Comments on: Building Relationships With Professors To Gain A Recruiting Edge (Part 1 of 2)

By: Building Relationships With Professors to Gain a Recruiting Edge (Part 2 of 2) : ERE.net

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:01:46 +0000

[...] at, not because it isn’t possible, but rather because it isn’t easy. Beyond the business case, part one outlined the major players corporate recruiters can leverage on college campuses to reach top [...]

By: Shailendra Jaisingha

Shailendra Jaisingha — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:58:41 +0000

I think its a great article. It points to a direction that is often unknowingly ingnored. Yes, faculties can be an incredible source of recruiting some solid candidates but its not an easy approach. We have successfully used this strategy with employees who have connected us to the faculties of the schools they have gone to. We followed the process backwards i.e. have the employee (ex-student) connnect us to the department chair – then to the faculty and then to the career center. We have had success with this model and we are now looking into participating in a mentor program with a local school. We hope this will give us mileage in terms of connecting us with faculties, staff and other students.
All things considered – this is a great article. Thanks Dr. Sullivan.

By: Robert Dromgoole

Robert Dromgoole — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:05:14 +0000

Dr. Sullivan is right on (again). The answer to the above responses is to do both selectively. At our lab we’ll attend the obligatory career fair, but schedule a day prior/following the event to do the true recruiting. We’ve had much more success working directly with adivors/faculty. However, the branding at a career fair should not be forgotten. There’s something to be said to at least get your employment brand out there. But if you’re looking to actual hires, the faculty relationship is the way to go. We’ve even bypassed the career fair altogether in many cases.

Keep in mind, it’s not discrimination if you have specific openings. You’ll be successful if you’re targeted. You can’t go in and be all things. Focus on a specific amount of openings.

P.S. Dr. Sullivan, thanks again for a great article.

By: j b

j b — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:14:19 +0000

Aside from your advice teetering on the legal edge of student privacy law as well as employment laws, spitting in the face of career services offices is not very professional.

The best career services offices work WITH faculty for the benefit of students, graduates, and employers. I suggest you find a few of those examples to profile and save your disparaging comments for your diary.

By: Corinne Snell

Corinne Snell — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:37:03 +0000

With 20+ years of experience on both the corporate recruiting as well as academic sides of the house (at a large state-related school), I COMPLETLY agree with K. Fallon’s comments. The implementation of such as strategy can be extremely challenging especially when dealing with a large number of “target” schools and limited human resources.

The notion that campus career centers are an “out-of-date resource that all but the most desperate of students learned to avoid decades ago” clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding of many of today’s campus career centers, especially those who are housed within an academic unit as well as those with robust cyber services. Contrary to the article, some of the most savvy student job seekers are taking advantages of the multitude of resources provided by top-notch university career centers. Many of these organizations actually facilitate the connection between corporate recruiters and the faculty, as well as student professional organizations.

Before you dismiss these career centers as an “out of touch approach,” I strongly you check out their latest initiatives…you may be pleasantly surprised how they can maximize your recruiting efforts by developing a customized campus recruiting strategy for your organization!

By: Kevin Fallon

Kevin Fallon — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:41:24 +0000

Sounds great ….IN THEORY – but have any of you actually tried to operationalize this? particularly at a large state school? unless your campus recruiters went to that school and have close relationships with everyone from career services to the faculty GOOD LUCK…..schools do not want to engage in any behavior that could be perceived as DISCRIMMINATORY

so naturally the next thought is “well, lets use our first year hires to tell us about the students below them that they remember” – ok, also sounds good, but do you really want to put that much trust in a first year who may have an old ax to grind?

In my 14 years of campus recruiting with several large, prestigous global brands we encountered tons of resistance trying to make this happen. During the peak of the “Dot Com Boom” we even had a school that “brokered” this kind of access – they outright told us “You wanna play? You gotta pay” and gave direct access to the highest bidder. The firms that donated the most to the school got that level of access. It was simply outrageous coming from “the ivory tower”