Non Traditional Student Buy-In
The majority of students attending this campus are non-traditional and some are very reluctant to joining social media because they do not feel it is necessary, despite career services attempts to convince these students that a social presence is needed. Any best practices on "selling" social media activity to this type of student?
Daniel-
It's true that generational challenges often present when introducing new technology.
I like your idea of getting the faculty engaged and providing the incentive of extra credit! We may try that!
Have you tried offering workshops or asking for a little class time in which you might present? We found that when we need to introduce new technology, like an online profile service, if we walk them through it while explaining the benefits to the students, they buy in much more rapidly. It usually only takes a half hour or so.
@Jeremy,
I love the banner idea from LinkedIn. Did they send you one? I've long said we need to have a LinkedIn Photo day. I also like the use of QR codes and would have never thought to pair them with LinkedIn.
I have had 10 years' experience as a career advisor and a Director in Career Services. I have noticed if you can make it a challenge, people tend to react differently than if it was just a suggestion. We have used different ideas to gain more social media attention in our career center. For example, we had a few QR codes posted around school and we had a contest to see how many people would look at all of them or just one. The ones that looked at all of them entered them into this raffle drawing where they could win a gift card for gas. Once we got a few winners and it started to get around that this was a contest, more people started joining in. This was based solely on Social Media sites and they had to join to enter in the specialized code given to them from the QR response code. This got several more people to join LinkedIn and FB that had before. Once they got on these social media sites, we started a social media campaign that targeted all of our different programs and students here. It has been going pretty well but I wish there was more that I could do.
Another idea we have is to talk to LinkedIn corporate to get a LinkedIn banner sent to us for professional pictures of our students in front of their sign. This way, they will have that professional picture they all need and it will come with the approval of the Career Services department.
Older generation students have presented a challenge and resistance to convince them of how important Social Media is tot their career objectives. Some of our best practices have been to engage the students by offering extra credit for those that assist with the school's social media campaigns. This teaches them and help the school. Win/Win. Depending on the program it is a requirement to do so.
Hello Shelisa,
In my experience, I've noticed that it isn't just students who are reluctant; it's many people. I've also noticed that while many people realize social media is widely used, they often have a difficult time comprehending how it can be used for business/professional goals vs. simply social goals. Thus, I believe it is important to first address attitudes and misconceptions through data. Just as recruiting drastically changed with the emergence of the internet and email communication which led to online-based job boards and applicant tracking systems, social media has had a significant impact on employer recruiting practices and how job seekers can be noticed by employers. I think first having this fundamental understanding leads to the ability to then discuss how to use social media for professional/career development, job searching, company research, etc. Thus, the intervention approach is an educational one. Provide handouts, webinars, workshops, guest speaking events, etc. that focus on educating your students on why social media is significant to employers and their recruiting practices and why it should be important to their career development strategy. Some resources that can help you include a video I did that was geared toward a student audience and a student handout.
Video is here: http://www.careercollegelounge.com/pg/blog/rstarks/read/32706/job-search-30
Downloadable Handout is here: http://www.careercollegelounge.com/pg/blog/rstarks/read/35342/a-beginners-guide-to-social-media-for-the-job-seeker
Robert Starks Jr.
