EACE Engineering Interest Network Hosted by Teradyne
North Reading, MA
July 9th, 2001
(Notes taken by Adria Parsons)

Attendees:

Topics Covered:
Job Market Trends and Obersvations / Internship / Experiential Education Trends / Use of Employer Contracts for On-Campus Recruiting / Automated Recruiting Systems / Virtual / Cyber Fairs / Ethical Concerns / Building Partnerships Between Colleges and Employers / Revenue Generation / Interview Techniques and Other Recommendations for Students

Job Market Trends and Observations

Employers' Reaction to Downturn

• Jack shared his thoughts on the direction of college recruiting for the upcoming seasons from the perspective of Teradyne. A few months ago, we were envisioning more a "V" shaped recovery, a quicker recovery. At least in Teradyne's case, expecting to hire half as much as last year-120 recruits or so. Even though expecting slow fall season, anticipating aggressive spring. Some schools no longer have spring fairs. Suggests we may need career fairs in the spring when recruiting turns back on. Will be more likely to go to career fairs and do less on campus interviewing. Career Fairs have been a good way to get students interested.
• Fidelity had a record year in 2001. About 25% are technical (computer science). First time for Fidelity to experience a trough like this. No layoffs, but not hiring either. Fidelity has always had a huge investment in coops and interns. Now there is a concern over how to handle coops. Usually convert 90% of coops to full-time. Have 95 graduating interns and coops-could conceivably convert those into hires. Management has expressed a desire to go on campus....cut # hires per school rather than # of schools visited. Might be utilizing technology differently, might be doing info session differently. Also, plans to cut career fairs and advertising. How that will affect recruiting in 2004? Response: career fairs aren't source of best hires. Career Fairs are done just for P.R.

Colleges' Reaction to Downturn

• Underclassmen at Tufts are experiencing a new difficulty in finding coops and internships.
• At Stevens, they are trying to curb the anxiety for the students, but will not change their message.
• Dartmouth observed that students were much more thoughtful in their decision making.
• An observation from URI: these were the first students that had the internet for all first years. Making more informed decisions. ? Will the change in demand affect the decision to hire by major vs. skill? ? What are the most popular engineers? Mostly EE and Computer Science. Less Civil.

Reneging-by employers and students

• Dartmouth saw reneging by companies at both full time and coop level.
• ITT saw reneging (i.e. at Intel) at the technical specialist level.
• Electrical Boat observed that engineering graduates were more relaxed in their job search.
• Fidelity experienced candidates coming back after losing other jobs and asking for their offer back. However, Fidelity had made their hires already. Agreed that some were lackadaisical in their search. Will students be more attentive this coming season?
• Cornell knew of 5 students that just had their offers rescinded by their would-be employers on jobs that were accepted in December. Not aware of any compensation that was made for them.
• Cisco did rescind jobs, but not across the board. Jobs revoked were largely in a sales/engineering program where they would have spent 6 months in training. The compensation was fairly generous (6 months of severance and outplacement assistance). They worked with schools on notifications. Speaking with those universities, reaction was that Cisco was at the top of the list on how it was handled.
• Lowell knew of about 5 rescinds. A large size computer company offered $$ and covered relocation. Also gave a stipend to career services to use at their discretion. Raised the issue around students continuing job search after accepting a job hedging their bets. How to coach them on this moving forward? ? Is the number of reneging of offers by companies this year more or less than reneging by students??? ? How did the schools handle the companies that chose to renege without compensation?
• Parents wrote to the dean of the school asking what the school would be doing. Parents and students have raised expectations.
• Received coaching from dean that relationships should be sustained with corporations even when times are slow. Companies should still come on campus. Come even for info sessions or seminars to keep their name out.

Student Expectations

• Electrical Boat did some shuffling around departments rather than reneging,. Did notify the recruits ahead of time. Interesting that this is done for soon-to-be employees, when regular employees are merely notified of the change.
• At Fidelity, some students think they will have the opportunity to move anywhere they would like when they get into the company. They are now trying to form their thinking ahead of time and manage their expectations around their career management (that it is more business driven, not driven by the individual's desires). ? How has work ethic and expectations around time spent at work changed?
• A U Pitt student was concerned with government organization environment being stuffy. The hype around dot com culture may be forming their perceptions.
• Observed a lag in the reaction to market changes. Expects that this year's seniors will have more realistic expectations.
• The role of the career office is to be a conduit. When students appear arrogant in their expectations, it is really that the students are just naïve. The career office can help adjust expectations on both sides. Students are filled with buzzwords and information that may be old.

Internships and Coops as Strategy for Companies

• ? Why do businesses drop internships off as first measure???
• Everyone knows value of internships...but they are the easiest to turn off. It's a dollar issue. Answer may be to offer better opportunity and lesser pay.
• Companies should be hiring students for what they can do, not what they have done.
• Teradyne made tradeoff in hiring full-time hires over coops and interns when business slowed.
• Empirix did the reverse. When business slowed, managers were more reluctant to make full time offers and hired more interns.
• Converse managed a different way-they took interns and coops out of headcount. They were protected by their reduction in workforce.
• One school reported that Marconi had layoffs but did keep coops and interns.

