An Examination of College Campus Recruitment Communication Strategies in the Virtual Environment

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted campus recruitment communication strategies when deployed in the virtual environment. Due to the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is limited research on the impact the virtual environment has had on traditional campus recruitment communication strategies. This study focused on companies that hire from colleges found within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), with the primary research being conducted through interviews with seven recruitment professionals as well as a content analysis of recruitment specific messaging across eight college websites. The findings of this study, including aspects determined in the primary and secondary research, reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the avenues in which the campus recruitment spaces within colleges communicate and engage with their target demographics, including social media communications and on campus, in-person interactions.