Federal Requirement 4.6
Recruitment Materials
Recruitment materials and presentations accurately represent the institution’s practices and policies.
Judgment of Compliance: Compliance
Narrative/Justification for Judgment of Compliance:
Executive Summary
St. Petersburg College (SPC) is in compliance with this federal requirement because it has a process for developing recruitment materials coordinated by Marketing and Public Information in concert with the Department of Recruitment Services to accurately represent the College’s policies and procedures. The process includes review and sign off by subject matter experts and departments as appropriate. Recruitment materials and presentations are available in print form as well as on the SPC website and social media accounts.
Development of Recruitment Materials
Marketing and Public Information (MPI) is responsible for developing and coordinating all College materials that are intended for the public. This includes printed materials (e.g., brochures, fliers, ads), advertising (e.g., newspaper, billboards, radio), video, the College website, and digital and social media. The SPC website is the primary location for developing and maintaining information and materials, and it is kept accurate and current by MPI. The website is where potential students, including those at-a-distance, can avail themselves of information about SPC.
The process of development, whether print- or Web-based, starts with the department interested in recruitment materials. MPI works closely with the requesting department on content and layout. MPI distributes drafts to the requesting department and other departments with content expertise (subject matter experts) to ensure accuracy of content. For example, the academic dean approves fliers intended for a discipline-specific program.
MPI ensures consistency in recruitment messaging and format by following the Branding and Visual Identity Guide as shown below
:
Managing Content
A department interested in new materials for recruitment and communication to the public submits a job request to MPI via the website as shown below:
After inventorying current print and Web content, MPI creates a draft of the recruitment material and discusses it with the requesting department. The draft includes a summary of current material, initial edits, corrections needed, inclusion of language for the public required by law, and requests for clarification. The subject matter expert from the requesting department provides feedback, verifies, and corrects content. MPI makes necessary edits and sends it back to the requestor for final review. Final sign off by subject matter experts ensures that recruitment materials and presentations accurately represent the institution’s practices and policies. The review and approval process is managed electronically, as illustrated below:
Examples
Flyer for the Veterinary Technology BAS program:
Bookmark:
Web
Why Choose SPC? Webpage:
Video
Video promoting the Veterinary Technology facility:
Social Media
SPC Facebook site:
SPC Twitter Feed:
Recruitment Services
SPC’s Recruitment Services Office provides potential students with information and personal assistance for enrolling at SPC. The Recruitment Services Office consists of the director, seven recruiters, and eight student ambassadors. Some of the tasks performed by the Recruitment Services Office include:
- Attending community events to provide admissions, program, career, and college readiness information.
- Attending SPC open house events to provide information about SPC and assist with admissions.
- Sending out segmented communications to prospective students to encourage them to apply and/or find out more about our academic programs and associated careers.
- Following up with recent applicants to help them accomplish the next admissions associated step, e.g., requesting high school transcripts, taking the college placement test, etc.
- Answering general inquiries from the public at large about SPC.
- Represeningt SPC at SPC and community functions.
- Working with Marking and Public Information to develop and launch recruitment campaigns requiring multiple marketing components.
- Working with Deans on strategic ways to recruit students into specific academic programs.
The Director of Recruitment Services, who reports to the Associate Vice President of Enrollment Services, oversees the recruiters to ensure they have the knowledge, skill, and materials to accurately represent the College’s practices and policies. Recruiters receive ongoing training on policies and procedures, particularly those pertaining to academic programs and admissions. Recruiters meet with academic deans or designees to develop a full understanding of their programs. Recruiters also shadow admissions personnel and academic adivsors. As requirements change, such as residency documentation or financial aid protocol, the Director of Recruitment Service apprises recruiters of the evolving practices.
The Director of Recruitment Services has full oversight of materials distributed by recruiters, including reviewing for accuracy and final sign-off. The Director of Recruitment Services also reviews and approves letters and email messages sent to prospective students, as illustrated by the following examples:
Letter example:
Email example:
Recruitment Presentations
Recruiters attend events at SPC and in the community, including open houses, expos, program information sessions, job/career fairs, and college readiness presentations. Whether the topic is admissions, financial aid/scholarships, or degree programs, these presentations are derived from the content of the College catalog. SPC recognizes that recruitment personnel must be accurate and consistent in order to be effective in communicating offerings and programs to potential students at high schools and to community groups. Therefore, Marketing and Public Information (MPI), provides materials handed out in the community to the Recruitment Services Office as the following flier and Webpage illustrates:
The Recruitment Services Office constantly references the SPC Website, College catalog, and Student Handbook to ensure recruiters provide accurate information to our students and prospective students. The SPC Viewbook, published by the College, is a paper-based promotional booklet with pictures used especially for recruiting students and is distributed at recruiting events, as illustrated below:
The Recruitment Services Office occasionally creates PowerPoint presentations based on information culled from the College catalog for recruiters to utilize with prospective students. The Director of Recruitment Services approves presentations prior to their use. The following slide is from a presentation given to students working on their GED.
Student Ambassadors
Student Ambassadors are a group of currently enrolled SPC students managed by the Recruitment Services Office who, in addition to attending classes, represent SPC in many different ways: offering assistance at an SPC or community event, speaking to a group of high school students about the SPC opportunity, or giving a tour at a campus. Student Ambassadors are supervised by the Director of Recruitment Services. Student Ambassadors receive their training from the Recruitment Services Office and are instructed to forward prospective students to the Recruitment Services Office for further information.
College Accreditation
Statements about accreditation can be found on the College website under the “About” tab. All necessary information, including College accreditor (SACS-COC) contact information is provided publically. This same information is made available to students in the student handbook.
Supporting Documentation
In order to preserve the integrity of the supporting documentation in case of updates occurring between the submission of this document and the review, the narrative above links to pdf versions, whereas live links are included below.