5% |
| Interest of school's graduates in the organization |
81.2% |
| Reputation of school |
78.6% |
| Success of school's alumni in the organization |
77.1% |
| Location of school |
76.7% |
| Accreditation of school |
74.9% |
| Retention history with school's alumni |
67.5% |
| Helpfulness of career services staff |
56.8% |
| Salary expectations of students |
47.4% |
| National rankings |
44.4% |
| Executives are alumni of the school |
34.4% |
Source: 2018 Recruiting Benchmarks Survey Report, National Association of Colleges and Employers