Authenticity at scale: Closing the engagement gap in high-volume, campus recruiting

[00:00:12] Welcome to episode 121 of the High Volume Hiring Podcast. I am Steven Rothberg. I'm the founder of College Recruiter Job Search Site, and we are going to be talking about engagement, not the kind that comes in the spring with a white dress, but in terms of campus instead. And you know, so maybe disappointing, maybe not. But Jeanette, good to see you.

[00:00:33] Good to see you too. Hi everyone. Jeanette Leeds here, and I'm excited today because we have Parker Pell with us, not Peter Parker or any other iteration of that. He's the co-founder and chief evangelist of Abode. And I'm particularly excited to talk because we are diving into the world of campus recruiting. And I think as you know, many of you know, that's really where I started my career in the recruiting space. So welcome, Parker. Thrilled to have you.

[00:01:00] Thank you, Jeanette. I appreciate it. Yeah, I'm excited to be here. Thanks, Steven, as well for the invitation as well. Yeah, love it. So why don't you, for those who might not know you or Abode, give us like the quick update on who you guys are, what are you doing, and then we'll dive into like... Yeah. Yeah. So Abode was started by me and two of my college roommates eight years ago. And this kind of transformed into the AI-powered platform for really the entire early talent journey.

[00:01:29] So from the first time a company meets someone at a recruitment event, which now in campus recruiting could be your freshman year. Yep. All the way through them joining, hopefully as an intern conversion. Abode's kind of the one-stop shop where a company can facilitate an experience that mimics what Gen Z is looking for.

[00:01:49] And that will be something I say consistently today and is really the revolutionary component to our product is that we are Gen Z, we built it for Gen Z. And so, you know, we help the companies to meet those expectations. I love that. So I'm going to like go with the first real question because like you just set yourself up. Okay. So high level, and I know we're like also looked at the whole report. What is Gen Z looking for?

[00:02:14] What they're really looking for? And it's interesting is gone with the transactions was one of the quotes. So our 2026 campus recruiting experience report, we heard and we asked, why are you spraying and praying your resume with AI to so many different companies, right? It's a problem for employers because they don't know who is actually interested in an engaged candidate and who is not.

[00:02:38] A resounding response was, well, it's a transaction when I meet someone at a fair and they just say, hey, scan this QR code and I'll send you a follow-up email. So why would I operate any differently? Right? Right. And so I think that, you know, really what Gen Z is looking for is authenticity and to feel as if there is a tailored approach to sharing relevant information before you meet them at a recruiting event.

[00:03:07] Interesting. I'm going to put a pin in the authenticity part because I know we're going to come back to that. One of the things that I saw in the report that I was like, okay, am I reading that number right? And there was something to the effect of like 91% of students expect a response or some kind of meaningful communication from those employers within, I think it was several days of the recruiting event.

[00:03:31] And to me, if I'm a campus recruiter like Jeanette was, I'm thinking to myself, yeah, good chance. How can I communicate that quickly with that many people and also authentically? So what's saying you, Parker?

[00:03:47] Yeah, I think the first thing for me, and it's what a lot of companies now are, a lot of companies are going back to target schools and in-person recruitment because I think gone are the days of just, you know, virtual recruiting, in my opinion. What companies should be doing a lot more of is front-loading the generic, here's why you should work at X company pitch before the event actually happens, right?

[00:04:14] So, you're not just saying that traditional pitch of like, hey, we're a boat and here's why we're the best employer for interns. If you can share that information in your, you know, viewpoint on why someone should want to apply and be interested in working at your company on the front end before that fare,

[00:04:32] then it translates the actual recruiting experience to be more of a conversation of answering questions about what the candidates already know about the roles that you're hiring for, the company culture, what their intern projects are going to look like, right? And I think that you can achieve speed by eliminating the boilerplate questions and pitches that your recruitment team members are told and trained to do.

[00:04:55] And if you can do that, then the conversations with the candidates that you're meeting at the fair actually turn into more tactical conversations, more Q&A. And then post-event, I think what teams really do a good job about is taking notes when they have conversations. I know it can be tough. You have 100 people in line at the conference, right? To remember Jeanette from Steve and from Parker.

