50 Companies With Innovative Campus Recruiting Strategies
To reach the next generation of talent and compete for the best candidates across the country, early career recruiting teams have had to rethink the status quo, and get creative when it comes to connecting with Gen Z. Through standout internships full of meaningful projects, impacting entry-level programming, and authentic DE&I efforts, many early career recruiting teams are paving the way for the future of recruiting and crafting a better experience for those new to the workforce.
Below we’ve compiled a list of 50 companies with early career talent teams that are moving the needle and doing everything possible to build strong relationships with college students and early career talent. These companies were all recognized as winners of our 2023 Campus Forward Awards, which celebrated the teams that are doubling down on their commitment to the next generation of talent.
You can learn more about why each company was selected as a 2023 CFA winner by clicking on the company name and reading through their winner’s page.
adidas
adidas is a global leader in the sporting goods industry that will always strive to expand the limits of human possibilities, to include and unite people in sport, and to create a more sustainable world. To engage with university students, the team crafted a variety of virtual events available to students at universities across the country, ranging from info sessions and business panels to upskilling sessions around resume building and preparing for interviews. Additionally, the team planned an HBCU ;Know Your Power’ virtual event where HBCU alumni within the company were invited to meet with and speak to students about their career journey. The second pipeline utilized to source and recruit early career talent is through a unique program called ‘Unlimited’. adidas Unlimited is an inclusive program designed to break down corporate barriers for retail talent and offer a career path into corporate.
Addepar
RippleMatch Partner
Addepar’s purpose is to maximize the positive impact of the world’s capital, with more than 700 of the world’s leading financial services firms trusting Addepar to unlock the power and possibility of informed, data-driven investing and advice. The university recruiting team at Addepar goes above and beyond to connect and attract top talent at schools across the US and Canada. The team holds timely events that address topics students want to learn about, and in doing so finds genuine connections with the team and hiring managers, creating an excitement that drives them to want to be an Addepar.
Affirm
Affirm focuses on improving the lives of consumers by delivering simple, honest and transparent financial products. Affirm’s University Recruiting team organizes virtual events to make sessions more accessible to students across different schools and regions. To increase engagement, the team asks students in advance what they’re interested in learning about and what they often struggle with during interviews. From there, the team outlines the content of their events based on students’ responses, while incorporating other discussion topics like financial literacy, mental wellness, and imposter syndrome. Affirm employees lead most events and host “office hours” for students to ask questions on how to best prepare for interviews and learn about different career paths at the company.
Alter Domus
RippleMatch Partner
Alter Domus, which means “The Other House,” is a world-leading provider of integrated solutions for the alternative investment industry that believes in being different. The campus recruiting team at Alter Domus is able to connect with students both in person at events and virtually through RippleMatch. Once students apply online, they hear back quickly and have an in-depth conversation with someone from the recruiting team in order to find the best position and location for them. Plus, Alter Domus interns get to interact with each other across the country via weekly coffee chats. They are also able to connect and speak with leaders both in the United States and across the world.
Amplitude
RippleMatch Partner
Amplitude is a leading digital analytics platform. With Amplitude, teams can understand what product features are working, where users are getting stuck, and what actions lead to the right outcomes. The university recruiting team at Amplitude is continually growing in creativity in their recruitment strategies. By adopting a hybrid recruitment approach, Amplitude's team has crafted a diverse set of virtual and in-person events, ranging from smaller intimate gatherings with student organizations on campus and at HBCUs, as well as prioritizing larger conference presences like AfroTech and Rewriting the Code. Once students enter the pipeline, Amplitude prioritizes candidate experience by offering interview prep sessions and are available for questions at every step of the process.
Asurion
RippleMatch Partner
As the world’s leading tech care company, Asurion eliminates the fears and frustrations associated with technology, to ensure its 300 million customers get the most out of their devices, appliances, and connections. Asurion provides insurance, repair, replacement, installation, and 24/7 support for everything from cellphones to laptops and household appliances. The Early Career team at Asurion supports candidates from beginning to end of the interview process. Candidates are offered an open house Q&A session, interview tips and tricks guide, and a chance to speak with intern alum prior to their final interview. Asurion’s Early Careers team is supported by Asurion’s ambassadorship team, “The A-Team,” throughout the recruiting season. To ensure interns join a team they are passionate about, they speak with a variety of hiring managers and rank team preferences before being officially matched with a team.
