Southwestern Company Campus Relations

So, it’s now (almost) officially summer. Students are not in class and so we can’t really go to campus to recruit next year’s class. Right? Do we just take the summer off? I hardly think so.I just returned from the annual conference of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). It was a great time to catch up with university colleagues and chat about how the recruiting year went and what we, as employers, should be thinking about for this next year.

It was also a fine opportunity to brainstorm about things that we, as employers, could be doing NOW to prepare for the upcoming year. Here are some ideas:

1.Send a list of students recruited (both interns and graduates) back to campus from this past year. For interns, it’s nice to include their major and year in school. Career centers complete annual reports that show their contacts with students, employers, etc. and they value this summary to include in their reports because it’s one way in which the centers are judged by their superiors.

2.Talk with career centers about potential sponsorships. Many career centers are in dire need of funding just to maintain their present level of activity for students. This was certainly evident last week as some universities were not even present at the annual meeting due to budget constraints.

3.Review the career center web site for career fair dates, staff changes, sponsorship categories (career center and student organizations), other opportunities for employers to engage the campus, etc.

4.Update campus presentations to include the most recent data from your company, including any major changes in services, products, staffing, and recruiting processes.

5.Visiting campus and meeting personally with career center staff can build some great relationships. Some career centers have “employer roundtables” or other get-together events during the summer. Again, these can be very useful in building bridges not only with the career center, but with faculty.

6.Volunteer for career center events. The campus values employer perspective and expertise. This includes the career center as well as student organizations. Get connected.

Now is the time to really examine how last year went and ask for feedback from each campus so that next year’s recruiting activities can run more smoothly and get a greater return on your corporate investment.

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