Campus Career Services

The diversity of today's workforce is reflected on college and university campuses across the country. Adults returning for continuing education join enrolled students, 40 percent of whom are ages 25 and older.

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This mix of available talent makes the campus career services office an ideal partner for smart businesses to recruit talent.

Job Candidate Services

Today's campus career offices provide a wide range of services to students, alumni and staff. Career counseling, interview training, résumé and cover-letter writing workshops, and online job fair preparation videos are just a few of the tools offered to job seekers. The benefit for employers is the ability to select potential hires from such a diverse, well-equipped and well-educated group of candidates.

Job Fairs

College job fairs, typically held in the fall, draw a wide range of businesses seeking interns and full- and part-time workers. At Cornell University, the 2009 top winner of AARP Best Employers for Workers Over 50, around 200 employers attend the two-day event, representing banks, government agencies, engineering firms, insurance companies, not-for-profits and other sectors.

During spring semester, businesses interview graduating seniors for corporate entry-level positions and other students for summer work opportunities. Many schools offer industry-specific events to enable employers to recruit within a specialized field. Experienced adults, having completed professional development or certificate courses, also attend these fairs, giving companies the ability to meet a broad array of candidates.

Job Postings

Bulletin boards in the student union building still have space for thumb-tacked job notices, but far more jobs are posted on each institution's online job search engine. Businesses can post and manage job vacancies easily on the search engine, at little or no cost. Postings can be made in advance of job fairs or at any other time a corporate position is available. Candidate access to jobs listed on the search engine is limited to students, alumni and university employees, providing a potentially robust, but more focused, pool of applicants.

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