Welcome to better event registration!
In a recent webinar, Career Forge introduced its new Event Registration module, intentionally designed to replace frustrating guessing-and-clicking with customizable fields to simplify the event registration process for employers and career services.
This article is the print version of the interactive webinar, presented from two critical perspectives and includes the Q&A: Part 1 is about the employers' experience; Part 2 describes an enhanced recruiter registration function and, you guessed it, summarizes Part 1.
And combined, you'll discover how this new integrated software ends the dread of managing employer and recruiter event registration.
Who, or what, is Career Forge?
Career Forge is the industry's first software solution built by career services professionals exclusively for career services pros.
The first solution, Career Forge | ERM, premiered with rave reviews from career services teams fed up with managing employer relations with clunky spreadsheets and bloated CRMs.
You'll gradually see Career Fair Plus (CF+) products appear under the Career Forge banner and an eventual complete name change to Career Forge. As a brand and a company, we're all-in on delivering ongoing superior solutions for career services like the just-launched Event Registration module introduced in a recent webinar and described below.
Exhale; book a demo; do a little dance
I'm so done fighting one-size-fits-all event registration and hosting platforms!
Our years of overwhelming feedback and ongoing conversations with career services show that event hosts are fed up with fighting ill-fitting event registration and hosting platforms.
They're exhausted searching for workarounds in cumbersome or bloated software so they can accomplish particular event tasks. Symplicity's extended setup process doesn't match its name; Handshake launches relatively quickly, but customizing data fields to fit your event can feel endless.
Annual recruiting events are generally the same each year: returning employers, fixed locations, and even the fair name. But dates, times, recruiters' prerequisites, and even campus or facility rule changes complicate a direct "copy and paste" setup.
Busy career services teams don't have 30 minutes to guess which keyboard shortcuts or hidden drop-down menus will save them 15 minutes when they need to modify recurring events or update an employer's registration information.
Besides, who wants to spend hours clicking around a registration platform, even if they have the time? The Event Registration module simplifies simple tasks for people's sake.
Career Services teams ask, "How can I help who today?"
We know many of you wake up every morning thinking, "How can I best help students and employers?" because we wake up wondering how to support what you're trying to accomplish.
On-campus career services are essential bridges for building trust between students and employers. Yes, jobs are considered part of our professional lives, but personal factors influence extending and accepting job offers.
This fact fuels a fundamental company belief: humans matter. Technology–especially our solutions–should not replace people or personal interactions. We build software that adds value and efficiency; it's not a substitute for human engagement, especially in career services.
Recruiting and hiring decisions are very personal and much more complex than matching algorithms on a job board. These processes start well before students and employers use the job boards.
Moving your students and employers toward better outcomes is the mindset behind every line of code and comprehensive platform under the Career Forge brand.
What's the Career Forge Early Talent Network?
The Early Talent Network (ETN) describes the shared missions of career services, students, and employers. The Career Forge | ETN software solution facilitates career services juggling aligned but unique activities of advising, supporting job searches, building real-world student experiences, and event hosting. The popular Career Fair Plus hosting software integrates with Career Forge products.
The Career Forge | ERM—employer relationship management tool is a stand-alone platform under the Career Forge brand.
Career Forge ERM, ETN, and CF+ products fill the toolbox to meet specific recruiting and hiring needs for career services, students, and employers.
This Event Registration application is the newest Career Forge solution.
Why can't someone build event-hosting software with a faster event setup process?
Maybe it's because they're talking to salespeople instead of career services and their event hosts.
Based on your feedback, we had five primary goals for the Event Registration module:
- Enable event setup in under five minutes
- Accommodate school or career service unique requirements
- Create the option to label types of employers and link them to associated registration fees
- Showcase sponsor benefits or promotional offers
- Automate recruiter communication at key touch points like registration and time-sensitive pre-event tasks
Our Career Forge software engineers work hard to simplify your event registration and hosting tasks. We're always ready to show off their efforts and accomplishments.
