Recruiting goes virtual with Skype

With recruiter visits to college campuses down by an estimated 20 percent in the last year, business schools have had to get creative to connect students with employers, and that's just what Freeman's Career Management Center has done.

On Sept. 22, the CMC hosted its first virtual information session using Skype video conferencing software. Recruiters with Spot Trading, a proprietary trading firm based in Chicago, used Skype to deliver a one-hour  session for about 30 students.

"If recruiters can't come to Freeman, we can bring Freeman to them," says Kara Schonberg, corporate development marketing manager at the CMC. "It's really exciting and hopefully we can duplicate this with other companies who can't come to New Orleans but want to interview our students."

The CMC has used video conferencing technology in the past, but this was the first time the center has used Skype, the leading voice-over-IP application, to present an information session for a group of students.

The session included a brief overview on the company followed by a Q&A session in which students could ask questions and interact with company representatives via webcam.

Schonberg says other firms have expressed interest in using Skype to reach students, so she's hopeful that the success of Spot Trading's virtual information session will encourage more recruiters to take advantage of the technology to connect with Freeman students.