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Employer spotlights

5 Virtual recruiting takeaways from Intuit, Rocket Mortgage, and SAS

Missed our "Find Your Next" Preview Summit? Catch up on all the takeaways.

If you missed our “Find Your Next” Preview Summit in June, join us July 29-30 for our exclusive two-day “Find Your Next” Launch Summit event.

Handshake’s “Find Your Next” Preview Summit has wrapped, but we’re not finished talking fall plans just yet. Last month, over 1,000 talent leaders from around the country gathered to speak with and learn from industry experts and Handshake executives about the future of early talent recruiting in the virtual space.

Handshake’s mission of democratizing access to opportunity and ensuring all students get a chance to build the career they want—no matter where they’re from or what school they attend—is especially paramount with the industry’s shift towards primarily virtual recruiting programs for the fall.

We connected with some of our Premium employer partners to discuss ways in which they are leveraging technology to build authentic relationships with college students and recent grads, meaningful virtual events, and more to establish a seamless virtual recruiting program. Here are 5 tactical takeaways that some of our partners have implemented that will be resourceful to your virtual recruiting program:

1. Get a head start on the new normal

As Christie Dougherty, University Outreach Specialist at SAS suggested, “What is ‘normal’ now won’t be ‘normal’ in the future,” and many employers alike are getting ahead of the inevitable and preparing early for what is expected to be a virtual fall and spring recruiting season. Many are doing so by connecting with their career services partners early and utilizing Handshake Premium features such as Segments and Campaigns to proactively connect with priority candidates in lieu of face to face meetings. By focusing on these relationships in creative ways, employers can drive more impactful employee engagement early on and discover what works and what doesn’t work come fall.

2. Ensure technology equity early

As a part of the process to prepare remote interns for onboarding at Intuit and SAS, program managers ensure that all interns have adequate WiFi, access to a computer, a quiet place to work, and housing for the summer before kicking off their virtual internship. Access can create an equity issue, and many employers are not only aware, but working proactively to handle such issues on a case-by-case basis. The shift to virtual has opened up opportunities for employers like Intuit to offer stipends to new hires with the funds that were previously allocated for employee travel and relocation expenses, bringing their entire HR operations to the virtual sphere (and not just recruiting).

3. Utilize virtual ambassadors

Alongside Handshake’s upgraded Ambassador Campaigns feature, Handshake Premium partners are utilizing elements of personalization within the app to get in front of qualified students. Leveraging current employees as “ambassadors” for prospective hires allows for them to get a better idea of whether or not that company is right for them from someone they can relate to. That can then lead to future conversations with other members of the team, ultimately making communication and transparency within the organization more available and direct. Fred Davis, Talent Acquisition Manager at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), noted engaging with students strategically to give them insight into the company as being a key factor to their recruiting success thus far.

4. Lean into personal and professional development

Now more than ever, great candidates want to hear and learn from employees who are like them. Pivoting virtually has increased the need for senior employees and company ambassadors to interact with prospective hires and form meaningful relationships. Buddy Henika, Team Leader of Talent Acquisition at Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans spoke about his company’s shift away from traditional mentors and new hire assignments, towards a more autonomous approach of allowing employees to find their own mentor within the company. They do so by holding networking and social events that lower the barrier of communication between new hires and senior level employees.

5. Make onboarding an interactive experience

Typical recruiting and onboarding methods simply won’t work the same this fall season. Employers are not only looking to delegate meaningful work, but they are seeking creative ways to make the virtual onboarding experience interactive for early talent. Christie’s team at SAS utilizes bi-weekly surveys with their intern class and managers to gauge and address immediate issues that may arise, but also to make sure that they have the experience that they’re looking for. Through these surveys, they’ve assessed their Net Promoter Score (NPS) at 85. Based on the global NPS standards, any score above 0 would be considered "good", 50 and above being excellent while, 70 and above is considered "world class”.

If you missed out on the opportunity to attend our “Find Your Next” Preview Summit in June, join us on July 29 and 30 for our exclusive two-day “Find Your Next” Launch Summit event. Hear from Handshake executives, employers like Airbnb, and many more talk about how they’re reaching great candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and using digital tools to further their connections with exceptional talent in an all-virtual fall.

Register here to claim your spot.

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