Information sessions are often the best way to engage with students and increase your company’s brand recognition on campus. If planned properly, you get a room full of motivated students eager to learn about your company and any potential opportunities. Most info sessions last an hour to an hour and a half. The first half hour/hour should be a presentation about your company or about current job openings at your company. The second part should be used for one on one time with each student for them to ask you more questions. There is no fee for having an info session through our office, but only CAP members can have more than two recruiting events per academic year.

To help you make the most of this event, here are a few quick tips:

PLAN AHEAD!

Peak recruiting time for UCSB is Fall quarter (October/ November). You should have your info session planned months in advance internally and will need to coordinate with the college at least a month prior to your desired date. This means formulating your plan for recruiting during the summer. Create a one-page flyer that we can distribute to the students and post around campus to advertise the event. We will want to market the event to the students for 3 weeks to ensure the best attendance. Think about other ways to leverage this visit to campus. You can hold office hours during the day for drop in appointments with students, meet with relevant student organizations, attend career fairs, and more. If you plan far enough ahead, we can help ensure you make the most out of this event.

Bring Charismatic Speakers and Alumni

Nothing will turn the students away faster than having to listen to an unengaging lecture on your company’s history. Make sure the representatives you decide to send are comfortable speaking in front of a large crowd and have the ability to connect with the students. Alumni of UCSB are the best at this.

Engaging Presentations and Environment

Know what you’re going to say before arriving on campus. Students sit through lectures all day and will quickly identify if you are improvising or not. Your presentation doesn’t need to be a PowerPoint slide deck, but it does need to be engaging. Interact with the students. If you’re an alumnus, tell them the path you took following graduation and how you class work helped you become successful. Also, bring marketing collateral or products that will make the students excited about your company. Having tangible evidence of the type of work you do will give the students a concrete idea of what to expect and keep them engaged during your presentation. Finally, giveaways are a great way to keep students listening and ensure that they stay for the entire event. Bring a product to raffle off or quiz the students on something about your company to make sure they were listening during your presentation.

Available Positions

The primary reason students will come to your info session is learn about opportunities for internships or jobs after they graduate. Make sure you address this at some point during the night. Have printed job descriptions to pass out or an overview of the types of positions at your company if you don’t have any immediate openings. The second half of the night is reserved for networking with the students. Many will bring resumes and want to talk specifics about opportunities. Be prepared for how you want to handle this.

FOOD!

The easiest way to attract students is advertising free food and refreshments. Isla Vista has a wide array of vendors that will attract students in flocks. The three that have been most successful in the past are Woodstocks Pizza, Silvergreens, and Freebirds. Make sure to order enough for all students attending and that you coordinate delivery/pickup beforehand. You’ll want to confirm your food order a few days prior to the event and then again on the day of to make sure the delivery/pickup goes smoothly.

Follow Up

After the session, it’s important to follow up quickly with any students you identified as strong candidates. These students will be recruited by many companies so get in contact quickly so they remember why your company is a good fit for them.

 

 

If you have any questions or would like to schedule an info session,

contact coecareerevents [at] engineering [dot] ucsb [dot] edu or 805-893-5544.