Finding the right people for your American and Canadian company can be hard. Whilst there is no dearth of talent pool in any of the countries, you can find it a bit tricky to get through the labyrinth.

In fact, one of the contentious issue plaguing the U.S. labor market in the post-Great Recession era is  the glaring gap between the demand and actual supply of the skilled workers. It only stimulate the need to create channel to reach out to the competent candidates in the US and beyond to Canada.

Herein, this blog will give a quick round of ways you can access the talent pool in the region:

• Job sites

US and Canadian Job market has flourished. Most of the job seekers share their profile on numerous relevant job websites to be accessible to the companies. All you have to do is open your company account and start skimming through the listed profiles of the candidates to select the best as per your specific needs.  However, it can be exhausting. You may need a support to pursue it.

• Job consultants

Tight schedules? Do not worry! Consult experienced job consultants in the US and Canada to get all the recruitment done for you. From filtering the CVs to conducting interviews, most job consultants provide complete service package. Share your compelling need for the skilled staff for best results. They will get the best of the best for the vacant job positions in your company. However, the final hiring decision would still be in your hand.

• Social Media

Social media has indisputable dominance in our life. Be it personal or professional, most people leverage the power of the virtual world to engage with people around the world. Most job aspirants share their core skills and expertise online only to proper their chances to get at the top of the stack. Also, many corporations consider social media as an integral component of their hiring strategies. Be it the professional linkedin, or the viral facebook, or quirky twitter, if you have the razor sharp eyes, then the right man for the job is not far. But, hiring managers have to take the stake to explore the relevance of the candidatures of the candidates.

• Recommendations

Spread the word about the kind of person you’re looking for in your US and Canadian company. Seek some recommendations from your existing employees, peers or possibly in the friend or social circles. You never know the right guy is possibly very near you. So you do not have to sweat it out, and let the word go around.

All said and done, you can cut it short with an easy step – join Nestlings –  an online platform to access the brightest of minds in USA and Canada. Collaborate with the brimming talent around hailing from myriad educational streams and interests.  Often, in the desperation of finding the right people, many recruiters make hasty calls. However, real time exchange with the recommended candidates can rule out many scary possibilities as you can experience with Nestlings.

Fill in your details for free registration! For more information, write to us at studyabroad@nestlings.com.com, and get started!

Mountain View, California, 10/15/2016 – Nestlings steps forward with it’s social networking platform, introducing a revolutionary way for students to make connections to accredited universities. Students are given a simplified platform to apply for not only universities, but for jobs, internships and scholarships. Nestlings also includes features for staying connected to mentors, recruiters, friends, current and former teachers and university faculty.

Students will be able to easily keep track of deadlines, invites, special functions and events, as well as show off their achievements, awards, accomplishments and test scores. Nestlings is the only system of it’s kind.

Nestlings student profiles can be open to be viewed by universities, recruiters and employers. Having a central system for recruiters to search for students takes the hassle out of scouting and trying to gather unorganized information about students. Universities will be able to easily recruit students who have completed their application process and discover students who would best represent their institutions.

How does this differ from the usual application process? The current student application process is too complicated and different for each school. This process takes far too much time filling out different application forms for each individual institution. Currently university applications are not interactive. With Nestlings, institutions can see live recommendations, ratings, essays, and articles written by students.

Nestling will create a standardized recruitment and application process for all institutions worldwide. The student’s profile will include all of the most sought after information necessary to recruit students. Universities can request additional information from students who proceed down the admissions pipeline only when it’s necessary.

In future iterations Nestlings will pilot a system that will allow scholarships, companies, and other advertisers to reward students through their platform by using incentives that will give students a chance to redeem real-life rewards including scholarships and freebies to cover the costs associated with college life.

Nestlings was founded by Sowmya Satish and Raj Shekar. Prior to their creation of Nestlings, Sowmya and Raj had played around with the idea of creating an app to sell used items and services within their community, which eventually evolved into Sowmya’s idea to create a commerce network for student communities. Sowmya realized student’s problems were much more complex than the need to buy and sell goods, and Nestlings was born.

Manni chats with David Stewart, the Director for the Center of International Enrollment at Upper Iowa University. They discuss the ways UIU stands out to international students as a small town college by providing a tight-knit community. David also describes his journey to his current position as a study abroad learner from Canada to the U.S. to Korea and back again. Tune in to learn all about the academic appeal of small-town U.S.A!

