Fast Company Article Review #11 by Bill Berning from the December 1999 issue "Talent" by Chuck Selfer

This article is about Jeff Daniel and his company, College Hire. This company specializes in recruitment of college students for high tech computer jobs. Over the the next several years, new jobs for computer scientists, computer engineers, and systems aanlysts are expected to increase by more than 36% annually. The talent pool or college graduates in these areas has gone down 5% between 1990 and 1996.

What has happened is battle for talent among high tech firms. this is where Mr. daniel's company, College Hire, has found a niche. Companies pay his company to find them employees. This is similar to other employment agencies. the ghing his company does different is they have recruiters assigned to 4-5 colleges with high tech graduates. The person that is assigned to the college, spends their time meeting students at all grade levels, taking them out for lunch, sets up informational meetings for the students to learn about various high tech companies, test students, interviews them and then matches them to various job openings.

He believes that college fairs are a hit and miss approach that most companies practice. Recruiters arrive on campus, collect resumes, talk to very few potential employees, and then leave. the recruiter does not have much time to spend with the students so they leave the job fair with resumes to be filtered down to GPA.

He believes college fairs are not good for students either. The students are busy with classes, exams, and projects and have very little time for interviews or researching companies and are distracted from school His company meets with students at the student's convenience. The company tries to have someone on each campus 3-4 times a month not just at the end of winter or spring quarters.

My first opinion to this was how nice for the students and how costly for the employers. The cost to the employers was never disclosed in the article. I do understand that the job pool is tight, especially for high tech computer people, and the services his company offers should cut down on employee turn overs.

I remember when I graduated from college I applied at various companies I knew very little about because I did not have the time to research them or there was very little information on the company. His company educates the students and somewhat forces companies to have good working conditions and benefits if they want good employees.

I asked a co-worker at the college here in Alexandria if he felt there was a need for a business like Mr. Daniel's. He said that when he graduated with a computer degree he went to work for a large computer company mainly because they offered him a job and he recognized the company name but knew little about the company. It turned out he did not like the job and left to work for a small company that suieted him better. He stated that he sure wished this company was around when he graduated.

-- Anonymous, January 16, 2000