Information sessions provide you the opportunity to come to campus to help educate students face-to-face about your company or organization. These meetings allow you to discuss your organization, your recruiting process, your field in general, and meet and network with interested students.
If you are planning to conduct interviews on campus and host a company information session we would strongly recommend that you submit your request for information session space first and schedule your interview dates once you have received your information session confirmation message.
If you are interested in reserving space OR posting your event, please follow these instructions HERE (Adobe PDF file). If you have any questions or need assistance, please email us at employerconnections@career.gatech.edu.
Procedures for Requesting and Reserving Space For Your Information Session
Information Session Reservation Instructions (Adobe PDF file)
With this new way to publish your event you will be able to provide more detailed information:
- Company Name
- Information Session Title
- Info session Content/Details/Program
- Flyer and/or Company website
- Targeting you audience: Desired Major, Class Level, and Degree Level
How to reserve and publish your Information Session:
- Reserve the SPACE for your information session at: http://www.ssc.gatech.edu/event-rental-space
NOTE: Make sure to click on the Reservations link when you are ready to submit your reservation request. - After confirmation and payment, collect the “Student Success Center Payment Reservation Number.” This number can be found in the invoice received from: successcenter@ssc.gatech.edu
- Using the “Student Success Center Payment Reservation Number.” Logon in your CareerBuzz account and complete the information session publication form by clicking “Add New” under the EVENTS tab
- – Your event will be advertised campus-wide in our CareerBuzz recruiting system and on our Career Center website
- – All changes (date, time, cancelations) MUST be submitted to: successcenter@ssc.gatech.edu
- – To minimize conflict and maximize student attendance, OCR Employer Information Sessions are held after 5:00 PM.
- – Any catering must be arranged by the organization. Please see our list of approved caterers at: http://www.ssc.gatech.edu/catering
Note: Please note that you MUST have your space/room/theatre/suite confirmation before you can publish you event. The Career Center will not be responsible for incorrect information or space/room/theatre/suite that are not confirmed by the Student Success Center Building.
Company Information Session Boxes Mailing Address:
Packages may be delivered to the Georgia Tech Student Success Center up to five (5) days prior to your event date; materials left behind will be discarded if not claimed or shipped out within seven (7) days. Notify the Event Coordinator with your shipping details prior to your arrival, including the total number of packages to be delivered and their tracking numbers. When shipping materials to the building, please include the following information on all package labels to ensure proper delivery and storage.
LABELING INSTRUCTIONS FOR EVENT SHIPMENTS
GT Student Success Center
ATTN: Event Coordinator
Hold for (Event Name and Date)
219 Uncle Heinie Way
Atlanta, GA 30332-0122
Box ___ of ___
UPON ARRIVAL
If your delivery is not already in your event room, please notify the Front Desk Attendant and supply them with your total number of packages and their tracking numbers.
UPON DEPARTURE
All outbound packages must have a completed shipping label. Packing supplies (boxes, tape, etc.) are not provided. Pick-up and shipment of outbound packages is the responsibility of the event host and should be coordinated with your preferred third-party courier before your departure from the building.
Tips to Host a Successful Information Session
What is an Information Session?
Information Sessions are informal events that provide companies an opportunity to share information about your organization, the work environment and company culture, open positions, career paths, exciting projects and research, and much more while networking with GT students. Information sessions help personalize your company and recruiting process while building your brand on campus by sharing general company information with a large audience of students.
Is an Information Session the right recruiting event for my company?
Info Sessions are not necessarily the best recruiting event for every company! Typically most companies consider high student turnout to the info session as a measure of success. We have learned the Information Sessions with the highest student attendance are hosted by employers with a widely recognized brand or who are within specific fields such as consulting or technology. If your company doesn’t fall within these categories it doesn’t mean you can’t have a great information session. However, it does mean you and your company recruiting team will have to put some extra effort and work to generate student interest in your company and positions. Visibility and promotion are the keys to success.
Timing Your Information Session
Fall semester is the busiest time at GT for On Campus Recruiting. The Fall All Majors Career Fair tends to kick off the recruiting season at GT. Many of the 400+ companies attending the fall career fair try to hold an information session during the same week. There is a lot of competition for student attendance during these time periods with multiple info sessions being held at the same time. If your organization is in the process of increasing your brand awareness on campus, we recommend hosting an information session in conjunction with other campus recruiting events, after the career fair, in order to avoid increased competition for event attendance. Most Information Sessions are held in the evening to avoid conflicts with students’ schedules.
Know Your Audience
Regardless of major all GT students have a strong technical and analytical skillset. Open your information session to students from multiple majors that offer the skillsets you are looking to recruit. Information about majors and degrees is available on the GT website. If you are recruiting both graduate and undergraduate students make sure you are including information for both groups of students.
Track Your RSVP’s
Once you advertise your information session through Careerbuzz you will be able to track your RSVP’s. Take advantage of this feature to communicate with students prior to the event. Tease them with hints about the exciting session you have planned, share information about speakers, send a special ticket to win a door prize for RSVP’ing, share fun company trivia, ask a tough question about your company that whomever correctly answers wins a prize at the session… Engage with your RSVP’s to build their interest and excitement and encourage them to invite their friends and classmates.
Purchase a Resume Book
As an employer, you can purchase online access to the resumes of current Georgia Tech students and alumni who have graduated during the past two years, and are active in our Career Center database. Resume Book Access includes the following features: Filter student resumes using keywords, academic major, year in school and degree type; Use the Advanced Search tab to do a more detailed search through the resumes using graduation date and work authorization; Email curated students to invite them to your info session.
Promote
The Georgia Tech Career Center will promote your event through Careerbuzz when you complete the advertising procedures your employer relations team member will to send you. We also recommend taking the following steps:
Contact the appropriate student professional organizations. The list may be found online at:
https://gatech.campuslabs.com/engage/organizations
Advertise on the Center for Career Discovery and Development social media sites.
- LinkedIn:
- Find our group Georgia Tech Career Center
- With a following of over 4000 students and alumni, this is a great space to post about events, job openings, or other recruiting information.
Reach out to the appropriate student advisor(s) in the Georgia Tech Career Center so they can promote the event to their students. The full list is available at http://career.gatech.edu/undergrad-advisors
Contact the various colleges that house the majors you are interested in having attend your info session to discuss ways they can make their students aware of your event.
Format of Your Information Session
Our students have told us they consider the best information sessions to be interactive. Consider changing up the traditional presentation with Q&A session afterward to a more dynamic style. You may also create a specialized session unique to your organization. Previous successful info sessions have had an alumni panel, held a product demonstration or simulation and/or brought props, incorporated a coding competition or a business challenge to share with students. GT students have ranked plenty of time for networking with the recruiters as the #1 most highly rated component of successful information sessions. So allow for ample time to hold one to one conversations with students in attendance. In addition, formal information sessions are often followed by recruiters inviting attendees to coffee, dinner, out for pizza and trivia or other social type events to continue the conversation once the formal session concludes. Bring alumni, former interns or co-ops, engineers and people working in the jobs you are advertising in addition to human resources staff. And last but not least if you feed them, they will come. Provide catering and include that fact in your advertising.
Follow Up
The most successful companies keep in touch with the candidates they meet not only at the information sessions but at all their recruiting events. GT students have told us they are most attracted to the companies who personalize their recruiting experience and continue the relationship once the formal event(s) has concluded. It is this “extra touch” that will yield your company the best candidates.
