Key Takeaways
- A shrinking pool of 18-year-old applicants, otherwise known as the “enrollment cliff,” means colleges and universities need innovative, nimble design, marketing, and analytics strategies to attract students.
- Traditional hiring methods may not reveal candidates with growth potential, so institutions of higher education must pivot tactics to hire and develop talent, prioritizing skills like adaptability, teamwork, and collaboration in an increasingly competitive market.
- Many institutions may not have the budget or capacity to maintain robust in-house Marketing and Design Teams. Tapping into freelance talent offers flexibility, access to a broader talent pool, and cost-effective solutions to handle urgent and ongoing creative and marketing needs.
- By strategically outsourcing, universities and colleges can partner with external marketing and creative agencies that understand the current challenges in higher education. This can help fill gaps left by reduced internal teams and ensure effective, data-driven strategies to maintain enrollment and stay competitive.
The enrollment cliff is here, one of the most daunting challenges in higher education today. Faced with a shrinking pool of 18-year-old student applicants, beginning now and persisting into the foreseeable future, Recruiting and Admissions Teams at colleges and universities are grappling with how to solve this problem. Unfortunately, they may lack the expertise of marketing, design, and analytics professionals working in higher ed at a time when their ingenuity is needed more than ever.
One of the current challenges in higher education is hanging onto marketing and design personnel in the face of tightening budgets if these personnel haven’t already been cut or lured away to the private sector. Under increasing pressure to stay competitive, these small and likely overburdened teams are tasked with delivering out-of-the-box strategies to draw student candidates from a dwindling pool of prospects.
In this landscape, colleges and universities are significantly challenged in their ability to attract and keep professionals who excel in the fields of design, marketing, technology, and analytics, the very people needed to solve the growing enrollment crisis. Without a responsive, adaptable in-house team to fill student rosters, colleges and universities will benefit from outsourcing these critical efforts to a talent partner that understands the unique obstacles faced by higher education at this moment in time.
Pivoting hiring tactics in higher ed
The post-pandemic hiring environment has led to changes in every direction, and colleges and universities are no exception. To recruit design and marketing candidates with an understanding of the challenges in higher education, these institutions may need to pivot from the previous ways these positions were traditionally filled. But by broadening the search field and adjusting tactics, institutions of higher ed can find and develop these professionals.
One strategy is to look for candidates who aren’t quite an exact match in terms of past experience but embody the traits and qualities needed to succeed in these positions. A traditional hiring process rarely uncovers a candidate's true potential for growth or the array of traits that will lead to their eventual success in a role. A strategic hiring process, however, can uncover the talents, skills, and qualities that will make for an excellent future fit. Are your hiring and onboarding processes designed to cultivate and expand your organization’s talent pool?
For example, does your hiring process reveal if a job seeker values teamwork and collaboration? Do you have a means of learning whether a candidate is curious and open to learning new things? Are they adaptable and eager to learn? Is the prospective hire likely to take the initiative, run with a task, or demonstrate a willingness to step out of their comfort zone? Well-designed lines of questioning, performance tasks, scenario-based work examples, or reverse interviews can draw out the soft skills and characteristics that lead to excellent future employees. Though it is difficult to assess these in a short hiring window, it’s not impossible. Likewise, once you hire someone, is your onboarding process designed to center their humanity and keep them on staff? Your employee onboarding process should be designed with connection and inclusivity at its center.
Develop personnel through training and on-the-job learning
People looking to grow or develop new skills or change fields may be willing to accept lower pay in exchange for the chance to learn. In fact, a job can be a tremendous opportunity for both the right person and the employer. For their part, the employer’s job is to create the right opportunities for people, train them to do the work well, and reward them fairly. The employee benefits by being offered a clear path for growth through on-the-job learning. It’s a chance to take a career step or change course without formally enrolling in school or taking time outside of the workday.
Nurturing motivated, growth-oriented individuals takes time and thought. An organization needs to be staffed and structured appropriately to coach, mentor, and support its personnel along development pathways. If an individual gains expertise on the job, the organization needs to support that employee, track progress, and adjust compensation accordingly, or else they may fail to keep that person on staff. Another means of keeping talent running along the hiring pipelines for marketing, design, or analytics roles working in higher ed is by developing an internship program. A balance of opportunities, training, and rewards is key to growing and retaining employees.
Leverage freelance expertise
For many institutions of higher ed, developing a robust and skilled internal team of design and marketing professionals isn’t an option. Or, if a college or university is fortunate to still have those teams intact, they may have been scaled down to the point where they are not able to quickly handle urgent requests on top of ongoing workloads. That’s where tapping freelancers offers many advantages for nimbly tackling these problems.
For most universities, salaried talent must live within the same state due to employment licensing restrictions. By leveraging freelance professionals, the scope of available professionals increases dramatically. Freelance talent opens a much broader field of available experts in expanded time zones at a potentially less expensive rate than what is locally available.
Freelancers can quickly tackle urgent issues, handling last-minute requests for Communications or Marketing Teams that arrive with unrealistic turnaround expectations. Demands like these press on full-time employees who must work after hours to fulfill these requests, leading to burnout and frustration.
Trust the experts to address higher ed challenges
Institutions of higher education will have no choice but to continue their belt-tightening efforts in light of declining enrollment. And their Communications, Marketing, and Creative Design Departments will remain under increasing pressure to produce results even though they may be reduced or, in some cases, cut entirely. Without the professionals on hand to examine and act on the insights needed to keep students coming in their doors, colleges and universities will be left with guesswork.
In this moment of unprecedented challenges in higher education, having the right milestones, targets, and monitoring in place is essential for moving into the future strategically and successfully. In place of internal marketing, design, or analytics personnel, freelancers can bridge that gap. An external Marketing Team with deep field expertise, such as Aquent’s, can create innovative, successful marketing campaigns for institutions of higher ed when they are needed most.
About the authors
As Vice President of Aquent's Professional Services and Higher Education industry group, Jeff is responsible for overall strategy and business growth of this division. Jeff leads a team focused on solving our client's most complex project and staffing challenges through a suite of solutions. His career spans over 30 years as a collaborative, creative, and analytical business leader. Prior to Aquent, Jeff spent 8 years at Ernst & Young LLP (EY) where he helped jump-start their digital business through the acquisition of a business Jeff founded; NorthPoint Digital. Jeff has a Bachelors from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania.
Tom Shannon has been a client partner for Aquent for the last 7 years. Initially focusing on clients across all industries in New York City and later switching to a strictly higher education focus. As a relationship driven individual, Tom enjoys the conversations and experiences he has shared with folks in the space. Tom has worked closely with schools of all calibers, from community college, public 4 year institutions to Ivy league schools. Each school comes with it's own marketing challenge that Tom and the Aquent team attempt to diagnose and provide the appropriate remedy across our many areas of service.
Latest.
Is a curated job search or mass applying better?
Career Advice, Talent Acquisition & Recruitment
How to make cultural beauty rituals into marketing experiences.
Content & Creative, Experience & Product, Marketing & Analytics, Fashion & Beauty, Travel & Hospitality
Manage Creative Operations in 2025: focus on the priorities.
Insights from InsideOut, Leadership & Management, Consulting & Operations, Content & Creative
