Strategies for Creating and Building College Band Programs within Institutions Under a 5000-Student Population

Higher education institutions regularly cultivate recruitment and retention plans to attract potential students to their programs. Small college band programs are identified as institutions under a 5,000-student enrollment and often develop recruiting strategies that employ a smaller applicant pool. This qualitative study observes small college recruitment practices and justifies successful and non-successful techniques within small college band programs. The research within this project examined insights into college admissions practices, administration roles in student recruitment and retention, and the role of the music faculty in recruiting and retaining current students. Furthermore, this study evaluates the effects of college exposure, marketing, communication, and incentives on student decision-making. This document also evaluates and defines the importance of the professional relationships between the college program director and surrounding high school programs. In addition, this research assesses the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and how it changed how small college band programs recruit and retain students. Discoveries of this study include enrollment data from multiple small school band programs in central Texas. The data collected emphasizes retention rates as well. This research also weighs the effects of geographic location on student enrollment. This qualitative study has reviewed multiple marketing and social media avenues directly related to student enrollment. While this research suggests that certain recruitment practices have a higher success rate, specialized recruitment strategies based on geographical location, economic support, and equipment availability generate differing success rates per location. Thus, this research assessed the best practices for general recruitment, specialized recruitment, general retention, and specialized retention. Keywords: recruitment; retention; student; influencer; opportunities; obligatio

Challenges faced by blood transfusion services in a tertiary care centre for recruitment of convalescent plasma donors for COVID-19

Background: The transfusion of convalescent blood products is an age old therapy in emerging infectious disease outbreaks. Convalescent plasma works on the principle of passive immunotherapy and Viral Neutralization. In the Current pandemic of corona virus disease (COVID-19), convalescent plasma transfusions can have therapeutic role as there is no specific preventative and therapeutic options. This study was done to see the challenges faced by blood transfusion services for recruitment of plasma donors.Methods: The retrospective study included challenges faced by blood transfusion services in recruiting Donors for convalescent plasma for COVID-19 and strategies followed for improving the donation at SMS Medical College and Hospital from April 2020 to October 2020.Results: This study evaluated challenges faced to recruit the recently recovered COVID-19 patients as donors, Setting up of plasmapheresis capacity, Role of social media in recruitment of Convalescent plasma donors, Financial aspects associated with Convalescent plasma donation, Role of NGOs in recruitment of donors and Success achieved in organization of donor mobilization and plasma collection.Conclusions: Recruitment of Convalescent Plasma donor from COVID-19 recovered patients is a big challenge for blood transfusion services. Different strategies to motivate donors should be implemented such as personnel communication, advertisement via classical mass media like radio, poster, newspaper and online media.

Factors Influencing Students’ Choice of an Institution of Higher Education

This study examined the following research question: What factors influence student college selection process? The study sought to fill an existing gap in the literature by examining what role technology and other relevant factors have on students’ decision-making as related to college choice. By identifying influencers of college choice, the study’s findings can add to the body of knowledge that admission counselors might use as they develop an appropriate recruiting mix of strategies best suited for today’s college applicants . As the theoretical framework, this research drew on the previous work of Hamrick & Hossler (1996) which combined constructs of both economic and sociologic perspectives with college choice. Additionally, an adaptation of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model (Venkatesh, Morris, & Davis, 2003) was created with key constructs such as Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, and Facilitating Conditions. In addition, the adapted model incorporated two sets of moderators (University Attributes and Individual Attributes) that were hypothesized to influence university or college choice. Socio-demographic information was also collected to better understand how students are being recruited and what methods they perceive as most effective. A convenience sample of students from the freshman class at a major research university in the Southeast were surveyed. Approximately 750 students were selected to receive the main survey, selected with the help of university advisement personnel and university faculty in identifying possible classes to participate. The survey was distributed by e-mail. Over the course of a two-month period, 427 students responded, with 341 surveys completed. Usable surveys were analyzed using the SPSS 25 statistical package. From the data analyzed via multiple regression, Performance Expectancy and Facilitating Conditions were found to be statistically significant whereas Effort Expectancy and Social Influence were found to be insignificant. Individual Attributes as a moderating factor within the model was found to be insignificant. University attributes as a moderating factor within the model was found to be partially confirmed, as only the relationship between social influence (SI) and school of choice behavior (B) was significant, whereas the other hypothesized paths were insignificant. Socio-demographic information from the survey suggested that students were being recruited via email most often, with mail and brochure usage also noted. Social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook were found to be highly used by students but were not effective recruiting tools. The results suggest that performance expectancy and facilitating conditions such as classrooms, athletic facilities, and academic reputation have a significant and positive relationship with behavior (school choice). Conversely, effort expectancy and social influence did not have a significant direct relationship with school of choice behavior. As technology continues to evolve and become a more pervasive influence on students, colleges need to explore if social media might be a useful recruitment tool. The data from this study adds to the body of literature on economic and status-based factors related to school of choice by including the role of technology

