Students & New Grads – How To Work With (And Which Titled) Recruiters – Jenkins MBA Careers | Poole College of Management

NC State MBA students celebrate by the belltower as graduation approaches. Photo by Marc Hall

It seems like every year I publish some variant of the same info, so here is 2021’s.

If you are a student looking for either your first job out of school or an internship, there are some best practices to follow. I’m going to divide this into two sections: one for almost everyone, and another specifically for students on visas in the US (OPT/CPT).

(I will include links at the bottom of this article.)

I have several blog posts and articles related to job/career fairs. Please check them out directly for more information on what to do and not do if you are attending one of them.
My most popular blog post is *still* “What Not To Wear To Interviews” (and this does include attending career fairs both on and off campus)
I wrote an article about “making” your own internship opportunity
Please take time to understand how different recruiters can and cannot help you. In that same vein, please READ RECRUITER PROFILES before you reach out.

In 2019, I moved from working for a company internally as a corporate recruiter, to an agency role (employment staffing company, both contract and direct hire roles.) I had a LOT of students reaching out to me about potential roles, and they obviously did not read my profile; they just see “recruiter” and messaged me.

So here is the reality: agency recruiters will most likely NOT be able to help new grads or students looking for internships or with actual full time roles.

The reason is that agencies are paid fees by their clients to fill roles, usually niche positions that are *difficult to fill for internal recruiters*. And, the truth is, entry level roles are NOT difficult to fill. In fact, as you are probably finding out from your own efforts, there are way more candidates than there are jobs. So please, don’t reach out to agency recruiters about generic jobs.

Where they *may* be able to help out is with introductions to specific recruiters at your target companies. Once you find a company that HAS an opening you are interested in, AND you have filled out their online application, try and find a “University” or “Campus” recruiter (Generally not “College” recruiter – they are employed by schools to recruit new students). Here is a fabulous project by a Data Scientist that includes a list of University Recruiters on LinkedIn in the US as of 1/2022.

If they are a 2nd degree connection, then reach out to your mutual 1st degree connection for an introduction.

Include the job number OR the application URL you used to apply to.

Alternatively, if it is a small company and does not have any openings mentioned, you can use the same methodology to ask for an introduction to either a manager (in your discipline), an HR leader, or even an IC (individual contributor) that might be able to help you. The key is to have a specific ask for your connection, not just a generic, “hi, I was hoping you could help me”.

For those international students on visas in the US, there are some additional considerations. First and foremost, assuming you need to target your search for those companies that will eventually be able to sponsor you for an H1-B, it is absolutely vital to know that not every discipline will qualify for an H1-B (or other work visa beyond an OPT or CPT). STEM jobs are almost always a safe bet. But disciplines such as marketing, HR, finance/accounting…not so much. Supply and demand: much more demand for jobs than there are candidates, and the whole point to offering work visas for *any* country is because there is a lack of *qualified* candidates domestically.

OPT candidates: here is a resource that may help you target your job search. Use it to identify companies that file H1-B applications in some quantity and use your discipline as one of the filters. Then target those companies accordingly. You can search by company, date, discipline, and geography.

Also a great list on here updated in 1/2021: https://eugenehayden.com/tools/

Links:

Internships:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/elusive-internship-beast-kristen-fife-purple-squirrel-hunter/

http://employeeze.com/2019/02/28/interviewing-internships-and-business-travel/

http://employeeze.com/2014/04/17/why-you-shouldnt-ask-about-our-internships/

http://employeeze.com/2014/04/07/prospective-interns/

http://employeeze.com/2013/04/03/effective-networking-for-college-students-for-internships-and-jobs/

http://employeeze.com/2010/11/11/lets-talk-internships/

Career/Job Fairs:

http://employeeze.com/2014/10/03/my-latest-university-career-fair-observations/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/observations-yesterdays-job-fair-fife-purple-squirrel-hunter/