2023/2024 Updates from the Recruitment Team
Posted:
If you have ever wondered how the Confederation College Recruitment Team helps to recruit for our programs or would like to know why we are often off-campus, the following information is a comprehensive Recruitment Activity guide for the 2023/2024 academic year.
The role of Recruitment is to assist prospective students throughout their postsecondary decision-making process, from that moment when something sparks their interest, through to accepting their offer of admission and enrolling at Confederation College.
Our 2023/2024 Recruitment team consists of:
- Alexandra Jones- Manager of Marketing, Recruitment & Communications
- Hailey Symons – Recruitment Liaison, Tours & Events
- Erin McCrea- Recruitment Officer
- Tabitha Zela- Recruitment Officer, SCWI
- Sheena Zegil, Recruitment Officer
- TBD - Indigenous Recruitment Officer
Recruiting initiatives for this fall
Recruitment Officers are assigned to specific recruiting initiatives separately in order to maximize events and cover as much of Ontario as possible during one season. Recruitment initiatives include College Information Program (CIP), Ontario College Information Fair (OCIF), Regional Travel, Southern Ontario, Open House, local visits and presentations as well as in-office enrollment appointments. For the comprehensive list of Recruitment Initiatives for 2023/2024, see below.
College Information Program (CIP)
The CIP Tour occurs each fall and will be running from September 25th – November 3rd. It is a 6-week tour with over 35 stops at various high schools and colleges across Ontario. This event provides an opportunity for students to meet with Ontario college representatives who can answer questions about program offerings, admission requirements and campus life.
There will be 1 week dedicated to travelling throughout northwestern Ontario, October 2 – 6. There will be 8 stops at various high schools and approximately 19 Ontario College representatives participating in this week. The Confederation College stop is Wednesday, October 4 from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm in the Student Commons.
We continue to receive requests from faculty to participate in events and similar to last year, we will have a Confederation College program information and services fair in the Student Commons that will run during the same time as the CIP event. An email in regard to this opportunity will be sent out, and Hailey Symons will be individually contacting programs to confirm participation. Please let us know as soon as possible if you would like to participate in this event as it is a good opportunity to meet and influence prospective students for your respective programs. Please contact Hailey Symons at ext 6656 or email [email protected] to confirm.
APSIP
APSIP stands for The Aboriginal Post-Secondary Information Program (APSIP) and is similar to CIP. It is a travelling information program dedicated to empowering and improving access opportunities for Indigenous (First Nations, status and non-status, Inuit and Métis) learners to pursue postsecondary education in Ontario. Recruitment and APIWIN will be sharing attendance for select weeks during these events.
OCF
The Ontario College Fair (OCF) is the largest stop on the CIP tour. This is a 2-day event held at the Enercare Centre in downtown Toronto. Each Ontario College has a large-scale booth and thousands of prospective students come through the venue throughout the 2-day event. In past years we have seen 17,000+ students attend OCF. This event takes place October 18 and 19.
Each year, our Recruitment Team and Deans of each School collaborate to determine which programs will send a representative to OCF to assist in Recruitment efforts. OCF 2023 Representatives are as follows:
Recruitment:
- Alexandra Jones - Manager of Marketing, Recruitment & Communications
- Tabitha Zela - Recruitment Officer – SCWI, Student Recruitment & Marketing
- Erin McCrea – Recruitment Officer, Student Recruitment & Marketing
- Hailey Symons- Recruitment Liaison, Tours & Events
- Kerry Blackburn – Simulation Technologist, School of Health, Negahneewin & Community Services
- Carly Rich – Program Coordinator: Early Childhood Education, School of Health, Negahneewin & Community Services
- Robin Gathercole – President, SUCCI
- Mike Rozic – Director of Public Safety & Risk Management
- Matthew Bunn – Associate Dean, School of Aviation
- Eric Weller – Program Coordinator: Film, School of Business, Hospitality & Media Arts
- Jenna Kelos – Communications Officer, Communications
- Shannon Maloney- Student Success Advisor, Student Success Centre
- Mandy Wright - Student Success Advisor, Student Success Centre
Regional Travel
Recruitment will be spending additional time in the northwestern Ontario region this fall in order to provide support to our regional campuses, as well as reach more students. We will be visiting regional campuses, high schools, friendship centres and alternative education centres. We will also complete a few weeks of regional recruitment travel in the Spring of 2024.
Open House
Open House is scheduled for Saturday, November 18th, 2023. This event occurs at a crucial time in the application process for senior-level students. Applications are expected to open at the Ontario Colleges Application Portal at ontariocolleges.ca at the beginning of October 2023 for programs starting in September 2024. Applications received prior to February 1, 2024, will be given equal consideration for program seats.