Belden
RippleMatch Partner
Belden connects and protects organizations worldwide with the industry's most complete suite of end-to-end networking solutions. Belden is proud to engineer & manufacture essential technology solutions that drive business growth & innovation. Most recently, the team completed a thorough review of all partner schools and related recruitment activities to build a strategic and intentional approach. Within this revamped model, the team is focused on building meaningful relationships with each school including student orgs, faculty/staff, and a hybrid (in-person and virtual) event design. The team is working on formulating a strategic, robust diversity recruiting plan to include HBCUs. The early careers team is also dedicated to ensuring a personalized and engaged candidate experience through direct contact at each recruitment stage, to include sharing about the recruitment/interview process and providing regular updates throughout.
BHG Financial
BHG Financial is transforming the financial industry, leveraging the power of data, analytics, and cutting-edge technology to become one of the best sources for high-performing loans, and the creator of one of the largest community bank loan and product networks in the country. BHG has completely redesigned the recruitment strategy from top-to-bottom for the changing landscape. In line with BHG’s hybrid employment strategy, with a mix throughout the company of remote and in-person employees, it has taken a hybrid approach to recruitment. This hybrid approach includes participating in both in-person and remote career fairs and information sessions, along with remote interviewing and onboarding, to ensure consistency and accessibility for all candidates.
Blackbaud
RippleMatch Partner
Serving the entire social good community, Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through cloud software, services, data intelligence, and expertise. With a proven ability to innovate and adapt no matter the circumstance, Blackbaud is continuing to find efficient ways to improve the Early Career and University Program. This year, Blackbaud hired a University Program Manager to assist the Director of Early Career Talent with optimizing and implementing a strategy revolving around recruitment, programming, and student career progression. The Early Career team continually works to broaden its university portfolio and diversify student organization outreach. As a remote-first organization, Blackbaud focuses on interactive virtual events that provide students with 1:1 connection with leaders, recruiters, and former interns and highlights life as Blackbaud employees.
BlackRock
RippleMatch Partner
BlackRock is one of the world’s leading providers of investment, advisory, and risk management solutions. Serving as a fiduciary to its clients, BlackRock is investing for the future on behalf of its clients, inspiring their employees, and supporting local communities. BlackRock Campus Recruiting has a campus-inclusive recruiting philosophy. Rather than being evaluated by their university affiliation, GPA or major, BlackRock assesses students based on their skill sets and interests. BlackRock believes all employees are responsible for creating an environment where all colleagues — including and especially early career talent — can be themselves at work and be seen and heard.
Campbell Soup Company
RippleMatch Partner
For more than 150 years, Campbell has been connecting people through food they love. Generations of consumers have trusted Campbell to provide delicious and affordable food and beverages. The Campbell's University Recruitment team is committed to providing a well-rounded recruitment experience that welcomes early career talent to interact with Campbell in a variety of ways. Whether it's on-campus at a career fair, participating in a virtual recruitment event via RippleMatch, or connecting with students at conferences or during student-ran events on campus, Campbell is ready to connect with the next generation of talent and provide opportunities to grow their careers.
CarMax
RippleMatch Partner
CarMax, the nation’s largest retailer of used cars, revolutionized the automotive retail industry by driving integrity, honesty, and transparency in every interaction. CarMax has more than 230 stores, more than 30,000 Associates, and has been recognized for 18 consecutive years as a Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For®. In an environment that is constantly changing, CarMax’s College Recruiting team works to stay agile through the recruiting seasons. Exercising a hybrid approach, the team attends careers fairs and other recruiting events both in person and remotely to maximize candidate interactions. The early careers team at CarMax implements the company’s value of ‘Putting People First’ into every step of their application process. The team works hard to ensure that students are fully informed about CarMax and the position they are applying for.
Catalina
For nearly 40 years, Catalina has been turning shoppers into buyers and buyers into fans. Committed to privacy from the start, Catalina invented the world's first 1:1 digital marketing network. Catalina's recruitment team provides impactful connections with university talent. With robust engagement both virtually and on campus, the team not only interacts with meaningful conversations in group settings, but arranges for personalized meetups to deepen relationships across the student populations. As soon as connections are made, the team offers 1:1 opportunities that include resume reviews, interview prep, networking tips, and expanding network connections for students. The care and dedication to each and every student's career goals creates long-lasting connections and positive brand awareness for Catalina.