Costs of recruitment and marketing

Most colleges would like to carry a superior reputation. Part of obtaining a good reputation is by recruiting students that would best represent their schools.

The cost of recruitment and marketing can vary greatly, depending on if the college is public or private or if there’s international recruitment involved. There’s also outsourcing to recruitment agencies.

So how much are these colleges really dishing out?  

It wasn’t until recently, that U.S. colleges lifted it’s ban and began outsourcing to recruitment agencies. It’s been a rare practice thus far with about 20-30% of U.S. based colleges using third-party agencies to attract a more diverse student body, talent and students who have achieved academic/athletic excellence.

Prior to the ban being lifted, it had been illegal for colleges to use recruitment agencies to gain more international students, but colleges still are not able to pay these agencies to recruit home students.

Where outsourcing to recruitment agencies is rare in the U.S. and even frowned upon, this practice is widely used in countries such as the U.K. and Australia, as well as many other foreign countries, leaving the United States low on the totem pole in regards to using third-party agencies.

Recruitment agencies usually charge a fee or commission., sometimes even both. Who foots the bill for these fees and commissions? Institutions, students or both. While some agencies waive certain fees, others appear to double dip, receiving commission, bonuses or incentives from institutions as well as fees from students.

Out of pocket cost paid by students can range from $0 to upwards of $5000 USD. On the high end, this would be more of an appropriate estimate for an international student looking to study abroad.

Higher education institutions may pay recruitment agencies a percentage, roughly around 15% of a student’s first-year tuition.

The median cost of recruitment per student at a private college can hover around $2,450+. For public colleges, we are looking at a median of $460+ within the United States. These figures are specific to home-based students. For international students, these costs can more than double.

Marketing strategies

Marketing goes hand in hand when it comes to recruiting and enrolling new students to colleges. So how are colleges catching the attention of prospective students?

Technology. Emails, texts, apps, social media to name a few.

From a 2015 survey conducted, high school juniors and seniors, around 78%, found that they had a better perception of a college based on a college’s website.

60% of high school seniors and 55% of juniors had expressed that they were more likely to consider an institution based on their ability to digitally interact.

40% of high school seniors and 45% of juniors preferred the visuals of print and were more accepting of phone communications.

What’s it going to cost?

Today, most all institutions have developed strategies to market a strong brand; hiring marketing companies to assure this. Colleges have also utilized marketing automation tools in order to target a wider range of students for recruitment.

For colleges looking to third-party marketing agencies to boost their brand and marketing, a 2015 data report has shown that 63% of institutions paid more than $100,000 on branding and marketing initiatives with 31% of institutions spending more than  $200,000 on strategies.  The average time spent researching to launch a brand is a duration between 9-15 months.

Some institutions bypass high costs of marketing strategies by taking advantage of analytics and social media engagement.

Institutions can target by age, location, sex, interests. This method helps shave down the costs of hiring marketing agencies while attracting specific potential students for recruitment/enrollment. 

The costs for the average student life cycle vary, relying on loose estimates in determining costs that students and educational institutions both foot the bill for.

The difference a dwelling can make

Whether it be dorm room dwellings or college sports, there are clear differences between American universities and European universities.

The tiny confines of dorm life have been more so the norm of the average American college student.  It’s something viewed as a right of passage into adulthood.  

Leaving home, especially leaving your home state to attend a university elsewhere, kind of seals the deal on a young student’s independence.

In Europe, dorm rooms are considered more or less foreign.

European students tend to take up residential life off-campus; renting apartments near campus while taking advantage of public transportation.  

Whereas some American students have a lack of transportation with the dire need for on-campus housing.

Better yet, many European students never actually leave home.  Dwelling within their parental homes up to the ripe age of 26 when they have completed their masters.

Take note, that European students with only a bachelor’s degree will have a very difficult time finding a job in Europe.

The difference in athletics

If you’re an American student looking to get into a European university with an athletic scholarship-think again.  The difference between how Europeans and Americans view university sports is as wide as the oceans that separate them.

American universities and sports is a pretty big deal.  I mean it is HUGE!  University sports are viewed as a profession.  A central structure which gathers large crowds of fans, family, friends, and big league recruiters.  

Getting an athletic scholarship is like the equivalent of winning an Oscar.

