Your admissions advisors are the first point of contact with prospective students. Their role is incredibly important, multifaceted, and having passion for people and helping them define their futures is a requirement.
The right admissions team will help support your enrollment efforts during a time when post secondary institutions are faced with a long list of challenges. These individuals have a significant influence on whether students enroll or not, and they set the stage for students’ overall experience at your career school, college or university, or other educational training program. That means they influence student retention as well.
How can you hire the right people? Here are a few tips on what to look for when interviewing admissions advisors:
- A commitment to building relationships with prospective students – Admissions advisors help students navigate the process of choosing a school, college or training program based on their goals and requirements. It’s important that they are able to establish rapport with prospects from their first interaction. When hiring people for your admissions team, ask questions that reveal how they would speak to students interested in your programs. Do they seem to express genuine interest in understanding prospective students in order to make them successful?
- Strong communication – Communication is a two-way street. Admissions advisors need to be active listeners who let students know that they understand their challenges and needs. They must answer questions in a clear and concise way so that prospective students are easily able to get accurate information about their programs of interest. The ability to be persuasive and overcome objections is also important, but in a way that keeps the students’ priorities and goals top of mind. People invested in people tend to make great admissions advisors.
- High energy and excellent support – Each student is different, and excellent admissions advisors understand that they must meet students where they are in their lives and educational journeys. Good support keeps students engaged and excited about the process of enrollment, even when it is stressful. Support and guidance should be tailored to each individual to support their vision.
Need more ideas on how to build and retain a motivated admission team that bolsters your enrollment and student engagement efforts? Explore our webinar, Admissions Advisors: The Key to Growing Your School. Hear from hiring and enrollment professionals about what they look for in admissions advisors.
Developing your career as an admissions advisor? Read our e-book, The Success Secrets of 10 Career School Admissions Leaders. Learn from industry leaders who have worked as and trained top admissions advisors about how to overcome common challenges in the field while meeting increasingly high expectations in an ever-changing admissions and education landscape.
Improve your admissions process with LeadSquared
The quality of your admissions team is vital, but so is the platform you use to capture new student leads and track them throughout their journeys. LeadSquared is the complete CRM to manage student admissions. It can help you:
Book a demo today to learn more about how to empower your admissions teams, accelerate enrollments, and optimize the student experience.