[00:05:19] But what you can do, what you should do is actually when you talk to someone, jot down a quick rating for yourself. So that after the event, you can actually filter the ratings by a zero through a five, right? Personally thinking a zero through a five. That rating then allows you to provide kind of more speed to the higher rated candidates that you think are worth more of a conversation. So one practical tip, I think, that we're seeing a lot of success with. Yeah, and that helps to deal with the scale, right? There's just so much, to your point, coming in.

[00:05:49] So let's focus the time on, you know, the higher priorities, if you will. So one thing in your report when I was reading through was around, and this is a little bit of, you know, I don't know, a tough, not a tough question. But like, you know, having been a campus recruiter, I feel like I can ask this, right? Is that do you think campus recruiters really are equipped to explain what the job is that they're hiring for?

[00:06:15] And maybe they are for some, you know, like have we really set up or have organizations really set up campus recruiters to fail? Because they haven't been like trained to explain to these students what the heck this job actually is. I think it's twofold. One is they are set up to fail in a lot of ways because businesses are ever changing, especially in this day and age.

[00:06:38] And if you think about an early talent team, they are typically not the priority one on their internal marketing teams to get updated content and information. So they're already at a disadvantage because the marketing team is driving initiatives that are generating revenue a lot more so than they are providing content for, you know, a team most commonly, right?

[00:07:02] Secondly, I would say there has been a lot of unfortunate reduction in campus recruiting teams, which results in companies sending internal business unit employees to be a representative for a campus recruiter. Oh, I call those the passionate alumni. Those passionate alumni, right? If they're not equipped and set up for success, that will then reflect bad on the recruiter, right? Because they're the ones who then have the conversation with the students.

[00:07:26] But if Parker, who, you know, is in technology, went to Rhodes College, is fair, was not equipped to actually speak about what the experience is going to be like, then that sets the recruiter up for failure because when they follow up, the student has no clue what even, you know, the internship experience is like. So I think it's two pieces, the reduction in workforce and campus recruitment, turning into alumni, relying on alumni, sets them up for failure. And then also, you know, just the ever-changing landscape and lack of marketing support most commonly for campus teams.

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[00:09:13] So let's talk about post-event, post-interview, offer, acceptance. It's October 20th. And the student's looking out and it's like, okay, great, I've got a job. I can go into the senior slide as long as like I don't get arrested or whatever. I've probably got a job to come to. And then they hear nothing from you until May.

[00:09:38] I know when you and I first connected years ago, I think that was a big part of the problem that you were looking to solve. I still see that problem. You know, if every employer in the world was using Abode, you know, or other systems like it, maybe we wouldn't. But help the audience understand like what that gap looks like from the perspective of the student and then what that does. From the perspective of the student, they sign an offer.

[00:10:05] It's probably their first ever career at a company, right? Mostly for a junior, especially sophomores now as sophomore internships are popping up more and more as companies try to compete for the best talent. They sign that offer. They're so excited. And then they go home. They go home for holiday after their midterm exams. And their mom or their dad asks them, hey, you know, what, like, where are you living in Raleigh, North Carolina, where your internship is? Yeah. I don't know.

[00:10:34] Oh, I don't know. Oh, have you met any other former interns that, you know, are from your school that might be going there? I don't know. Crickets. I'm hearing a lot of crickets. A lot of crickets, right?

[00:10:46] And so I think, you know, the gap that exists is companies thinking that their onboarding process that happens 90 days out is sufficient enough for someone that's Gen Z who signs an offer eight to 18 months prior to their start date in some cases, especially for professional services, that just signing that offer is enough, right? What Kenzie really wants is actually to be able to view their career path, believe it or not, in the company. They don't want, you know, short bursts of something. They want stability.

[00:11:16] They want to know, Parker, you just signed your internship offer with Abode. And here's what your career path is going to be is going to look like. We're also going to connect you with a former Abode intern who just converted to a full time employee so that he or she can share what they did well, what they didn't, what they wish they would have known. And who doesn't want friends when you've signed your first ever internship offer?