CBRE
CBRE Group, Inc. is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm with more than 105,000 employees globally. CBRE offers a broad range of integrated services, including facilities, transaction, and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; and property sales. The campus team at CBRE is very active both on and off campus. CBRE incorporates unique candidate experiences into the recruiting strategy. The campus team hosts Coffee Chats, virtual trivia nights, Summer Chat sessions, Hackathons, and resume-screening workshops. CBRE values its external partnerships with Prospanica, National Black MBA, HBCU Connect, Hiring our Heroes, and many others as an opportunity to engage with underrepresented talent.
Credera
RippleMatch Partner
Credera is a global, boutique consulting firm focused on strategy, transformation, data, and technology. Credera partners with clients ranging from long-time market leaders to emerging companies delivering strategy and execution leadership to create tangible business results. Crederas’ people-first core value inspires its approach to sourcing and recruiting early career talent. Credera understands that no two students or universities are alike. Credera is dedicated to making the recruiting experience accessible for students, and offers both in-person and virtual programming designed to introduce consulting as a career path and support the development of student’s professional skills through a variety of soft skills workshops.
Dataminr
Dataminr is recognized as the world’s leading information discovery platform that delivers the earliest warning on high-impact events and emerging risks from public data sources. Dataminr makes consistent investments in innovative talent acquisition strategies to attract early career talent. A big portion of its talent branding budget is set aside each year for targeted outreach to students from underrepresented groups through various social media and content aggregator platforms. It also co-hosts several campus events each year, sponsors international academic conferences (including AAAI, CRA-WP, and Grace Hopper), and even offers individual sessions for students to meet with senior level staff around the company.
Datadog
RippleMatch Partner
Datadog is the essential monitoring and security platform for cloud applications, bringing together end-to-end traces, metrics, and logs to make applications, infrastructure, and third-party services entirely observable. Datadog operates with a school-agnostic approach so that it can connect with a variety of people from different backgrounds. Some of Datadog’s events, such as resume and coding interview workshops, focus on helping candidates ace the interview process; while other events aim to give candidates a taste of the culture at Datadog, with an office tour and a casual networking session with early career hires.
Electronic Arts
RippleMatch Partner
Headquartered in Redwood City in Northern California, EA develops and delivers games, content, and online services for Internet-connected consoles, mobile devices, and personal computers. The Next-Gen Talent team at Electronic Arts takes a hybrid approach to connecting with students by attending in-person fairs, hosting virtual info sessions, and speaking on industry panels. EA has also sponsored and participated in strategic events for select schools supporting underrepresented talent groups, such as HBCUs and HSIs, to share more about the amazing opportunities and the culture at EA. In addition, EA funds several scholarships throughout the year, such as the Madden x EA Scholarship that supports HBCU students in the field of STEAM and honors the legacy of John Madden.
eBay
RippleMatch Partner
eBay connects people and builds communities to create economic opportunities for all. eBay creates pathways to connect millions of sellers and buyers in more than 190 markets around the world. The company has adopted a school-agnostic and diverse recruitment strategy for emerging talent, and partnered with various diversity organizations (re-writing the code, Battle of the Brains, Latinx Fest, NextPlay) to create opportunities for underrepresented talent. Partnering with organizations like this allows eBay recruiters to have meaningful connections with prospective talent and allows candidates to learn more about opportunities within eBay. The team has also created digital recruitment strategies alongside the Emerging Talent Programs team to implement campaigns on LinkedIn that highlight open positions.
Expedia Group
Expedia Group leverages platform and technology capabilities across an extensive portfolio of businesses and brands to orchestrate the movement of people and the delivery of travel experiences on both a local and global basis. Expedia’s campus engagement is varied, regularly reviewed, and data-led, based on student population diversity and underrepresented community clubs and societies. Its college partnerships are based on sponsorship levels: platinum, gold, and silver, which defines the activities it engages in. Expedia delivers high-touch workshops with Platinum schools, with Gold, it opens up virtual events to be more inclusive (meaning Expedia can meet a wide variety of students), and for Silver, the team empowers Expedians to visit their alumni schools. Expedia’s social media activity is “always on”, which means candidates can engage with its Early Careers stories all-year — not just during the hiring window.