Factors Influencing College Selection by NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Players

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III basketball, coaches are often faced with the challenge of stretching resources to successfully recruit players who will represent the institution without the benefit of athletic scholarships. Having a better grasp of the factors that influence the college selection of NCAA Division III players might assist these coaches in more efficiently maximizing their resources. The purposes of this study were to (a) examine specific factors which influence why DIII basketball players made their choice to attend a particular school, (b) determine if there were differences based upon the type of school attended, and (c) examine whether there were categorical factors that differed on the basis of a players recruitment, year in school, race/ethnicity, playing status, or financial aid status.   Using the revised Influential Factors Survey for Student Athletes (IFSSA-R; Pauline, 2010), 503 DIII men’s basketball players were surveyed. Participant responses indicated that ‘career opportunities’ was the most vital item affecting college selection. With regard to the five categorical factors (academic, athletic, coaching staff, financial aid, and social atmosphere) academic factors were also found to be important.   Analyses revealed significant (p < .05) differences as determined by type of school for the athletic, academic, and financial aid subscales.  Results of the study will provide useful information for DIII men’s basketball coaches and college administrators throughout various points in the recruiting and college selection process.  Keywords: coaching, recruiting, basketball, NCAA Division III, college selectio

Using Social Networks as a Catalyst for Change in Global Higher Education Marketing and Recruiting.

Higher education institutes (HEIs) throughout the world are recognising the potential of using social networking as an outreach method for their marketing and recruiting campaigns and can serve as a catalyst for strategic change within the education sector. This study researched 90 universities in Asia, Africa and Europe to their use of social networking for educational recruiting and marketing. Results showed that HEIs in certain geographic areas do use it, but results are inconsistent among the globe. The innovative functionality provided by social networking has challenged HEI officials who may be inexperienced at utilising the full potential of these sites to better serve the school and its stakeholders. However, it is important that HEIs integrate the use of social media into their marketing programmes in order to better reach their intended audiences and provide for a more successful education experience for students

Recruiting nurses through social media : effects on employer brand and attractiveness

Aim: To investigate whether and how nurses' exposure to a hospital's profile on social media affects their perceptions of the hospital's brand and attractiveness as an employer. Background: Since in many places across the globe hospitals are struggling with nursing shortages, competition is rising to be perceived as an attractive employer by this target group. Organizations are increasingly using social media for recruitment, however, little is known about its effects on potential applicants' perceptions of the organization as an employer. We thus examine whether these effects occur and rely on the media richness theory to explain the mechanisms at play. Design: A between-subjects experimental design was applied. Three conditions were used: a control group, one condition that required visiting the Facebook page of a hospital and one condition that required visiting the LinkedIn page. Method: The focal organization was an existing Belgian hospital which had a LinkedIn and a Facebook page. An online questionnaire was sent to nursing students and employed nurses over 5 months in 2015-2016. Results: Nurses' exposure to the hospital's Facebook or LinkedIn page had a significant positive effect on a majority of the employer brand dimensions, both instrumental and symbolic. In addition, nurses who visited the Facebook page felt more attracted to working at the hospital. Most of these effects were mediated by social presence. Conclusion: Nurses' perceptions of employers can be positively influenced by seeing a hospital's social media page. Hospitals can thus employ social media to improve their employer brand image and attractiveness

Guide to Recruiting Black Men as Mentors for Black Boys

Black men are uniquely positioned to help guide black male youth to educational success and a productive future and through the barriers that stand in their way. But there are almost always more black boys to be mentored than black men to mentor them in formal mentoring programs. This guide helps mentoring programs engage in a productive and inclusive recruitment campaign by: 1) addressing program readiness; and 2) providing guidance on an effective social marketing campaign

Got Women? Hiring and Retaining Female Information Technology Professionals Through Effective Human Resource Marketing

The current pipeline for information technology (IT) professionals is dismal, with increasing jobs and decreasing applicants. We propose that one solution to this problem is encouraging women to pursue careers in IT. Today, women are underrepresented, and as a result, they comprise an untapped market segment. After discussing the current state of the industry, we propose that HR professionals should take a proactive, marketing approach to the recruitment and retention of women in the IT field. Lastly, we provide specific recommendations and discuss approaches taken by several companies to address this dilemma