73% increase in CTE applications through targeted recruitment

Challenge

Aiken County Career and Technology Center struggled to recruit the right students into its CTE programs. Changes in recruitment processes limited hands-on outreach, and educators lacked a consistent way to identify and engage students aligned to specific career pathways. At the same time, students had limited awareness of available careers, and teachers at home schools were not always equipped to guide them effectively.

Solution

Aiken County implemented YouScience Aptitude & Career Discovery to transform how students were identified and recruited into CTE programs. They improved recruitment by:

• Using aptitude data to identify students with health science career alignment
• Personally inviting best-fit students to targeted events like Health Science Night
• Creating tailored outreach based on students’ top career clusters and interests

This approach ensured the right students were reached with relevant opportunities and messaging.

Results

• Increased enrollment and engagement: 
  • 73.3% increase in program applications
  • 30%+ of event attendees applied to a program
• Improved recruitment effectiveness:
  • 57.8% of applicants responded to targeted outreach
  • 13.8% of applications occurred during or immediately after the event
• Expanded career awareness:
  • Students discovered new health science careers and engaged more deeply in program exploration

“YouScience helps students move from aptitudes directly into a career search. They can use the actual phrases from their profiles and match them with careers and their aptitudes. That’s one of the most helpful things, just being able to identify the language to use.”

—Dr. Christie Palladino, Teacher, Biomedical Science Program, Aiken County Career and Technology Center

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