Preparing For Agents: Creating Student Profiles

Congratulations! You have made the right decision to forward your international recruitment duties to a professional agent!

So, what to do now?

Today we will start discussing the preparations you need to make to get the most out of this relationship. Note that in this context, we see agents only as an addition to your overall communication and recruitment strategies. After all, they are just another tool you use to achieve your goals. So, in order to make this tool as useful as possible, you need to do your own homework first.

Creating student profiles

One of the first questions you need to think about is “What kind of students are we looking for?” This question relates closely to your institution’s profile and your major strengths. Knowing your exact characteristics will help you find the type of international students that will be the right match for you.

Questions to be asked here:

1. Which of the programs we already have (undergraduate, graduate, language courses, etc.) are best suited for international students? This will help to define the concept of program promotion on one hand, and your target students’ demographics, on the other.
2. Out of our current international students, do we see any field that is dominated specifically by females or males? This will help to define if the institution currently lacks diversity from a gender perspective.
3. What are our current international students’ specific needs and concerns? What do they expect from our programx? This will allow to address the needs on campus while promoting the institution.

Now, write down the answers in the following format:

TIP: Answer these questions by having a real person in mind. Even better if that’s a student currently enrolled in your institution.

Try to focus on 3-5 main profiles and be as specific as possible.

So, what should you do with these profiles now?

Right now you have a general understanding of the 3-5 most common types of students your institution can attract.

The following steps should be:

1) Back up each profile with statistics

How many female engineers do you currently have? And how many you would like to have in 5 years from now?

2) Focus on their needs

Have you already addressed these students’ needs? Should you put in place some improvements? Are you positioning yourself as an institution that can cater to such needs online?

3) Update profiles and prepare summaries

After all the research, you should summarise your findings from all the facts and statistics. If you feel that some of the profiles need to be updated or adjusted, do it. Then, write a one-page summary about each type of student you are looking for.

Additional reading:

Read more on preparing information for agents in this report.