Job Fair Recruiting Success Tip: Use Promotional Products to Attract Recent Graduates

Hiring of new graduates is up according to research noted in an ASI (Advertising Specialty Institute) Counselor PromoGram last month. Good news for sure! So what are companies doing to help attract recent graduate talent?

ASI conducted a survey of human resource professionals this year and here’s a summary of the findings:

56% say using imprinted or logo’d promotional products helps convey a positive image for the employer when used at job fairs and other recruiting events
55% use imprinted promotional pens in recruiting
41% use imprinted T-shirts, calendars and high-tech accessories in recruiting

According to one of the HR professionals quoted in the report, promotional products used for this audience must be original and useful to create word-of-mouth exposure, as well as interactive. I agree.

What I think is interesting is that they are using calendars and high-tech accessories, a combination of low tech and high tech. I’ve noted elsewhere that high tech items create some difficulty because of rapidly changing technology and platforms. So when using high tech, realize that your item may have a short lifespan which might be okay in this case. Think about it, HR recruiters are usually looking to hire within the year. Even though they may use the item on the job, it’s not likely that you would need the continued exposure as you would for customer use.

I’m a little puzzled by the calendar use. I’m presuming with this younger crowd’s obsession with mobile devices, calendars might be not so useful. However, I realize that I use multiple calendars with my main calendar on my mobile for appointments and low tech paper ones are used in the office for reference, such as in planning. In fact, I have one from one of my suppliers that I refer to daily when estimating project turn time. Then I have a more artsy one from an animal rescue organization. That’s more for show, but it’s cool. And I think that’s the key. Any low tech calendar better be cool… WAY cool.

While we’re talking low tech, note that 55% use pens, yes, pens. Looking into the far future, pens may become obsolete as technology evolves. However, except for some hot shot Gen Y’ers who can text at lightning speeds, pens will continue to be one of the fastest tools to get ideas committed to memory for the rest of us. As with calendars and other promo items, it better be cool for this crowd. One that I still like, especially for any message dealing with money (like jobs!), are the pens filled with shredded genuine U.S. currency (that’s recycling at its best!). I know, kind of kitschy. But for any “show me the money” message, I think it works.

Music download cards from USAandUnionMadePromoShop.com

Music, pizza, dining and phone minute download gift cards are ideal for college graduate recruitment efforts.

T-shirts? Oh yeah, they work for this market. After racking up the student loans, recent grads definitely appreciate items that can help them stretch their budget. So I probably would recommend T-shirts for this use. Other items I would recommend for the post-graduation crowd would be gift cards for music downloads, pizza and dining, and phone minutes. Items that help them express themselves, such as temporary tattoos, would be inexpensive and fun. And if you have a product or service that offers discount coupons, using a mobile text message marketing program (like our PWPMobile.com program) would be a great way to engage this audience.

Have you found another great item that works for recent college graduates? Share it with us in comments.

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