Now, how can I put this?

You may find a level of difficulty finding a European university that accepts athletic scholarships. While athletics exist, the ranking of importance is pretty low on the totem pole.

Europeans have an almost amateur view of university sports, where all are welcome, but without the hard push for athletic excellence in prep for a more professional goal that you’ll find lacking in many of these universities.

Attendance, studies, and testing

Believe it or not, American students have a greater commitment to attendance in the classroom.  Mainly due to frequent in-class quizzes and assignments that are given within a semester.

European students tend to skip classes, often.  Students in Europe actually take more exams and attend fewer, yet larger lectures which really determines what their grades will be.

American students have a bit more pressure to attend classes frequently, or they just may end up running out of unexcused absences and a 10% deduction off their final grade.

The differences are clear, so do your homework if you’re considering studies abroad in Europe or America.

Upon embarking on your first year of college, there are a few things to keep in mind. Etiquette. Why is classroom etiquette such a big deal?  

Well, maybe it is because it is a core value that will get you far in life.  You have to think of all the roadblocks that you may put in your own path, by simply lacking proper etiquette in any given situation.

Etiquette is nurturing to your relationships with friends, family, peers and even your professors.  

When we think etiquette, we have to think about respect as well, because there isn’t one without the other.  This means showing your professors respect, your classmates in a whole and not just your friends.  

Also showing your classroom respect by refraining from any type of property destruction and misuse of supplies and materials.  

A few things to keep in mind are as follows:

• Address your professors respectfully.  
• Don’t bring food or drink into the classroom.  
• Arrive to class on time.
• Stay for the entire class.
• Contact your professor if you have to miss a class.
• Refrain from speaking out of term.
• Dismiss yourself if you are unable to stay awake(no one wants to listen to snoring during a lecture).
• Keep your feet on the floor(not on the table/desk).
• Dress appropriately(that means, no pajamas).
• Hygiene is pretty important(offensive odors can disrupt class).

Etiquette isn’t a hard thing to remember if you implement it into your everyday lifestyle.  It shouldn’t take a lot of effort.  It should just be secondhand. 

The Nestlings Vision

When founders Raj Shekar and Sowmya Satish of Mountain View, California dreamed up the Nestlings concept, they set out to solve the college applications problem. College applications are inefficient, repetitious, labor-intensive and expensive. The problem is very real, but college-bound secondary students have little influence with the universities and no power to change the status quo.

Project Management for Poets

Putting together five or more college applications becomes an exercise in coordinating the delivery of content, approvals and finances from a diverse and distributed group of contributors. Is this skill set what we really want to select for in higher education? Surely, the world needs more great project managers, but we also need more great poets, mathematicians, historians and star athletes. Nestlings was created to make light work of the college application process by reducing its organizational burden on this diverse and talented audience who has little patience for – and even less training in – project management.  The founders themselves are both professional PMs. They built Nestlings as a killer tool to help graduating seniors accomplish their college applications within a supportive community of classmates and mentors.

A Multi-Sided Platform for Higher Ed

Founders Raj and Sowmya are no strangers to software product development. They have worked for some of the largest global names in personal computing, and they understand how important it is to have a marketing roadmap before beginning work to build a new software proof of concept.

The challenge was to build an engaged and focused student community around an app that fills a real need, while generating serious interest among the universities, lenders and vendors who make higher education available to a broader pool of candidates.

Building another Facebook or Common App was not in the cards. Raj and Sowmya had to break new ground, and growing a truly multi-sided community is their differentiator. Including all North American colleges and universities in the app would be foundational to the platform; we could not compromise on that point, and we have achieved it. Bringing on selected quality lenders and vendors will take more time. Nestlings will ultimately find sponsorship among corporate, governmental and nonprofit interest, but for now, our goal is to help students from all corners of the globe get into the college of their choice.

Ruffling a Few Feathers

Nestlings will intersect with a few entrenched players in this space, and we expect to ruffle a few feathers along the way. The Common App was a great start, but it remains an incomplete remedy for the needless complexity of applying to similar and competing schools. Nestlings is here to augment the Common App and other student process management tools in ways that may grate against the established players in US higher ed. We are fine with that because we are helping the world’s young poets and mathematicians to defeat their project management nemesis through community and technology.

Next: Getting Into College Has Never Been Easier