Employers know that fall recruiting season is demanding—but so is spring. To maximize success and build a strong talent pipeline, it's essential to maintain a full-funnel recruiting strategy year-round.
Staying top of mind to students and alums requires continuous engagement, as top candidates don’t just bloom overnight. Instead, they need to be nurtured through consistent and meaningful touchpoints.
Here are 5 fresh strategies for full-funnel recruiting on Handshake this spring:
1. Tell your brand story on the Handshake feed.
From fall 2024 to spring 2025 to date, there’s been a 50% boost in student engagement rate with employer content on the Handshake feed.
At the top of the funnel, students and recent grads are seeking career inspiration and engaging with employers on the Handshake feed. When it comes to informing Gen Z talent about why your company is a great place to build a career, Handshake makes it easy for you to get the word out—whether you’re building rapport with first year students, or inviting seniors to apply to your roles.
Mix up the type of content you post to keep your audience engaged, and establish some learnings on what’s most engaging for your target audience. Day-in-the-life videos, application tips, and success stories are a few of the content themes that are proven to perform.
Tips for creating content that performs on Handshake:
- Get started by reusing content across channels.
- Keep videos under a minute.
- Don’t forget to include a call to action.
- Post at least twice a week.
- Reach more students through sponsored content.
6 things that early talent loves from an employer brand
2. Keep your Brand Page fresh.
Employers that posted content on the feed saw an average 45.7% increase in page followers within 7 days.
A critical channel for your full-funnel, always-on talent attraction strategy on Handshake, it’s important to create a cohesive candidate journey to and from your brand page. If a student or new grad discovers your brand for the first time on the Handshake feed, their next step is likely to be checking out your Brand Page to learn more about you.
Your customizable brand page helps you build your employer brand and attract the right talent, so be sure to keep it fresh with consistent branding, up-to-date opportunities, and ways to get in touch with your recruiting team or other employees open to connecting.
Tips for improving the performance of your brand page:
- Include Brand Page links on feed posts, in brand campaigns, and in your email signature so it’s easy for students to learn more about your company.
- Keep your Brand Page fresh with current opportunities, events, and people who students can reach out to.
- Make sure your recruitment marketing messaging is consistent across channels.
What story will your Brand Page tell?
Ready to talk about your early talent strategy?
Submit
3. Leverage career fairs and events as a critical touchpoint.
You can boost event RSVPs by 2.5X through messaging.
With proactive messaging and wraparound brand exposure through a student's career center and through Handshake, events are foundational to your full-funnel recruiting strategy. Messages are critical for driving touchpoints, and an always-on messaging strategy helps you stay ahead of peak timelines and in front of competitors for top talent.
According to Handshake survey data, 75% of students say they’re more likely to apply to a job in the future after meeting an employer at a career event.1 So especially when it’s peak recruiting season, you want to be proactive about your candidate outreach.
Tips for messaging before an event:
- Send students more information about your company and a link to your Brand Page.
- Share details about your unique event and why they should attend.
- Invite them to meet your team at an upcoming career fair or event you’re hosting.
But if you’re using Handshake Basic, you’re likely to hit your messaging limit at the same time that you need to be reaching your audience. Learn about different Handshake plans to get more messages.
Are your messages personalized and relevant?
4. Maximize ROI from events and fairs.
February sees a 25% increase in career fair RSVPs compared to January.
It can be helpful to plan your fair and event strategy based on data from the previous year—from bigger picture resourcing decisions based on Handshake data, to the conversions you've achieved. With events and fairs being part of your hiring funnel, they’re also a window into helping you identify the schools where you may want to increase your focus.
Keep in mind that career fairs and events don’t have to feel like rinse and repeat for students—or for you. Keep your proven formats in your strategy, but try something new each season to stay on top of early talent trends and brand build with your target audience.
Tips to get the most ROI from your events and fairs:
- To scale your reach and increase your attendance, broaden your reach, and expand access to students outside of your typical target schools, maintain a hybrid events strategy during the spring—and keep virtual events-always on, year-round.
- Reach out to students on Handshake who meet your criteria ahead of time and encourage them to check out your company. Send post-event follow-up messages to the talent you connected with.
- Discover how Handshake Events simplifies your career fairs and events strategy with streamlined check-ins, planning of interviews, and instant access to candidate profiles.
General Mills shares best practices for virtual events that convert
5. Include recent grads in your search to expand your qualified applicant pool.
1 in 5 applications on Handshake are submitted by alumni.
Early talent with 0-4 years of experience use Handshake ranging from career discovery through searching for their first, second, and third jobs. Student and alumni profiles are validated by schools in the Handshake network with key sourcing criteria, so you can target high-intent candidates who meet your definition of quality.
In fact, while talent who have Bachelor's degrees is the largest talent pool on Handshake, there is also a sizeable talent pool who are Masters and PhD candidates.
2025 Campus to career report
Strategically spring into recruiting season
With an always-on, full-funnel recruiting strategy, you’ll be more prepared for peak seasons. To reap what you sow this spring—engaged candidates, qualified applicants, and strong hiring—discover how Handshake Talent Engagement Suite can help you and your team get more strategic with your early talent recruiting programs during peak seasons and throughout the year.