We switched from a weekday to Saturday in order to allow parents, influencers prospective students in the region and mature students an opportunity to attend. This will also make it less disruptive on campus for students and faculty during the week.
Open House is your best opportunity to positively affect your program numbers for the next academic year. Something said during the tour could spark an interest in a student’s mind and ultimately convince them that YOUR program is their number one choice!
For this reason, it is incredibly important that we have participation from Program Coordinators for Open House. If you are unavailable that day, please consider another faculty member and/or some current students to attend.
Stay tuned for an email from the Recruitment team this fall with further information about Open House and Campus Tours.
A note about our prospective students
While a lot of our focus is on high school prospects, we also look to increase our mature student numbers. We have continued to meet with and engage new agency representatives to build better relationships to encourage mature students to consider Confederation College. This includes Lakehead Adult Education Centre, Northwest Employment Works, YES Employment and our own Academic Upgrading program on campus.
LOCALLY
Local Guidance Counselor Meetings
Each year Recruitment meets with the Guidance Counselors (GC’s) of each high school to discuss updates, materials and resources and further collaboration opportunities. These early September meetings set the tone for the year and gives us a chance to personalize our connection with the High Schools.
Monthly High School Visits
To keep Confederation College in the front of our local student’s minds, Recruitment has monthly lunch booths in each local high school. During December and January, these extend into on-the-spot application assistance appointments as well. Dates and times are chosen by the Recruiters and presented to the GC’s during their initial GC meets to confirm all dates.
Monthly high school booths are a great opportunity for you to join Recruitment and further promote your programs! If your program is interested in joining us at one of our booths please email [email protected].
Local Grade 12/ 11 & 10 Presentations
During the Fall semester, Recruitment provides Grade 12 focused presentations as this is during a crucial point in the application process, applications for the following Academic Intake (2024) open at the beginning of October. These presentation dates are set with the Guidance Counselors through an initial Welcome Back email, prior to the Fall semester start, as well as during the initial GC meetings.
Spring presentations are conducted with the Grade 10 & 11 students. These dates will be set during the Winter semester. This presentation is focused on College information, program options as well as admission requirement/eligibility planning in order to ensure the correct courses are taken to meet admission into their chosen programs.
Campus Tours
Recruitment conducts campus tours year-round. General campus tours are done with an overview of student support services, points of interest in the College, SUCCI - including benefits, clubs and athletics; as well as tours of the Wellness Centre. We also tour students through both styles of Residence in collaboration with Residence staff. Program-specific tours are provided upon request from the student.
Program Coordinators and Faculty members are always a primary resource of information for these tours, and we will connect with you in order to let you know anytime an opportunity or request comes in for your specific programs. Please encourage your prospective students to book a campus tour at confederationcollege.ca/tours. All requests are received and coordinated directly in the Recruitment department.
In-Office Appointments and Case Management
When the Recruitment Officers are in the office, they are available to conduct in-office Advising Appointments & academic pathway planning with any prospective student interested in Confederation College. This includes direct (high school), indirect (typically mature students), domestic as well as refugees and permanent residents. Each prospective student can create an individualized pathway plan in order to optimize acceptance into their program of interest. Services include transcript/eligibility reviews, admission requirements, upgrading options, program information, booking tours, as well as completing their college application. Prospective students interested in booking an appointment with Recruitment may do so through the online live calendar at www.confederationcollege.ca/appointments.
Monthly Drop-In Appointments
On the second Tuesday of each month (not September as we held additional drop-in days and times in August and first week of September) we offer drop-in advising and application assistance from 4:00-7:00pm.
Program Coordinator Call Out Reports
Thank you to our Program Coordinators and Student Success Advisors for completing the call-out report lists for their programs!
- Stats for 2023:
- Total Calls = 279
- Accepted Offer = 101
- ROI = 36.2%
- Of the 101 who accepted an offer:
- 72 accepted after the coordinator called
- 29 accepted before the coordinator called
- Of the 204 who accepted an offer after the coordinator called:
- 23 or 31.9% of them accepted the offer within 7 days of the call
- 11 or 15.3% of them accepted an offer within 14 days of the call
- 38 or 52.8% of them accepted an offer 15+ days after the call
Of the 36.2% of students who accepted the offer, 71.3% did so after the coordinator called and 47.2% of them accepted within 14 days of being contacted by a program coordinator.
These stats show how influential a direct connection is between Program Coordinators and their students.
Conclusion
Remember, the Recruitment team is here to assist you! If there are ever prospective students connecting with you, please provide Recruitment’s contact information and we can seamlessly work with you and the student to help ensure that all of their needs are met and they have access to our full range of services.
We look forward to working with our College Community over the 2023/2024 academic year!