Meet our speakers: Jimmy Hong, INTO University Partnerships

Ahead of our free virtual conference on the future of student recruitment post covid-19, we continue to bring you guest blogs from some of our speakers. Today, it's the turn of Jimmy Hong, Assistant Director of Recruitment Operations for INTO University Partnerships.

Our conference takes place on Thursday 4 June and is completely free to join - sign up now to get access to all sessions - live and on demand. You'll find the full lineup in this blog post.

When the extent of the pandemic became clear - particularly how it would affect your work - what did you think?

My initial thought was that international student mobility will be heavily impacted, but at the same time it will allow universities to reflect on current practices and evolve with the challenging times. The demand for higher education has not disappeared nor will disappear, but it has accelerated other opportunities.

Was it difficult to transition into a new way of working?

Yes, I do miss traveling to meet colleagues and partners in-person; virtual meetings cannot replace face-to-face meetings completely. I look forward to being able to connect with colleagues and partners again soon.

Is there anything you’ve had to stop doing that, on reflection, you didn’t need to be doing and you actually won’t pick up again once things are back to something resembling normality?

Having to develop two strategies: a) temporary Covid-19 strategy; b) ‘normal’ strategy. It will be nice when we can develop just one strategy.

Thinking specifically about your job and your work, what do you think will be covid-19’s most notable legacy on it?

Covid-19 will be known in history as a disruptive pandemic that allowed universities to evolve and challenged the status quo of traditional student recruitment. Meanwhile, it will create a more blended ecosystem of both traditional and digital student recruitment.

Finally - something positive to end on. Can you recommend a good book, podcast, movie, or series that you’d say is worth giving some quarantine downtime to?

For a podcast, I recommend What Eric Made if you enjoy cooking and food. What Eric Made is a podcast hosted by a husband-and-wife duo. Each episode is a casual conversation from their home dining table. They dive into a wide variety of culinary topics with the intention of bringing professional training and knowledge to passionate home cooks (i.e. Which Cooking Oil Should I be Using?, The Carbon Steel Pan, Fresh Pasta 101, The Perfect French Fry).

Jimmy's session will round off our virtual conference on Thursday 4 June - book your free place now!