Can the Metaverse SAVE the College Career Center?

Career Service professionals on every college campus had to make significant operational changes during the pandemic.  All have done a tremendous job adjusting to the effects of the pandemic with the limited funding, staffing, and technology available to them. 

However, as we emerge out of the pandemic it appears the behavior of their customer base (students, employers, college recruiters, and alumni) have changed forever.  Ask any career center professional and they will admit:

• College recruiters have found effective alternatives to visiting campus to recruit students reducing their dependence on career centers.
• Students do not visit the career center as frequently as they should, nor do they participate in career events like job fairs to the pre-pandemic levels.

And, the majority will tell you they are struggling to get their administrators to return their budgets to the same levels they had prior to the pandemic.  

Enter the metaverse!

Career center professionals are being confronted with a new reality as well as a new opportunity to– like Facebook – reinvent themselves around the buzz, excitement, and mystery of the metaverse.

About two years ago I was researching the explosion of eSports programs on college campuses and how colleges had a new opportunity to increase enrollment by targeting students most likely to want to participate in college “club” eSport programs.  I was blown away to learn Akron University for example had over 3,000 students enrolled in their eSport club.

Fast forward to October 28th, 2021, when the corporate office of Facebook shocked the investment industry by announcing their future was in the metaverse and they were changing their corporate name to Meta. (not the online community Facebook) Wow! That made me sit up and take notice, but it wasn’t until Meta announced they would be investing over $10 billion dollars a year to build the infrastructure, equipment, to speed up the introduction of the metaverse and their perceived community, ecommerce, and branding opportunities that I started to think…

Could the metaverse make the college career center more relevant to students?

I know you are thinking I’m a bit off my rocker but stay with me for a minute!  The first thing we need to agree on is what the metaverse is.  I’ll offer this commonly accepted explanation to set the stage:

The metaverse is a shared digital/virtual reality that enables users to connect with each other, brands, and organizations, as well as build economies and interact in real time.

We’ll expand on that definition in future blog posts, but for now, use that as a foundation to explain the metaverse to your colleagues and those you report to.

So how could the metaverse benefit Career Services?

I’d like you to key in on the above words “enables users to connect with each other.”  While our understanding of the metaverse is being constructed for us by Meta and other firms, it’s becoming apparent that organizations, clubs, brands, associations could use the metaverse to not only build community and engage people/members but solve some problems they are facing.

• We know the career center is having trouble getting students to take ownership of their careers and engage and participate in career center events.  
• We also know that the employment market has been so hot that employers are struggling to engage with students earlier in their college experience.
• Finally, we know that the 18–24-year-old market is the largest age group that are purchasing and using Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 headsets, but under 25 percent have them.

Enter the opportunity…

What if an employer donated ten Oculus Quest 2 headsets to their favorite career center? (Investment of about $4k) 

The employer could put their name and logo on the front of each headset and when the GenZ student logs into the metaverse they could be first greeted by an avatar from the organization that provides a 15 second hello from the firm encouraging the student to sign up to receive additional information on careers, offer to take learning, personality, behavior assessments, skills training and to engage with executives on their team.

Next the career center could leverage the excitement and uniqueness of the metaverse to invite students who do not have Oculus headsets to visit the career center for introductory metaverse training, company visit trips, and/or engagements with employers, alumni, and college recruiters.  For example, the career center could schedule a series of lunch meetings each day where a company is scheduled to meet students in the metaverse to talk about careers and the opportunities their firms offer to support the students’ career objectives.  Students that have headsets can participate from their dorms, student union, or home!  Organizations with larger budgets will create games and events designed to build awareness, knowledge, and engagement. 

Companies could also provide additional metaverse content for students to explore including metaverse tours of their firms, and discussions with department heads.

If Meta is willing to commit a staggering 10+ billion dollars a YEAR to position their company as a relevant participant in the metaverse it makes sense to begin exploring new, timely, and relevant strategies that will resonate with GenZ college students.

Summary

The enormous amount of attention and Meta’s prediction that the metaverse and their Oculus headsets could replace the 200 million computers purchased annually opens a number of opportunities for career centers and college recruiters to connect and engage with students.  Some of the opportunities you should be considering include:

1. Partnering with employers to purchase Oculus Quest 2 headsets that will attract students to visit the career center - earlier in their college experience.
2. Inviting students (and parents) to the career center to learn how the metaverse will affect their career as well as connect with employers.
3. Hosting meet and greets with employers where they can engage with the students and reinforce their need to take ownership of their career exploration, planning and job search skills earlier in their college experience.

Is the metaverse the next thing for career centers and organizations?  In the last two decades career centers have learned to leverage the potential of:

• the internet and email.
• a career center website to organize and deliver their services.
• social media to drive participation, information, and knowledge.
• mobile phone technology to text, communicate, and inform.

…so why not the metaverse next?  Mark Zuckerburg and the investors who own 2.26 billion shares of Meta are banking on it!

What do you think?

Interested in joining a discussion on how the metaverse will change college recruiting and career services? Leave a comment or email don@talentmarks.com