Figma
RippleMatch Partner
Figma is a design platform for teams who build products together. Born on the Web, Figma helps teams brainstorm, design, and build better products — from start to finish. The early career team at Figma has adopted a hybrid approach to this hiring season by traveling to dedicated universities with members of its hiring teams to meet students in-person at curated events (mixers, dinners, info sessions, etc.), in addition to virtual events that are not university-specific. The team also works closely with the student communities of its partnerships, including Rewriting The Code, ColorStack, and Talentboard. Candidate experience is always a priority, and Figma believes in extending as much information to students at the first interaction to demystify the interview process and to give them as much preparation details to succeed.
General Mills
RippleMatch Partner
General Mills exist to make food the world loves, but it does more than that. General Mills is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives, and reimagine new possibilities, every day. General Mills prioritizes meeting students where they’re at in an effort to optimize flexibility and outreach. General Mills utilizes virtual platforms, video interviews, school-agnostic info sessions, in-person events and interviewing, online development panels, school ambassadors, and many more sources to diversify the way it shares opportunities and finds top talent. General Mills has seen great success and connection utilizing its employee resource groups. Building relationships between students and ERGs showcases a differential outlook on what it’s like to work for an amazing food company while helping candidates feel informed and connected.
Dev10 by Genesis10
RippleMatch Partner
Dev10, a division of Genesis10, is a team driven by a belief in the unlimited potential of people. Launched with the goal of creating a larger, more sustainable pipeline of software engineers, Dev10 has grown to be a leader in the hiring, training, and deployment of software and data engineers. Dev10’s innovative approach is to look beyond the computer science degree. That is, Dev10 sources and recruits recent college graduates who have degrees in other disciplines, the sciences, the arts, and business — because maybe they discovered their love of coding a little too late in their academic career—and career-changers who have worked as flight attendants, musicians, and teachers. Dev10 believes these diverse backgrounds make Dev10 Associates special; once placed in a developer or engineering role with a client, they expand an IT team’s view of the problem and the solution.
FDM Group
FDM Group is a FTSE 250, multi award-winning employer that recruits, trains, and deploys talent globally. It is renowned for its dynamic Careers Program, which provides graduates, returners to work and Military Veterans with relevant and industry-specific business and technical training in several areas such as Business Analysis, Software Development, and Business Intelligence. FDM’s inclusive recruitment process includes, but is not limited to, year-round hiring from all degree backgrounds and universities, strengths- based individual assessments, unconscious bias training provided to recruiters and interviewers, and the use of various recruitment tools in order to reach a wider pool of talent. FDM’s early career talent attraction strategy focuses on raising awareness through career fairs, information sessions, and hackathons, as well as providing the opportunity to participate in upskilling workshops held in the US and globally.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)
RippleMatch Partner
GSK is a global biopharma company with a special purpose – to unite science, tech, and talent to get ahead of disease together – so it can positively impact the health of billions of people. The Early Talent team at GSK works to ensure a completely inclusive recruitment process, and strives to be as transparent and as helpful along the process for candidates. In addition to attending on-site and virtual career fairs at a variety of partner schools (including HBCUs and HSIs), GSK offers additional virtual sessions for students interested in learning more about GSK's culture by hosting a DE&I Manager to discuss resources and projects GSK is focused on to promote DE&I company-wide. Knowing not all students have access to resources to best prepare for assessment-based application processes, GSK hosted a virtual session to demystify its application process and answer questions.
Guidehouse
RippleMatch Partner
Guidehouse is a leading global provider of consulting services to the public sector and commercial markets, with broad capabilities in management, technology, and risk consulting. The Campus Recruiting team at Guidehouse is passionate about recruiting the next generation of future leaders. To kick off the recruiting season, the team leveraged the RippleMatch Events platform and created a series of virtual events open to students at any university. The Campus team also works strategically with a network of universities, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HCBUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), to deepen relationships and position the organization as an employer of choice.
Infineon Technology
Infineon plays a key role in shaping a better future – with microelectronics that link the real and the digital world. Infineon semiconductors enable efficient energy management, smart mobility, as well as secure, seamless communications in an increasingly connected world. Infineon Technologies has been growing in the Americas, and has been planning a university recruiting strategy that includes diverse institutions. The team attends both virtual and in-person career fairs, as well as sponsors labs and works with faculty to provide research and capstone course support. Once an intern is onboarded, they receive additional support over the summer from the University Relations and Programs team in order to engage with more interns across the country.
