NFC vs. QR for Student Branding

November 11, 2024

Mary Angelique Salvani

As a current student who is trying to put her foot in the door, I saw branding myself is a pretty cool way to approach this challenge. Now how should I go about distributing a reminder of myself to recruiters?

For the past 3 years, I've been eyeing round NFC tags in smaller quantities on Amazon. Even till now, I still haven't acquired said things. Don't get me wrong- they're 100% affordable from a college student's point of view, and I've had many ideas on how I would use them if I get them. But really, is it worth it? Definitely worth the try if I get them, but not a complete necessity.

QR codes- easy to make, easy to distribute. The general public is more accustomed and informed about the existence of QR codes (in my opinion).

So, let's compare NFC's and QR's.

NFC

They're a cool concept (one tap to the phone and that's it)
Quicker to access
Accessible only to those who have the physical tag (more private way of sharing)
Don't need to give recruiters anything (unless they want a copy of my tag)

Widely known concept
Not as fast to access (for devices that lack storage *ahem*, may take awhile for the link to show up after scanning, unable to read)
Easily accessible to everyone... could be good and bad
Can give out a million physical copies if I wanted to

So I guess at the end of the day, it's more of preference. I could do both if I wanted to- stick an NFC to the top of my phone with the hopes that recruiters would be comfortable enough to do so and that they have a smartphone, and have a business card as backup or just paperclipped to my resume.

From all the different types of recruiters I've met based on two different institutions, there's at least 4 categories I can differentiate. Federals, supporters, the older-generation, and the bored. Let me explain. 'Federals'- those who [of course] recruit for a federal government branch and generally nice. No specific age range or gender. They can give their QR's but can't take mine for security purposes (totally understandable). 'Supporters' are usually the middle-aged folks but some can be in their 30's. Majority are women. All supporters seem to be very open-minded and encouraging. These are the recruiters that talk the most, easiest to talk to, and are the sweetest when compared to all categories. They're the most relatable too (slay!!!). Next are 'the older-generation'. Middle-aged to old-aged. No shade to them, but they're just a bit more difficult to talk to due them sticking the textbook recruiting script. They're usually straight to the point or sweet- no in-between. Sorry, but taking time for rapport goes a long way. Lastly, 'the bored'. All ages, no specific gender. Self-explanatory. Whenever I see one just sitting alone on their phone in an empty booth, not one has switched up their attitude to pitch me in. They don't try to reel in some fish. I think to myself they look like they're just ready to end it. Pity.

So in short, 'Federals' can't scan/take anything. Supporters love to support, as well as try and get anything. Older-generation will either give no window of opportunity to share myself or be wowed in sight of a student business card with a QR on it. The bored will tell you to feel free to grab a pamphlet and that's it. Outliers may exist of course.

For those who made it this far, thank you for listening to my TedTalk. If you're a recruiter, please take this article as a way to encourage you if recruiting is where you want to be.