Structuring the offer for a college graduate these days has become complex. More of them they have choices of employers and many offers and can be very demanding. These Gen-Xers are far more likely to expect flexibility, special deals, higher starting pay and more choice over the actual job assignment that any other group of candidates. This pressures the tradition-bound college recruiting industry to change and adapt. I expect that many of you will bristle at the arrogance of the demands these graduates make. Many of you will flash back to your first job offer, which was probably very simple, very structured and offered to you as a take it or leave it proposition, and shake your heads. But, if you cannot accept the huge differences between then and now and put together creative offers, it will be tough to get these grads to say yes. Here are a few tips on how to put together successful offers. I imagine the biggest hurdle you will have to cross is convincing upper management and the compensation department that these offers are necessary to make the hires. This is why some benchmarking around your local area can be very helpful in making your case. Gather data, ask your fellow recruiters in other companies what they are observing and I think you can make a good case for flexibility and change.
But whatever you decide to do, if you are serious about hiring college students, and if you really want the best students, the minority candidates, the technical graduates and the other scarce students, you must have an aggressive, marketing-oriented college relation’s strategy and offer process. The one-size-fits-all approach of the past will not work today. We are in a time when marketing is king and we all have to practice salesmanship.