KPMG LLP
RippleMatch Partner
KPMG is a global organization of independent professional services firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. KPMG’s goal is to be the Clear Choice and the best place to grow a career. That may start with its Leadership Edge series of national and local programs to help students explore career opportunities and give them a head start on the KPMG campus recruiting process. Beyond that, KPMG offers internship programs that provide students a terrific way to learn business skills, find a mentor, build a professional network, and get real-world experience before graduation.
Legrand
RippleMatch Partner
Legrand is the global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures. Legrand transforms the spaces where people live and work, through innovative products and solutions that deliver and manage power, light, and data. Legrand was excited to bring back in-person interviews for its rotational programs this year. In order to foster an environment of inclusion, Legrand makes a conscious effort to assemble a diverse panel of interviewers for the rotational programs. All interviewers are required to complete an Inclusive Leadership curriculum, including e-learning and virtual instructor-led components. To ensure candidates are fully equipped for the workplace, Legrand seeks feedback from managers and program participants about ways to adapt pre-hire activities.
LogicMonitor
LogicMonitor is the leading SaaS-based unified observability and IT operations data collaboration platform for enterprise IT and managed service providers. When it comes to early career recruitment, LogicMonitor’s strategy focuses on reaching diverse and underrepresented talent, especially those pursuing sales and STEM degrees where the diversity and gender gap is the largest. LogicMonitor’s talent acquisition team partners with universities with diverse student bodies, and works with student organizations like the UT Women’s Council to spread opportunities to students from all backgrounds. LogicMonitor attended over 20 in-person and virtual recruiting events at universities this past spring and summer.
Mathematica
RippleMatch Partner
Mathematica is a trusted source for high-quality and objective evidence, working at the intersection of data, methods, policy, and practice to improve well-being around the world. Mathematica goes beyond the traditional ways of sourcing and recruiting. The organization works to build lasting relationships with community partners and universities by supporting their continued growth and development. At Mathematica, interns contribute to the company's project work, which allows them the opportunity to contribute to the business in a meaningful way while learning on-the-job.
MetLife
On March 24th, 1868, a company dedicated to providing working-class Americans with financial protection opened its doors for business. Since then, MetLife has helped generations of customers around the world protect their property, finances, family, and future. The University Recruiting Team is committed to utilizing all of the different recruiting tools at its disposal in an effort to reach students from all over the United States. The pandemic led the team to increase its digital strategy, but through that it was introduced to more universities and more students that were curious about what MetLife had to offer. Metlife continues to nurture partnerships at universities that are closer geographically to its main hiring offices.
MongoDB
RippleMatch Partner
MongoDB is transforming industries and empowering developers to build amazing apps that people use every day. Its is the leading modern data platform and the first database provider to IPO in over 20 years. MongoDB Early Talent team’s sourcing and recruitment strategies involve a growth mindset. The team knows and appreciates that great technical talent does not just come from a list of “top CS schools”, so the company sources candidates from a wide range of schools and majors to attract a broad talent base. MongoDB does not restrict its interactions with schools to career or computer/engineering technical societies, but rather the Early Talent team is actively involved in campus organizations of all types that leads to attracting a diverse talent pool. Investing in RippleMatch’s automated platform has significantly expanded MongoDB’s candidate pipeline by eliminating the most time-intensive elements of the recruitment process.
NFI Industries
RippleMatch Partner
Privately held by the Brown Family since its inception in 1932, NFI is a fully integrated, third-party supply chain solutions provider. NFI’s Talent Pipeline team recruits through multiple channels. Through RippleMatch, NFI is able to connect with a wide audience of candidates that are interested in supply chain. The company hosts unique info sessions that are not only about NFI, but also come with an added bonus, whether it is talking about acing resumes and interviews or engaging in Q&A with a leader in the company about their business line specifically, or hearing from past interns and trainees about their experiences having gone through the program in the past. Additionally, NFI participates in job fairs, both virtual and in-person, to engage with prospective interns and early talent for the company.
