I taught two classes at Champlain College this semester, both of which wrapped up last week. For one of the classes, an advanced course for seniors called Internet Issues and Strategies, students had to write a final paper/case study about an organization using technology in an innovative way….and wouldn’t you know it but one of my students, Marissa Bentivoglio, did her paper on Champlain’s online recruiting efforts. She worked in the admissions office throughout college and offers a very unique perspective. Consider the following quotes from the paper:
In the past, Student Ambassadors have made phone calls to prospective students informing them of upcoming deadlines for admission and encouraging them to attend future events happening at Champlain; this can be seen as a form of telemarketing for the college. These calling projects are no longer conducted by the Student Ambassadors, as there concerns by the Student Ambassadors that the phone calls were too invasive and not ever effective.
Prospective students use the HUB (Champlain’s prospective student social network) to get their questions answered about the process of applying to Champlain. [Graduate student, and HUB contributor, David Lindquist] sees the HUB as an alternative to phone calls or emails. “For some reason, this generation is less comfortable making phone calls, and emails have become too impersonal. By utilizing social networking, the personal feel is still there because you are communicating via profiles while also allowing for the secure feeling of electronic communications over voice communications.”
I think this represents a profound shift, and one that is not going to be understood by your Directors and VPs. In my days as an admissions counselor, it was thought that a phone call was the most effective, personal form of communication and that students would take that any day over an impersonal communication on the web. The web would NEVER have been described as having a more “secure feeling” than a one-on-one conversation.
Do you agree with these quotes? Why or why not? If you agree, how would you convince your boss that online is the right way to go? Leave a comment!
Thanks Marissa, for letting me use your quotes! She was one of the stars of the class – hire this girl if you have the chance! I’m hoping to have Marissa do a guest post in the future, after she’s come down from the stress of finals. Be on the lookout for it!
Photo: kira_elizabeth
This post was written by Karlyn Borysenko
About the author
Karlyn is loving life as the marketing manager for Eduventures and as a staff writer for .eduGuru. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Boston University, a Master of Business Administration from Norwich University, and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Psychology from Capella University.
To quote a friend of hers: “Karlyn is a super rad ninja marketing genius who will make your target demographic submit to your every whim through sheer willpower. Oh, and she’s smarter than you.” We’re not sure about the smarter part, but “super rad ninja” is true enough.
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