Leveraging Your Scholarship to Improve Talent Acquisition:
The Eaton Success Story
When it comes to creating a scholarship program at your organization, there are a whole host of benefits — from increasing brand awareness, improving brand quality, and even helping with talent acquisition.
Since 2022, we’ve worked with Eaton Electrical, partnered with Indigenous Clean Energy Network (ICE), to offer two $5,000 scholarships, plus a four-month paid internship at Eaton for both recipients.
The goal was to find students with experience and interest in the electrical industry to intern with Eaton. Applicants from under-represented groups were sought, with a special focus on Indigenous students. Applicants referred to the award by ICE were asked to include the name of their reference.
The SchoolFinder Group has helped us develop a new scholarship program, reaching qualified Indigenous students to pursue a work term with us. Now in our second year, their help and guidance has allowed us to reach more students and build brand awareness.
Specifically, there are three areas we helped Eaton:
Step I: Application Form
For the Eaton scholarships, we created a custom application form based on their needs. We developed a simple adjudication matrix that privileged Indigenous applicants and those who were referred by ICE. Applicant skills, location, GPA, and the personal statement questions all factored into the weighting of each application.
Using user-defined fields of varying lengths, we put together a multi-page application form to gather info and confirm eligibility for each applicant. All forms are session-based, meaning students can start and come back at any time.
Broadly, the application works in 5 stages:
1. Scholarship Application:
Confirms that the applicant is legally able to work in Canada without company sponsorship, and is willing and able to take an internship with Eaton if selected as a recipient
2. Basic Information:
Applicant contact info as well as demographic data, like gender and Indigenous identity
3. Education Information:
Details on school and program, grades, and specific info on applicants’ electrical experience; three questions from Eaton about troubleshooting, power distribution, and renewable energy
4. Statement of Purpose Questions:
Two 250-word short answer questions about what an internship at Eaton would mean to the applicant, and where the applicant’s passion for the electrical field came from
5. Ongoing Support:
Answering any applicant questions and sending automated reminders
Step II: Scholarship Marketing
A targeted email campaign combined with a featured scholarship listing is a proven method for marketing your scholarship, and ensures as many completes as possible.
In the Eaton case, they offer 2 scholarships for students pursuing a career in the Electrical industry.
We featured the scholarship for a total of 3 months, as well as sent 2 targeted email campaigns to eligible students.
Featured Scholarship
A Featured Scholarship Listing means your award will display on the main page of ScholarshipsCanada.com.
In this case, Eaton featured their scholarship for 3 months leading up to the deadline, from March to May.
views
clicks
Email Campaign
Objective
To generate applications for both scholarship programs for Fall 2022.
Target Audience
Students interested in studying Electrical or Engineering programs, as well as students who identify as Indigenous.
Method
We sent two emails: one to the general group, and another to the Indigenous group.
Subject Line
Nathan, apply now to receive a $5,000 scholarship!
Preheader
You could be awarded a $5,000 scholarship plus a paid internship position! Application deadline is May 31, 2022.
students reached in 2022
%
unique open rate in 2022
students engaged in 2022
This email provided the necessary details with a clear call-to-action to increase awareness and drive application clicks.
Step III: Adjudication
We designed and managed the scoring rubric and adjudication for the program, which occurred over three waves.
Wave I
A team of in-house adjudicators scored all applicants according to the matrix.
Wave II
Top applicants were assigned to adjudicators from Eaton and ICE to select 12 finalists.
Wave III
ScholarshipsCanada contacted the finalists to receive resumé submissions. From the resumés, and internal consultations, Eaton and ICE together chose the two recipients.
Post-Adjudication
After Eaton notified the winners, our team sent a thank you email to all applicants.
We also published an article featuring the selected winners. This helps future applicants and helps build brand awareness for Eaton.
Finally, a summary report was made available.
The Results
We learned several lessons from the 2022 round and made some adjustments for 2023. Namely, a greater focus on Indigenous heritage among finalists, as well as more attention paid to location, to ensure that recipients are able to take on an internship near their homes.
In Spring 2022,
total students applied
Next Steps
If you have any questions about starting your own scholarship program or would like to discuss managing, marketing or adjudicating your existing scholarship program, contact us at:
The SchoolFinder Group Team
info@schoolfindergroup.com
Further reading:
» Marketing, Managing, & Adjudicating Your Scholarship: The Opterus Success Story
» How to Develop Your Own Scholarship Program
» The Most Effective Scholarship Marketing Strategies
» ScholarshipsCanada Content Calendar 2023
» The SchoolFinder Group Email Query Fields