Ogilvy
Ogilvy has been growing brands and businesses since 1948. The company continues that rich legacy through borderless creativity — operating, innovating, and creating at the intersection of talent and capabilities. Ogilvy’s Early Talent Development team restructured its recruitment strategy to include both school-specific and school-agnostic engagements. Shifting to a hybrid model has allowed the team to broaden its reach and engage students in a more organic manner. The team hosts a diverse set of events, ranging from targeted information sessions, portfolio reviews, and on-campus touchpoints, to the refreshment of the Early Careers website and developing a content calendar of social media engagements. The team taps into Ogilvy Community groups to spread the word about opportunities, and utilizes “School Teams” made of Ogilvy business leaders across the U.S. dedicated to running recruitment touchpoints at target schools and identifying high-potential candidates.
Oliver Wyman
RippleMatch Partner
Oliver Wyman is a global leader in management consulting. With offices in more than 70 cities across 30 countries, Oliver Wyman combines deep industry knowledge with specialized expertise in strategy, operations, risk management, and organization transformation. The campus team at Oliver Wyman realizes that it must take an innovative approach to the increasingly competitive early-talent market. Oliver Wyman hosts information and networking sessions at top universities to increase brand recognition and attract top talent. Oliver Wyman also participates in many DE&I-focused events to attract diverse talent, including OW-hosted programming and external conferences.
Oshkosh Corporation
RippleMatch Partner
Oshkosh Corporation is an industrial technology company that builds some of the industry’s toughest specialty trucks and access equipment. Oshkosh Corporation attracts a diverse pool of intern and early-career candidates across the enterprise through a variety of recruitment strategies, including strong partnerships with schools and universities where it hosts info sessions and attends career fairs. The company also invests in sourcing tools such as RippleMatch to reach a wider range of qualified applicants, and internal programs and benefits that aid in professional development and retention, such as designated resource groups and mentorship opportunities. Oshkosh Corporation believes in investing in its workforce by connecting with next generation candidates and offering opportunities to explore different career paths prior to entering the workforce or continuing secondary education.
PayPal
PayPal believes that every person has the right to participate fully in the global economy. Its mission is to democratize financial services to ensure that everyone, regardless of background or economic standing, has access to affordable, convenient, and secure products and services to take control of their financial lives. Through various recruitment paths, both traditional and unconventional, PayPal’s University Recruitment team prioritizes the candidate experience above all else. Through a robust recruitment process, candidates learn more about the people who work at PayPal, its culture, and benefits. During the interview process, candidates can speak directly with team members and gain insight into the position, the team, and the teammates they’d be working with daily.
PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries. The team leverages an in-person approach at core schools to take advantage of high-traffic recruitment events and relationships with key organizations on campus. PepsiCo doubled down on its digital strategy to include more intern-led content through its Pepfluencer program. While PepsiCo has traditionally leveraged a core-school model, this year the team has expanded the strategy to include a school-agnostic approach to take advantage of organic talent generated through job postings. PepsiCo has also developed several Nurture Programs to focus on bringing diverse talent into pipelines across early talent roles and functions.
Saxbys
Saxbys is a higher education company, driven by hospitality and fueled by food and drink. In a post-pandemic world, Saxbys uses the resources to not only partake in recruitment events in-person (career fairs, table events), but utilizes the power of virtual recruitment efforts, such as social media, virtual panel events, career fairs, and classroom presentations. More importantly, during the interview processes, specifically for the Student Cafe Executive Officer roles, recruiters go the extra mile by providing in-depth conversations about what the role entails and adequate time for a Q&A session, since it is crucial Saxbys' aligns with students passions and interests, and can help lead them to their goals.
Sleep Number
Sleep Number believes quality sleep can and will change the world. That’s why Sleep Number is forging a new sleep technology category that is all about wellness, with life-changing smart beds are delivering proven quality sleep. Sleep Number looks for its future leaders through a national recruiting approach to fill roles at 4 locations. Sleep Numbers Early Career Program fosters a strong network of inclusion by providing education and pathways to learn and develop, such as Psychological Safety Training. Each year, Sleep Number welcomes students from 20+ schools into a customized internship experience that allows for growth beyond their summer experience.