What benefits am I missing if I'm not using the Career Forge Event Registration software?
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Customers Requested Ways to… |
How Event Hosts Benefit From the Event Registration Module |
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Stop wasting time recreating annual events from scratch |
Quickly duplicate and customize past program information for a current event |
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End the frustration of guessing how to create on-site, virtual, hybrid, single-day, and/or multi-day fairs |
Select format from a drop-down menu |
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Spend less energy teaching employers and students how to use the registration module |
Minimize employer and student help requests with customized employer and student data fields and event uploads |
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Avoid lumping all employers under one label and/or pricing tier |
Specify types of employers and associated pricing tiers like non-profit, government, premier sponsors, etc. |
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Stop asking recruiters to adjust their prerequisites to what the software system displays |
Add required or preferred criteria like majors, school, school-specific majors, enrolled year, graduation date, work authorization status, degree levels, etc. |
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Prevent unauthorized or inappropriate views for students and recruiters |
Determine who sees which registration questions and responses are filterable for recruiters vs. students. For example, students don’t need registration checkboxes about electricity requirements, and employers don’t need to see how many career services events a student participated in last year. |
Reserving a 1:1 (or a team:1) tour with Dale is the best way to see the Event Registration module in action, but I’ll do my best to explain what our webinar attendees saw during the demo.
Why do I have to write new employer and student emails for every event?
Maybe because no one cared enough to develop a better way until now?
Event hosts spend a lot of time communicating with employers and students. The Event Registration module returns those hours to you with fully customizable templates.
What benefits am I missing if I’m not using the Career Forge Event Registration software?
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Customers Requested Ways to… |
How Event Hosts Benefit From the Event Registration Module |
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Stop wasting time building email sequences for every event |
Relax by customizing templates in the Event Registration module |
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Avoid complicated invoicing processes |
Design and store invoices per career services or school requirements |
I Don't Remember Who I Registered
Some employers will register so far in advance that they can’t remember the company or individual recruiter information they submitted.
Now, you can finally let them update this information directly in the new Event Registration module.
What benefits am I missing if I’m not using the Career Forge Event Registration software?
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Customers Requested Ways to… |
How Event Hosts Benefit From the Event Registration Module |
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Prevent last-minute “recruiter crisis” to update registration information |
Employers can directly update
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Save time writing individualized emails to every recruiter or employer based on missing information |
Customized, scheduled reminder emails to employers and their recruiters |
See the Event Registration module in action. Reserve a 1:1 (or a team:1) tour with Dale.
How do I configure employer registration payment methods?
Well, they say a picture’s worth a thousand words, so a .gif must be worth at least two thousand, right? Here’s how you configure employer payment methods in our new event registration software.
What benefits am I missing if I’m not using the Career Forge Event Registration software?
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Customers Requested Ways to… |
How Event Hosts Benefit From the Event Registration Module |
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Put one or multiple university payment platforms into the employer registration process |
The software is loads ready to integrate with popular payment methods like TouchNet and Stripe with direct pass-through |
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Choose credit card, bank, or event-specific and early bird payment (if offered) |
Single click link to the preferred credit card or check payment options for each event |
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Set up multiple check payment processes |
Enable fair-specific payment procedures |
Can we offer multiple employer registration & pricing packages?
Absolutely. You can provide pre-configured registration packages, and the Event Registration module automatically displays the associated pricing to employers.
What benefits am I missing if I’m not using the Career Forge Event Registration software?
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Customers Requested Ways to… |
How Event Hosts Benefit From the Event Registration Module |
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Reduce the number of clicks required to offer various employer registration packages |
One-time setup for customized employer packages
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Attract employers with registration perks |
Enable various registration package features, like the number of
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Limit the number of pricing packages available at each level |
Create FOMO and automatically update the available quantity of each registration package |
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Offer add-on line item purchases |
Make your employers happy with a drop-down menu of add-on options and associated pricing |
Employer-side registration recap
So far, we’ve demonstrated:
- Fast and simple event setup
- Automated messaging to employers
- Multiple integrated payment methods with customizable pricing structures
- Options to
- Display or hide specific registration packages according to the type of organization
- Publish, hide, or share the event with specific employers until complete registration opens
See the Event Registration module in action. Reserve a 1:1 (or a team:1) tour with Dale.
