If you’ve read our blog, you know we love working with and highly respect nontraditional admissions teams. We firmly believe recruiters are some of the hardest working professionals in higher ed. That is why, after hiring top talent and training your team members, you must focus on keeping them motivated. But, we know there’s even more to this recipe for success. Remember the old adage “never ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself?” We’ve had the privilege of working with higher ed leaders across the country, and the advice we’ve given them is simple: remind your team members how much you value them—both through words and actions—and make sure you remember the importance of teaching by doing. In other words, if you’ve worked your way up the enrollment ranks and now lead an admissions team, you must stay in the game.
Nontraditional admissions is constantly changing. While many of the fundamental best practices and techniques in recruiting have remained the same for almost two decades, much has also changed as the goals, demographics, and communication preferences of nontraditional learners have evolved. This evolution is one of several reasons why it is critical for admissions leaders to maintain a pulse on the market by recruiting students themselves. Not only does this allow leaders to have an understanding of what is important to adult learners in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing environment, but it also allows for an understanding of the recruiting techniques and best practices that are most effective in converting leads to enrollments. Thus, staying in the game of nontraditional admissions allows higher ed leaders to not only show admissions staff that they are willing to do the hard work—which ultimately earns them more respect and boosts staff morale—but it allows them to more effectively train and lead staff with firsthand recruiting knowledge – a win-win for everyone.
And, because we at Rivetica believe so strongly in teaching by doing, our admissions and enrollment consulting staff who oversee our higher ed training programs also actively recruit new students for our clients. Not only do we provide an in-depth, multi-dimensional training program on proactive recruitment that leads to demonstrable positive results for our clients, but we also stay in the game by communicating with and converting real prospective nontraditional students. As techniques and best practices evolve in their effectiveness of converting leads to enrollments, our team is able to use that firsthand knowledge of the market to train and guide our clients who utilize our training services in real-time.
If your institution could use support with boosting nontraditional enrollments through admissions training and professional development, or with any of Rivetica’s marketing, admissions, and academic solutions, we’d love to connect.