Getting students to complete the First Destination Survey (FDS) is a challenge nearly every career center faces.
Not because students don’t care about outcomes, but because the process often feels one-sided, with no immediate benefit or relevance.
That challenge is so well-known that NACE sets an aspirational knowledge rate goal of just 65%, acknowledging how difficult it is to capture early graduate outcomes, even when responses are supplemented with employer, faculty, or social media research.
But what if the FDS didn’t feel like a form?
Gen Z thrives on personalization, real-time feedback, and experiences that feel built for them. To drive real engagement, the FDS has to deliver value, not just collect data.
Here are 6 ways to turn the FDS into something students actually want to complete.
1. Turn the FDS into a Personal Insights Tool
Provide immediate, personal value to every student who completes the FDS.
Gen Z is the generation of Spotify Wrapped and app-based analytics; leverage their interest in self-data. Instead of just taking information, give some back instantly.
At the end of the survey, present a personalized dashboard. Show them how their responses compare to their peers in an anonymous, aggregated way.
For example: "You study 10 hours a week, putting you in the top 30% of students in your major." or "65% of other first-year students also listed the library as their favorite study spot."
This transforms the FDS from a simple questionnaire into a tool for self-discovery, providing a powerful intrinsic incentive to complete it.
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2. Launch a Student Ambassador Program
Leverage the power of peer-to-peer influence. A request from a university administrator is just another email, but a recommendation from a friend or trusted student leader cuts through the noise.
Identify and recruit a team of student ambassadors for the FDS.
These could be Resident Advisors (RAs), heads of popular student clubs, or students active in Greek life.
Equip them with a promotional toolkit: a custom link to track their referrals, graphics for their Instagram stories, and a short message to share in their group chats.
This creates authentic buzz and social proof, making participation feel like a community effort rather than an administrative task.
Also Read: How to boost student engagement in career treks?
3. Gamify FDS Completion with Group Competitions
Tap into school spirit and friendly rivalries by turning FDS completion into a competition. This strategy works by shifting motivation from an individual task to a collective goal.
Frame the FDS as a challenge: which group can achieve the highest response rate?Pit dorms against each other, or create a "major vs. major" showdown.
The key is to offer a desirable group prize that benefits the entire winning community, such as a large pizza party for the winning dorm floor, a significant budget boost for the winning student club, or a donation to their chosen philanthropy.
Promote the competition with a live leaderboard on campus digital screens and social media to fuel momentum.
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4. Design a Mobile-First FDS Communication Plan
Reach students where they are: on their phones. A single email blast is destined to fail.
Instead, map out a multi-channel communication plan that aligns with student behavior.
Your primary channel should be the official university app, using a push notification to announce the FDS.
Follow this up with a coordinated blitz across the platforms they actually use.
Post engaging content on Instagram Stories (using interactive polls and stickers), create short-form videos for TikTok, and place QR codes linked to the survey in high-traffic areas like dining halls and student unions.
This makes the FDS feel like a relevant campus event, not a forgotten email.
Also Read: What are some of the best practices for setting up virtual career treks?
5. Eliminate Friction with Pre-Filled Data
Respect your students' time by never asking for information you should already know. The more effort a form requires, the higher its abandonment rate.
Your goal should be to make starting and completing the FDS as effortless as possible.
If a student accesses the FDS through a university portal or app where they are already logged in, their data (name, student ID, major, year of study) should be automatically and securely passed into the survey.
Instead of asking them to type their major, the form should simply ask, "Just to confirm, you're majoring in Psychology, right?" This simple act of pre-filling data demonstrates efficiency, reduces user effort, and directly increases the likelihood of completion.
6. Deploy an FDS Chatbot to Start a Conversation
Stop sending students a static form; start a conversation with them instead. The most effective way to engage a generation raised on messaging apps is to use their preferred format.
Deploy the FDS as an interactive chatbot directly within the student portal or university app. This technology presents one question at a time, guiding students through the process in a simple, responsive chat interface.
This approach feels familiar and intuitive to them, transforming a tedious administrative task into a quick, modern dialogue.
It’s a fundamental shift in user experience that directly boosts engagement and completion rates.
Also Read: How is Hiration better than VMock?
Final Thoughts
FDS doesn’t have to be a one-way request or an end-of-year scramble.
With the right mix of personalization, peer influence, and smart tech, it can become a valuable touchpoint, for both students and career teams.
At Hiration, we help colleges reimagine engagement across the board - from resume building and interview prep to LinkedIn optimization.
Our chat based Career Assistant (built on your existing guidelines) is available 24/7 to guide students, answer questions, and reduce the load on staff.
If you're exploring smarter ways to boost outcomes and streamline support, we’d love to connect and get you started with a free pilot.