From the Live Q&A
Q: Can even hosts adjust pricing after an employer registers?
A: Absolutely. Event hosts retain complete control over the registration details. They can edit the registration information and change the type, and then the platform will recalculate the price they're supposed to pay based on that.
Employers receive the final invoice after event hosts approve the registration. So, suppose someone wants to register for a different package or forgot to indicate non-profit. In that case, you adjust the type of organization, and the system automatically updates pricing to match the new data.
Q: If employers need an “approved” status in the system before registering, how does an employer without that status register? Is there a process to hold registration until it is approved in the system?
A: When you send a registration link to a recruiter, the system reads the email used to create their account and asks if they’re part of an existing company (that matches that email domain) or want to create a new entity.
Or they can complete the entire registration process as if they were approved, and you, as the event host, get a notification that the registration is pending approval.
Career Forge Event Registration eliminates hurdles and frustration. When you or a team member invites someone to register, they can, whether or not the system shows “approved” status.
This goes back to our core belief that people matter. Career services know their recruiters, so you need the ability to say, “Yes, I know this person, and they are part of this team, and I'm vouching for them by approving their registration before the employer’s primary POC approves it.”
Q: What happens when the employer contact who registered six months ago leaves the company?
A: You update the former lead or POC’s contact information with the new recruiter or company lead and click “save.”
How do I know what’s approved and what’s pending?
Tracking employer registration is as simple as choosing one of six status tabs!
What benefits am I missing if I’m not using the Career Forge Event Registration software?
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Customers Requested Ways to… |
How Event Hosts Benefit From the Event Registration Module |
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Maintain control over employer registrations |
Quickly approve or edit employer information like:
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The employer’s approved, but their registration status is “not paid.” Now what?
Depending on their payment method, the Event Registration software automatically updates their status to “paid” once the funds arrive. You can also manually update their invoice status, as shown below.
What benefits am I missing if I’m not using the Career Forge Event Registration software?
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Customers Requested Ways to… |
How Event Hosts Benefit From the Event Registration Module |
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Keep a bird’s eye view of every event |
Every edit shows in a real-time dashboard |
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Streamline payment collection |
Registration approval auto-emails payment request Downloadable, line-item invoices Option to use integrated payment systems like TouchNet or Stripe, and the system auto-populates the amount due, etc. Direct employers to an institutional payment page that automatically returns them to the Event Registration module |
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Receive instant payment status update |
Integrated systems automatically update employer status as “paid" Manually reconcile payments via non-integrated systems |
Employers can update their majors, open roles, or add or remove an attendee without you or your team.
How do our employers add or remove recruiters themselves?
Employers can amend team members as easily as they can edit other registration information. However, remember that event hosts must approve the change if it affects the employer’s registration fee.
What benefits am I missing if I’m not using the Career Forge Event Registration software?
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Customers Requested Ways to… |
How Event Hosts Benefit From the Event Registration Module |
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Update individual employer fees according to registration changes |
Employers implement the changes (e.g., add or remove a recruiter); event hosts retain approval authority because some changes add fees or generate credits |
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Have a bird’s eye view of the net effect of registration changes |
The real-time, shareable dashboard:
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading, watching, skimming, or clicking randomly through Part 1: End the Dread: Your Integrated Event Registration Software is Ready! Looking for more? Check out Part 2 here!
This is a lot of exciting software news to take in at one time. Treat yourself to a 15-minute call with Dale to hone in on how the Career Forge Event Registration module makes employers, recruiters, and event hosts happier!
Here’s that QR code to drive product development with your feedback and requests:
