Student recruitment is just one component of best practice in Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) but it is one of the most critical. It is a complex, fast-paced, high-stakes, year-round endeavor without much of a safety net. It has a lot of moving parts that must be managed. Ironically, one of the factors that has made student recruitment increasingly complex is the exponential growth of research findings, AI, behavioral economics, technology, and a myriad of new products all designed to help us do our work better.
During my career as an enrollment professional, I learned that it was vital to periodically cut through the complexity and clutter of leading an admissions/recruitment program and make certain that I had not let the fundamentals of sustained successful student recruitment become neglected. This article is not an exhaustive list of all of the important fundamentals, but a vehicle for highlighting a few that I think are especially important.
Powerful fundamentals are "simple but not simplistic" (SNS). I have used this phrase for years but I do not know where it came from. There are many viewpoints on what SNS means so take your pick.
The following are excerpts from Simple: Conquering the Crisis of Complexity, an excellent book about simplicity:
“For us, simplicity has no synonym. When you reach a point where you have achieved transparency (laying bare the underlying truth whatever it reveals), clarity (expressing meaning clearly and simply), and usability (making something fit for its purpose), you have likely achieved simplicity…there is a world of difference between simple and simplistic. The distinction lies in understanding what is essential and meaningful as opposed to what is not, then ruthlessly eliminating the latter, while putting emphasis and focus on the former.” (Siegel & Etzkorn, 2013)
This fundamental concept is included first in this article because while the often highly complex tools listed above can enhance a student recruitment program, their application must meet the SNS principle to be operational and scalable.
Build effective and efficient communication and relationships. These two components represent the backbone of a best practice recruitment plan. Their implementation requires the application of the best practice science and art of the profession to plan and apply the well-known recruitment “R’s”: communicate, in as personalized fashion as feasible, with the right messages to the right target markets at the right time through the right communication channels and actions.
Set “Posteriorities.” Peter F. Drucker, often called the “Father of Modern Mangement Studies,” pointed out that there are always more things to do than there are time and people to do them. Therefore, he maintains that managers must set both priorities and “posteriorities.”
During my career as an enrollment professional, I learned that it was vital to periodically cut through the complexity and clutter of leading an admissions/recruitment program and make certain that I had not let the fundamentals of sustained successful student recruitment become neglected. This article is not an exhaustive list of all of the important fundamentals, but a vehicle for highlighting a few that I think are especially important.
Powerful fundamentals are "simple but not simplistic" (SNS). I have used this phrase for years but I do not know where it came from. There are many viewpoints on what SNS means so take your pick.
The following are excerpts from Simple: Conquering the Crisis of Complexity, an excellent book about simplicity:
“For us, simplicity has no synonym. When you reach a point where you have achieved transparency (laying bare the underlying truth whatever it reveals), clarity (expressing meaning clearly and simply), and usability (making something fit for its purpose), you have likely achieved simplicity…there is a world of difference between simple and simplistic. The distinction lies in understanding what is essential and meaningful as opposed to what is not, then ruthlessly eliminating the latter, while putting emphasis and focus on the former.” (Siegel & Etzkorn, 2013)
This fundamental concept is included first in this article because while the often highly complex tools listed above can enhance a student recruitment program, their application must meet the SNS principle to be operational and scalable.
Build effective and efficient communication and relationships. These two components represent the backbone of a best practice recruitment plan. Their implementation requires the application of the best practice science and art of the profession to plan and apply the well-known recruitment “R’s”: communicate, in as personalized fashion as feasible, with the right messages to the right target markets at the right time through the right communication channels and actions.
Set “Posteriorities.” Peter F. Drucker, often called the “Father of Modern Mangement Studies,” pointed out that there are always more things to do than there are time and people to do them. Therefore, he maintains that managers must set both priorities and “posteriorities.”
Read Full Article Here: 8 Fundamentals of Successful Student Recruitment
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