By: Stephanie Lewis, assistant director of Career Education
Thinking about finding a job or an internship can sometimes feel overwhelming. From industry to location, there are many factors that go into our decision-making and exploration process which can contribute to our level of comfort. Yet even after you’ve decided on the opportunity you want to pursue, there are still other steps that can create barriers we don’t foresee.
It should be no surprise to anyone that Whitworth is a highly relational place. For most of us, that was the number one reason for choosing it as our place of learning or employment. We love to connect with others and build relationships that last. This preference also carries over into how we like to seek out employment opportunities and connect with organizations and recruiters. “I want to meet someone face to face” or “I need to shake someone’s hand” are components in our decision-making process, but those desires could also be presenting roadblocks to future student employment.
During my classroom presentations for the 2021-22 academic year, I would informally ask students to share their opinions about virtual recruiting, such as workshops, information sessions and interviews all conducted via video chat platforms like Handshake or Zoom. This admittedly unscientific method showed me anecdotally that many of Whitworth’s students give virtual recruiting a big thumbs down – unsurprising for our relationship-based campus. But employers feel differently.
In their 2021 Recruiting Trends report, the Michigan State University Collegiate Employment Research Institute found that “approximately 82% of respondents indicated that they employed digital or AI-assisted technologies in some steps or for all of their recruiting process.” What was originally predicted to become the norm in recruiting in 2030 has become the norm here and now as the result of the impacts of the pandemic. Employers have found that they can get great talent for their organization without ever leaving their office. They are able to work more efficiently and connect with students from multiple universities in one virtual event, instead of multiple campus visits. The results of the study also showed that almost 50% of the responding employers found virtual recruiting to provide them with cost savings as an additional benefit.
Students, I am here to tell you that while you may dislike virtual recruiting, it’s incredibly important that you not ignore it. In fact, 66% of employer respondents in the 2020 Recruiting Trends report said, “Virtual recruiting is the new norm”.
I strongly believe you should take advantage of the variety of virtual and in-person recruiting events happening at Whitworth to give yourself an opportunity to practice engaging with employers in a variety of formats. That way you can learn how to best translate your in-person relationship-building skills into the virtual world. The more we do something, the easier it becomes, because practice makes us prepared. Take the time to engage when the stakes are low, leverage the practice and grow as comfortable as you can with all forms of recruiting. Attend a virtual employer-led workshop, say hi when an employer is tabling in the HUB and start reaching out to new people on LinkedIn. If you don’t, I worry you’ll be missing out on a world of opportunities that are available to you. Embrace this new virtual world! Employers are excited to meet you there and show you all there is to learn.
