With KC companies currently hiring hundreds of young professionals, college campus recruiting is now even more critical to ensuring a robust talent pipeline.
Recently, more than 30 top employers from across the region gathered for a TeamKC College Recruiting Roundtable to discuss the art of recruiting young professionals.
From summer intern programs to career fairs to next-day offers, below are tips and takeaways from the roundtable:
Intern Program Strategies:
- Develop an intern program with sophomores and juniors to create a deeper talent pipeline.
- Knowing universities are implementing offer policies, craft a communication strategy with your candidates to stay top-of-mind.
Campus Trends:
- More companies are starting to make “snap offers,” employment offers made on-site at career fairs and next-day interviews.
- Build relationships with professors for guest lecturing opportunities to help enhance curriculum development and create advocates for your company.
- With an increase of students negotiating base salaries, play up company perks like student loan forgiveness, free lunch, time off for volunteering and career rotations.
Selling Kansas City:
- Highlight events in KC through your company’s participation in InternKC to get your talent “sticky” to our city.
- Offer cost-of-living comparisons and custom presentations to showcase KC’s affordability and lifestyle.
- When booking temporary housing options for interns and new hires consider proximity to the office and the lifestyle amenities nearby.
Thank you to Kyri Gorges, TeamKC Advisory Board co-chair and college recruiting manager at KPMG, for hosting us. To learn more about TeamKC, contact me.