Yello, the leader in early talent acquisition software, today debuted upcoming virtual recruiting functionality that will help companies continue to recruit college students despite an uncertain recruiting season this fall. The company expects the virtual enhancements to be available later this summer, giving teams time to implement before the fall recruiting season.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused universities around the world to take unprecedented actions. After most campuses shut down earlier this year, classes have moved online and graduation ceremonies have been conducted remotely — allowing students and faculty to safely social distance. Those schools are now looking to the fall semester, where the future of campus recruiting activities like career fairs and on-campus interviews is unknown hrtech news.
In addition to existing virtual campus recruiting functionality, Yello will make the following enhancements to popular existing products to ensure companies have the flexibility to continue meeting candidates — whether they’re on campus or off:
- Host Virtual Events: Seamlessly generate and share video conference invites directly from Yello
- Live Video Interview Collaboration: Share ideas with built-in screen sharing and participant chat
- Linking Third-Party Conferencing Tools: Engage candidates on third-party webinar tools, with all candidate info captured in Yello
- Track Virtual Event Metrics: Report on attendance, event performance and conversion to measure virtual ROI
- Live Video Interviews from Mobile Devices: Connect with candidates in seconds, from any device
“What we’ve been hearing over the past few months is that companies are looking to plan for every possible scenario,” says Yello Executive Vice President of Sales, Michael Megerian. “Even if they want to be back on campus next semester, the career fairs will probably not look exactly like they used to. That’s why a lot of companies are turning to virtual to supplement their on-campus strategies.”
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, nearly 1 in 3 universities are not planning for in-person instruction in the fall. These schools are either planning to move classes online, proposing a hybrid virtual/physical model, or considering a range of scenarios before making a final decision. Major institutions like the California State University system have led the charge in planning for online instruction this fall.
Even at schools that do reopen, however, large recruiting events like career fairs and interview days may be impacted by local social distancing regulations. Campus recruiters are scrambling — not only to plan for the fall season, but also to create backup plans if they can’t be on campus.
Many of Yello’s clients have been combining virtual campus recruiting efforts with more traditional on-campus activities for years — even before COVID-19. Recruiting teams like BDO and Kearney have actually been able to meet more candidates by adding virtual efforts, while reducing costs associated with career fair events and recruiter travel.
Yello believes that this hybrid virtual and on-campus recruiting strategy is not only necessary to help companies get through COVID-19, but will be the key to campus recruiting success moving forward.
“Companies moved to virtual campus recruiting for the last several years,” says Yello Cofounder, Dan Bartfield. “The pandemic has accelerated this change, but many companies already relied on virtual efforts to stand out from the competition or continue hitting recruiting goals with limited internal resources. With virtual engagements, companies can grow their campus presence beyond the career fair booth, maintain a high-quality candidate experience, and ultimately meet more candidates — all while saving time and significantly reducing cost to recruit.”
