Recruitment at Mizzou grows on campus and online

The University of Missouri-Columbia Career Center expanded its recruitment program last month with the first all-campus HireMizzouGrads.com Career Fair, which attracted more than 125 local and national employers.

Amanda Nell, director of employer relations at the Career Center, said the fair is intended to complement the HireMizzouGrads.com Web site, which allows employers to post jobs, browse résumés and set up interviews. The site already boasts more than 5,000 employers, including companies with local roots, such as Shelter Insurance, State Farm Insurance, Midway USA and UPS.

“The response from the business community has been really positive,” Nell said. “It’s a growing phenomenon, and we’re really focusing on developing and maintaining relationships with businesses.”

In addition to offering opportunities for companies to network with students both in person and online, Nell said, the Career Center works with employers to brand themselves on MU’s campus.

“We create strategies for companies to connect with a specific group they want to reach,” she said. “We have such a wide variety of students with different skills that this can be hard for them to do on their own.”

Nell said that more businesses have taken advantage of online job postings rather than face-to-face fairs because it’s a free service, and many employers are simply looking for part-time help.

“We get a wide variety of job postings,” Nell said. “I’ve seen everything from 10 hours a week at a local mom-and-pop store to a posting for vice president of sales at a major corporation.”

Shelter Insurance has been recruiting with the university since 1946, said Kirby Cameron, manager of employment.

“We’re basically partners,” Cameron said. “We’re both part of the same community.”

Cameron and recruiter August Nielsen both said MU is an attractive recruiting site because of its deep talent pool.

“MU has a very strong curriculum in most all disciplines, so we find that the students fit our culture,” Nielsen said. “They already know how great Columbia is, too, so we don’t need to convince them to come here.”

In addition to bypassing the issue of relocation, Cameron said, Shelter has had success with MU alumni in the past because of its students’ preparedness.

“Mizzou grads come in and hit the ground running,” he said. “It’s a very short learning curve.”

The Career Center has been serving students at MU since 1974. Unlike those of most campuses, MU’s center is made up of eight departments: a generalized career center available to all majors; department-specific career centers for the business, journalism, agriculture, education, engineering and law schools; and an alumni career center. Each of these departmental career centers holds at least one fair per year and works year-round with employers—one reason an all-campus career fair didn’t happen until this year. Gina Mauller, director of MBA career services and corporate relations for MU’s College of Business, said the business school hosts two career fairs during the year — one each in the fall and winter.
Mauller said she has noticed that the job market seems to be opening up, which has resulted in an increased interest from recruiters on campus.

“For the first time in years, recruiters are vying for the attention of students,” she said. “We have more recruiters coming to campus looking to network.”

However, the College of Business—specifically the MBA program—does not have the same success with local businesses that the Career Center has, Mauller said.

“Locally, we’re faced with challenges for starting salaries,” she said. “We try to encourage our students to branch out and make good money.”

Mauller said that for the students who do stay in Columbia, Shelter Insurance, State Farm Insurance and the university are the most popular destinations.

“Columbia is a tough job market,” she said. “There are a lot of highly qualified people in this area, and it’s very competitive.”

The services offered by the Career Center are open to any businesses, Nell said, and can be accessed online or in the on-campus office in the Student Success Center.