Prospective students want career resources, and will connect with recruitment strategies that highlight them.
For the first time since the pandemic, community college enrollment rates are on the rise. Not only that—enrollment growth in community colleges is outpacing that of four-year institutions, increasing 2.6% against four-year universities’ 0.6%, signaling that post-pandemic recruitment strategies are beginning to have an effect. Although community colleges still have a lot of ground to make up, the rebound in growth is a positive indication that the trajectory can turn around.
Looking closer at the enrollment statistics reveals the priorities of today’s prospective students. Vocational programs are a major driver of enrollment growth, as are associate degree programs. Bachelor’s degree and transfer programs, by contrast, saw only moderate growth.
The numbers paint a picture of a practical, career-oriented generation of students who are seeking a clear path to steady work. The good news is that this segment isn’t a new one for community colleges—career readiness is a popular goal for prospective students, and one that institutions are targeting more and more explicitly.
Incoming generations of students are more interested than ever in the ways that community colleges can connect them to career opportunities. To engage these students, institutions should enhance their recruitment strategies with a focus on the career resources that they offer. Here’s how.
1. Invite prospective students to campus with career fairs.
Campus events are an especially effective way to form relationships with prospective students. They offer the opportunity for students to see your institution, interact with faculty, ask questions, and engage with your resources firsthand. Not to mention that in a post-pandemic era, face-to-face connections make even more of an impact.
Plenty of community colleges already host career fairs, where students can connect with representatives from local businesses and explore their career options. Marketing these events to prospective students lets them see firsthand the kind of relationships that your institution has built within the local job economy, and gives you a chance to show off your vocational programs and internship opportunities.
2. Market career-oriented course content and structure.
The clearer that community colleges can make the path from enrollment to employment, the more prospective students will be interested. Community college students are more likely to be the first in their families to attend college, which means they have less familiarity with—and fewer sources of guidance for—the overwhelming array of course and program choices that colleges offer. Taking the wrong prerequisite or missing signup for a necessary course can be both discouraging and costly.
It’s for this reason that more and more community colleges are embracing the guided pathways model. This framework helps colleges lay out clear, straightforward paths to program completion, connect program goals with student goals, and keep students progressing on their chosen path. Guided pathways was developed explicitly to connect with the type of prospective student that community colleges are attracting today. Institutions should lean into the interest and publicize their available programs.
3. Showcase in-demand career readiness resources available to students.
Campus career centers are an invaluable resource to help students prepare for the working world. However, according to a survey from Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse, colleges still have room to grow career center utilization—31% of students surveyed said they had never interacted with their school’s career center.
In the same survey, students indicated that what they want most from a career center is practical guidance. Developing a resume topped the list of desired services, with recruitment events and help getting an internship also within the top four. Other wish-list items included mock interviews, workplace norms, and professional headshots.
Marketing these resources to prospective students appeals to the incoming generation’s pragmatism and highlights your institution’s commitment to developing meaningful career opportunities for them. And if you’re seeking an even stronger way to demonstrate your emphasis on career readiness, consider offering for-credit courses that integrate with guided pathways programs and other structured approaches to degree completion.
4. Open new recruitment pipelines with strategic partnerships.
Creating formal relationships with businesses and trade unions allows community colleges to design programs that directly address needs in the local job market. These programs are especially effective for the skilled trades, which already rely on apprenticeships and hands-on training to develop new workers. Highlighting trade programs is one more way to attract students with clear career goals.
Partnerships, however, can go both ways. If a community college has the resources and infrastructure to develop skilled workers for a business, it’s also well-positioned to create training opportunities for existing workers. Businesses and unions can direct workers to your institution for upskilling and additional development, creating whole new avenues for recruitment strategies.
Career resources are some of a community college’s greatest assets. Aperture Content Marketing helps you make the most of them.
Incoming classes of prospective students have shown themselves to be a pragmatic group, interested in pursuing the kind of education that will set them up for success in the job market. Community colleges can speak to their goals and needs with a focus on the career readiness and pathing resources that they already offer, and Aperture Content Marketing helps you showcase those resources to the fullest.
Aperture’s full library of deeply researched articles contains information on degree programs and career pathways which you can customize for your specific needs. Leverage professionally written content as-is, or highlight your institution’s resources and community connections. We help you spread the word with multichannel marketing strategies across social media, direct mail, and using adaptable microsites that integrate with your institution’s existing online presence.
Connect with us today for more ways to target recruitment strategies to your prospective students’ career goals.