Librarian as Recruiter

I’ve written about my efforts to reach students before they arrive on campus, but what about pushing it even further? What about convincing them to attend your school?

I was invited to an open-house weekend for prospective engineering graduate students, but could not attend due to a scheduling conflict. I was later included on an email to faculty urging us to contact candidates who had been accepted but were still considering their options.

This was an interesting insight because you often read about the drama of athletic recruiting, and it appears that the same thing happens (on a much smaller and less sexier scale) for academics as well.

I could see that we had top prospects in mechatronics, manufacturing, and thermal sciences. Just like a running back’s sprint time, I could see their undergraduate GPA and GRE scores. As well as the University they attended and whether or not we were offering them a Teaching Assistantship, as well as several other attributes.

I decided to contact some of the candidates and sent 20 of them a very casual email introducing myself as the librarian dedicated to their discipline and briefly mentioned a few of the resources and services that we offer to Georgia Tech students, customizing it a little for their field.

Surely they care more about the funding and research opportunities available to them – but it was an experiment and a chance for me to dabble in the recruiting effort. I figured it couldn’t hurt, I mean, are librarians from MIT, Stanford, or Michigan talking with these top prospects? It gave me the chance to humanize the library and offered them a direct communication channel to learn about research and resources for their area. It also showed that our librarians are thoroughly engaged and hopefully planted a few ideas and expectations of what we offer.

Long story short – it totally bombed. Three weeks later and no one wrote back. Although it only took about 15 minutes to send each candidate a separate email, it would have been nice get at least a “thank you” reply.

Perhaps I over estimated the value of the library or perhaps they decided to sign with someone else? I was operating on the principle that everyone likes to be wooed – whether they are choosing a college or being recruiting for a new job, people like to feel important. I figured that if I can give up a few minutes of my time to try and convince the next great nanotech scholar to attend then I’ve done my part. Imagine several professors calling to express their interest in you as well as a librarian emailing to say that the journals and conference papers you’ll need are all available in full text… it all works together to position our Institute as a more desirable option. 

Comments

[Emily]

I'm not sure that you should use "thank you" notes as a pass/fail mark. An indicator may be a student choosing to attend your institution; a direct indicator would be a student choosing to use your institution and using the library in the first semester.

Some people just don't have manners :)

[Paul R Pival]

I agree with Emily; will you look 'em up in the Fall? And of course you wouldn't know w/o asking whether you made the difference, but still, good effort, and good to post, even if you don't think it was a success. :-)

[Amanda]

Bravo for trying! I've tried a lot of new things this semester with my students that don't appear to have worked. You do have a way to measure this; see if they've enrolled in the fall. It may not be all due to you, but you might have tipped the balance...

[Sarah]

I think it was an excellent idea that you should continue in the future, but you shouldn't expect a response. I have to give tours to new faculty candidates frequently, and while they are generally pleased with everything we have to offer, they have very few questions.

[ranger]

Dude, don't you know kids don't read email? At my old school, we couldn't reach anyone that way, and I include the profs I worked with. Now if you had their numbers and had texted them you might've received some kind of response.

[Ilene Frank]

I agree that "no reply" doesn't mean failure. I'd guess that the students would take your message as one more piece of information that couldn't hurt. ;)

[Micaela Ayers]

I joined a campus advising office recruitment effort to call undecided students this spring. It was cool! I got to talk to quite a few in the hour or so I placed calls off the advisor forms, or talked to parents or family members. All were appreciative, even if some students had to tell me they'd recently decided on something else.

It didn't feel like "cold-calling" since I knew they were interested in Butler. And I loved the fact I was talking to real students considering where to go. I was able to refer to the library as a helpful place. I even suggested a couple consider us for part-time campus jobs.

Nice to receive a note of thanks from the Academic VP later, too, acknowledging the 'above and beyond.'

So... I can draw the conclusion that calling is better than email, too, even if it's not texting.