[00:11:38] Companies throw students into a GroupMe or a LinkedIn group and they cross their fingers and they think everyone's just going to start chatting with one another. Maybe that's for the three of us because we can, you know, we're just chatted cafes. For a lot of students, you know, they don't feel that experience. They might be a little shy. They don't want to just throw themselves out there. And so facilitated engagement can go a lot further.

[00:12:01] And that facilitated engagement also translates to data that can help predict if someone is going to renege so that you're not having to scramble and backfill someone for your engineering department's internship role that they, that you convinced them to open up. Right? Yeah. So it's a trickle down effect. Right? But I think over communication of your career path and connection with fellow members that are going to be in your cohort are two keys and two easy things that a company can do.

[00:12:29] And I think that's such a good point because I think about the instant gratification, right? Everyone's on their phones. You get like instantly information, things deliver, whatever it is. So again, waiting until it's like 90 days out till your start date to have any sort of connectivity is just crazy. What else like along those lines? I mean, it's sort of like, okay, start doing this.

[00:12:52] But like, can you give our listeners a couple examples of like, what should TA teams, campus recruiting teams like, just stop doing? It's the opposite. Start but like, just stop because you're like really hurting yourself. I think, I'm not going to say stop. Okay. But I'm going to say you can save money on the amount of swag that you're sending to interns. Okay, say more, say more. Money saver. Okay.

[00:13:19] If a company doesn't have a kind of a full-fledged, keep warm, post-offer acceptance strategy, what they'll, you know, kind of default to is we'll send you a monthly update about our quarterly stock report. And after your midterms, we'll send you a Yeti cup with our branding and a backpack for your internship. And then we'll talk to you 90 days for your onboarding. So you can save money by stopping the swag and throw them into a group and have a few prompts.

[00:13:47] Secondly, I think it kind of goes back to they can sniff out the BS, you know, being kosher here. Like, yeah, yeah. They can sniff it out. And so if it feels like you're getting a company-wide, here's how we're doing in the market email, right? Right. Then they're going to be like, oh, you know, control, delete. Yeah. And they're probably not even looking at their email like any employee is because they haven't been trained on what work life is. Well, that is true. So you have to meet them where they are as well.

[00:14:15] Where they are, where I am, it's right here. So translate your strategy into a mobile-friendly experience. Meet them where they are are kind of two things, I would say. I love that. So I know we're totally at time, but like just semi-follow-up question on that. Is that what I'm like? Yes. And maybe because I have a son that's heading off to college in the fall or really late this summer. And if anybody has an internship opportunity for Jeanette's son where she can get, where she can eventually get him off of her payroll, then.

[00:14:45] Oh, my God. So I see, and also, again, my daughter's in high school. And so for those that, again, maybe we are my age and whatnot, like when you talk about meet them where they are, like they're not checking email at all. Like I have to be like, guys, you got a message from, again, your incoming call, but Snapchat, TikTok, you know, like whatever others, you know, the newest social media phase. Are you seeing any organizations starting to go like really that way to engage on the post-offer side?

[00:15:14] For companies that get the blessing from their legal teams to be able to be on specific social media platforms, they are the lucky ones and they are driving to that, I would say. For those that don't get that blessing but are putting forth the effort in the initiative, they're trying to get creative with, you know, how can they tailor the experience and really the notification mechanism as a whole

[00:15:41] to ensure that what they're sharing is being engaged with. Yeah. And the last piece I'll say to close this out is a Gen Zer opening and clicking a link in an email campaign does not quantify engagement. Yes. That is the quote of the month. I would just go with that. That is not engagement. Yes. This was amazing. Thank you. I feel like we could talk for, you know, hours longer. We could.

[00:16:09] If you haven't already, for those listening, download this report because it is full of so much good data, ideas, you know, things to do, things not to do. I highly recommend it. And those listening to the audio only, just Google 2026 Abode Campus Recruiting Experience Report. Parker, awesome. Great to see you again. Likewise. Yeah. Keep rocking it, baby. I appreciate it. Thanks, Stephen. Thank you, Jeanette. So great to speak with you all.

[00:16:39] Cheers.