Diary note – Barkers

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I met some of the graduate team at Barkers last week for several coffees and a plate of biscuits.

We got together to chat about digital marketing to students – Barkers manage the integrated communications marketing for over 40 major graduate employers including Accenture, McDonald’s and Toyota.

Barkers do some innovative stuff; I liked the cut of their digital jib and I particularly liked their PodScrolls.

PodScrolls are digital company brochures that potential recruits can download to view on their iPods. They work well and they go some way to addressing the desire among many graduate recruiters to finally do away with paper brochures.

The grad team at Barkers are very focussed on how digital applies to graduate recruitment marketing today, where things are going and emerging trends.

They don’t just talk about it, they invest time and money. Last summer, I was amused to discover, they employed an intern to spend several weeks in Second Life and report their experiences. What a fantastic internship!

Graduate recruiters are often conservative and cautious. Understandably so. Yet there is a frontier of limitless opportunity for them online and through other digital channels.

With the right expertise and insight – either in-house or out-of-house – graduate recruiters can gain greatly from an enterprising approach to digital.

Conversely, without a proper understanding of the digital environment and the way their audience relates to it, they also have a lot to lose. A misguided decision could see their reputation damaged.

Over the next few years, as recruiters step further across the digital frontier, some are going to get it very right. Others are going to make big mistakes.

It’s a fascinating time to be involved in graduate recruitment marketing.