Terracon
Terracon is an employee-owned multidiscipline consulting firm comprised of more than 5,000 curious minds focused on solving engineering and technical challenges from more than 175 locations nationwide. The local offices provide “champions” who work to develop a close relationship with strategic universities and community colleges. Terracon engages students in a variety of ways – career fairs, resume prep sessions, student organizations, mentorship programs, and building relationships with professors. Students are engaged through both in-person and virtual events. This provides a unique opportunity to stay engaged with them and for them to share their story with their peers.
The J.M. Smucker Company
The J.M. Smucker Co. considers it a privilege to make food that appeals to each generation of people and pets, with products found in 90% of U.S. homes and countless restaurants. The university relations team at JMS goes above and beyond to connect with the next generation of talent both on and off campus. Adopting a hybrid approach to recruitment, the team participated in both virtual and in-person events and even hosted its own career fair on-site. The team also planned strategic in-person events at a select group of colleges – such as HBCUs and HSIs – to provide students with valuable face-to-face interaction and to deepen relationships.
Tenneco
Tenneco is one of the world's leading designers, manufacturers, and marketers of automotive products for original equipment and aftermarket customers. The Early Careers team has focused on identifying key universities across the U.S. to recruit from and build relationships on campus to help recruit various locations. The strategy is not just to lean on these schools though, it's to provide a personalized experience for candidates. Whether a relationship is formed from a campus event or an outreach on LinkedIn, candidates can expect a response from the Early Careers team to help direct them to the opportunities that align best with their majors.
Toyota Motor North America
Toyota Motor North America is in the business of making great cars and trucks. The College Programs team at Toyota Motor North America goes above and beyond to connect with the next generation of talent both on and off campus. Developing a hybrid approach to recruitment, the team was able to connect with students both virtually and on campus through various events such as information sessions, engagement opportunities, and industry panels. The team built strong partnerships with HBCUs and HSIs and created a more intentional strategy to its recruiting efforts.
Trace3
Trace3 is a premier provider of advanced technology consultation services and solutions. The team has a dynamic approach to recruitment through virtual events available to students at targeted universities across the country, ranging from info sessions to virtual and in-person hiring events, as well as technical career education center events. Once students apply for positions, the team at Trace3 ensures that the candidate is prepped for their manager interview and that they are briefed on the company culture, and the recruiter is dedicated to supporting them through the life cycle of the interview process.
Vertiv
Vertiv designs, builds, and services critical infrastructure that enables vital applications for data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial facilities. The University Relations Lead and Sr. Manager, Talent Acquisition are committed to building out early career programs that are successful and beneficial for both the candidates and the company, and creating job opportunities for recent graduates/those early in their professional journey. Various members of the business attended career fairs across the country, giving students the opportunity to meet Vertiv employees from different departments and levels within the organization.
Wesco
WESCO is committed to continually bringing the problem-solving and innovative thinking that you have come to rely on to solve your most important supply chain challenges. WESCO Early Career Programs have aligned the company’s campus recruiting strategy to be an employer of choice in the Industrial Distribution / Supply Chain industry across the US and Canada. WESCO has done this by leveraging technology, investing into local schools & universities, and creating brand awareness.
Zendesk
Zendesk makes customer service better, and builds software to meet customers' needs, set teams up for success, and keep businesses in sync. Zendesk is school-agnostic, with more of a focus on nationally reaching DEI organizations. The company is constantly improving and refining its own processes, with candidate and hiring manager experience at the forefront. The organization is fully digital-first, enabling only digital recruiting strategies.
Zynga
Zynga is a leading developer of the world's most popular social games that are played by millions of people around the world each day. The Early Careers team is hyperfocused on creating a true diverse talent pipeline for all levels of talent, beginning at the entry-level stage. This is done through hosting resume and interview prep sessions with partnering universities, and much more. Zynga’s Early Careers team is also bringing leaders from the business to speak with candidates directly about their experiences, day-to-day activities, and how they experience the Zynga culture. Because Zynga is always actively pipelining for early career opportunities, these candidates can expect frequent communication from staff, and having a point of contact to connect with moving forward.
As you can see, all of these companies have taken an innovative approach to their campus recruiting strategies. They include DE&I-focused events, hosting information and networking sessions at top universities, investing in sourcing tools like RippleMatch, and much more to create a streamlined application process. The Campus Forward Award winners listed here are just a handful of great examples for companies to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to campus recruiting.
Learn more about why many of the companies listed have turned to RippleMatch to support their early career recruiting efforts here.
