Interviewing Applicants
On-Campus Interviews
The next stage, at least in a traditional recruitment process is an interview with the candidate. Until the early 1990s this would probably have been a ‘milkround interview’. These were held on specific university campuses and a group of trained interviewers would travel from university to university in a very intensive campaign. The process was quite time-consuming to set up and operate, but in the days when it was expected that the majority of candidates would be given a first interview, it was quite an effective method. Its use declined in the early 1990s when many companies reduced their graduate intake and a much wider variety of recruitment methods were adopted.
While the use of the on-campus interview has decreased on most campuses, many Careers Services are still very happy for employers to use their facilities at any time of the year and for modest charges. The most efficient process involves the Careers Service staff themselves making the bookings for the students and passing their details on to the employers. The employers then write to the candidates and ask them to contact the Careers Service to book an interview time. The advantage to the Careers Service is that it allows them to book a time convenient for their own students. Some Careers Services charge a fee for this service. If fairly large numbers of candidates are to be interviewed, this activity is still quite an effective one. Significant PR is associated with this practice as students see it as an efficient way of ‘being seen’. The fact that you are interviewing on campus may itself increase the number of applications you receive.
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