Enabling impactful conversations between recruiters and candidates
"It’s tough for a recruiter to speak to a prospect who has no idea what they want to study. The Advisor helps them both to come prepared. It saves time and increases engagement."
Emilie Lagorsse
Deputy Director of International Recruitment, Promotion & Admissions
IÉSEG School of Management
About IÉSEG
Founded in 1964, and part of the Université Catholique de Lille, IÉSEG School of Management is one of France’s leading ‘Grandes Écoles’, with campuses in both Lille and Paris-La Défense.
Consistent with its mission to “empower changemakers for a better society,” IÉSEG’s programmes are designed to meet the ever-changing expectations of the job market, ensuring that its more than 8000 students from around the world are prepared for successful careers after graduation.
The challenge: improving candidate-recruiter interactions
IÉSEG’s recruitment team was investing a significant amount of time on candidates who lacked sufficient knowledge of the school’s programmes. To enhance the quality of exchanges, recruiters could benefit from having more contextual information about candidates’ backgrounds and aspirations ahead of meetings, allowing for more targeted and engaging discussions.
As such, the school needed a solution that helped candidates learn more about IÉSEG, and understand which programmes best suited their ambitions and interests. At the same time, recruiters needed a tool to gather useful information about each candidate before meeting, so that they could engage in personalised and meaningful conversations.
Brochure downloads were the school’s main lead capture method, which presented drawbacks for engagement and information gathering, as explained by Emilie Lagorsse, Deputy Director of International Recruitment, Promotion & Admissions:
"Brochure download forms could be leveraged to better capture candidate insights, while more interactive brochure formats could help foster stronger engagement."
The solution: engaging candidates and gathering recruitment insights
At the beginning of 2025, IÉSEG partnered with House of Education to create customised Digital Advisors in French and English. Now, within just 4 minutes, candidates answer questions to gain a clear understanding of which programme best fits their goals and interests.
“The Advisors are really well designed. Depending on their profile, the prospect is redirected to the right admission track, which is crucial,” says Emilie.
In turn, the questions these candidates’ answers provide recruiters with insights on each individual prospect’s motivation for studying, ensuring that recruiters are speaking to candidates about which programme offerings align with the candidate’s profile.
In short, both the candidates and recruiters are able to enter each conversation armed with the knowledge necessary to make their interactions more productive and valuable.
"It’s tough for a recruiter to speak to a prospect who has no idea what they want to study. The Advisor helps them both to come prepared. It saves time and increases engagement."
The Results
Within 6 months of launching, IÉSEG experienced remarkable results:
- 351 qualified candidates
- 21 applications started
- 16 admitted applicants
- 9 enrolled students
“I’d like to see those results with other providers!” Emilie adds.
Since its launch, the Advisor has become a cornerstone of IÉSEG’s social selling strategy. It engages their audience through a fun, interactive platform, while also enabling recruiters to prepare for more personalised and informed conversations.
Why House of Education
Emilie first discovered House of Education through a UK business school website and, not long after, a peer recommendation at a conference confirmed House of Education’s strong reputation.
"I was impressed by the onboarding. After just one workshop they really understood us and, in only 15 days, the content team had produced an Advisor that perfectly captured our programmes and tone."
The Advisors act as an insights partner for IÉSEG, helping the school analyse engagement data, identify trends in applicant interests, and continuously refine their recruitment strategy based on real user behaviour. This collaboration ensures that IÉSEG’s teams can make data-driven decisions and stay ahead of evolving student expectations.
Looking Ahead
Building on the success of their Digital Advisors, IÉSEG plans to expand their use across additional programmes and recruitment campaigns. The school also aims to further integrate insights from House of Education into its broader marketing and admissions strategy, ensuring that every candidate continues to receive a more guided, data-informed, and personalised experience from first contact to enrolment.
"House of Education is not only a provider. They act as advisors, sharing best practices from other business schools and helping us to optimise each step of our recruitment process."
For 2026, our shared objective is to double the number of enrolled students generated through the Digital Advisor.