Internship/Experiential Education Trends

• ? What kinds of benefits are coops and interns getting?
• Camp Dresser and McKee helps with housing and transportation.
• A company in Florida either owns or rents housing for them. Student pays to get to Florida, and the company covers their flight back.
• At Cisco, many of intern jobs are in San Jose. Had been offering 30 days of temp housing and a car in addition to wage. With competitive atmosphere, wasn't enough. Changed offer to up to 90 days. Effect on budget was too much. Need to rethink that.
• Analog offered $500/month for housing and car. Worked with Lowell and Tufts to provide housing. Question around how this is paid for since it has to hit payroll?? Answer: Have to gross up. It's easier, too. ? There are companies that do intern housing. Has anyone used them?
• URI reported that a significant number of students going to D.C. stayed at American University which offers a rate for such students. In Hartford, insurance companies worked deal with local school. Complication arose around rights and responsibilities in living arrangements. ? One company offered subsidized furnished housing and it was abused. Had to create policies and guidelines. Who polices it?
• U Pitt reported that the Pittsburgh Technology Council offered housing through a local school and used the policies and procedures of that school. Was proactive in planning social activities-very successful.
• Mass High Tech Council should be contacted to see if something is possible for Boston area.
• Fidelity does provide info and guidance on looking for housing, but no need to actually provide the housing. Furthermore, hears that students would rather handle it on their own. Transportation can be a challenge, especially for international students.

Use of Employer Contracts for On-Campus Recruiting

• Contracts between career offices and companies are unwritten, all in good faith. Not in favor of it being written.
• Difference is HOW things are handled, not WHAT decisions are made.
• Open communication is the most important. Career services offices understand the business decision.
• Companies that didn't communicate better are short sighted in not realizing that students talk to one another. One company asked for students to return the sign on bonus (in most cases was already spent). Companies should be utilizing career offices to help manage process.
  ? Question: Were these decisions made divisionally or by the corporation?
  Answer: Usually was smaller segment-tunnel vision. Didn't understand implications.

Automated Recruiting Systems

Automated Recruiting Systems

• ? What will be changing as JobTrack changes to MonsterTrack?
• Concern around where career office fits into decision making for the product. Cornell was one of first 4 schools and was able to participate in decisions-worked well.
• Interview Track piece is most important. Prefers to have companies come on campus than use website/third party manage resumes.
• Job Direct is worthwhile. Hardest area for recruiting is electrical, and have had 3 hires in past weeks. Handled an ethical situation appropriately.
• Only drawback: JobDirect was sending them too much.
  
  On line resumes/Resume Books/List Serves
  ? Does it make any difference to employers when you see a template resume vs. career services directed resume?
  
• Analog Devices complimented Monster.com on making sure the right info is there, i.e. courses. The cover letter is not as good. Suggestion is to do it both ways. ? Do employers prefer resumes as an attachment or text?
• Varies by employer. Counsel students to send it one way and offer to send it another way.
• After the student has made it through the first pass, students should be bringing in their formatted resume.
• Even when using E Recruiting, prefer the old-fashioned resume sent as an attachment.
• PDF files are tough, but word attachments are easier to use.
• Keep it simple with word attachments. Don't use bullets and italics. ? How antiquated are resume books?
• Prefer them electronically. Before coming to campus, want to see them electronically. The less paper the better, easier to share.
• Less yield
• Electronic Resume books are the best. Great to have them on disk. ? How important is it to have the resumes sorted by major?
• Doesn't matter as long as it is electronic, can be searched. ? How many of the career offices are using list servers? About half raised their hands.
• Electronic resources have really changed nature of the career office role...back to the basics of coaching and working more with the faculty.

Virtual/Cyber Fairs

Virtual Career Fairs

• Lowell did their own virtual career fair the 1st year and it was free. Great marketing tool, showed services to faculty. Second year, did video streaming, as many postings as employers would like, did not like results.
• Has outlived its usefulness. Students are more aware electronically and know how to use what's out there. Other options are better.
• URI-yes, agree, has outlived its lifetime. They're using job posting sites that have developed.
• Dartmouth-Doing a virtual internship fair in the winter (more due to the difficulty for employers getting up to Dartmouth that time of year).
• Alternatives for Info Sessions
  ? How about a virtual info session before the real one?
• Suspicion that students are confused by the different activities...open house, career day, info session. One company has been sending personal invitation and that has been successful.
• If you can't get the students to physically come to the info session, it is likely because of a conflict...why would they be able to plug in???
• Some companies send along a CD ROM instead of an info session.
• Sometimes students are confused by where to look on the web site.
• Have we reached the point where info sessions are passé? They've looked at the website. ? How about an electronic info session/real time on line info session? Live info sessions are not always well attended. Maybe simultaneously at different campuses?
• Depends on students' resources. What if they have a slow computer?
• Can be too much of a drain sending recruiters for both info session and interviews. Have info sessions already passed their usefulness???
• Mary Scott had said that there was value for the students to talk to recent grads. Would recommend having resources like that available. Students would prefer going to live info sessions. ? What do the employers want to gain by having the info session?
• It'll be different this year, as employers will be in the drivers.
• Students that come to the info session are more likely to get on the interview schedule the next day if they aren't already on the schedule.
• Key part of the interview process. Agrees that things will change. MIT was an anomaly this year. They were so well attended. Might have been due to new person-more resources, maybe more information getting out there. ? When is there high attendance?
• Only where it is mandatory
• The ones that are packed are the most sought after companies. For the smaller companies, recommend they advertise in newspaper.
• 150 showed up for guest speaker on wireless technology through career office department, but only 3 showed for info session. ? What about video conferencing? One school has the opportunity to expand.
• Most responded negatively to this option. General reluctance. Too many technical problems.
• Remember hearing from Mary Scott that the students don't like it either.

Ethical Concerns

• Fidelity has rigorous screening process. No shades of grey. Any issues, no hire. And, if you get hired and it turns up, you can get terminated. People have lied about their salary and their jobs. ? How about a 2.98 GPA rounded up to 3.0?
• More of a yellow light than a red light. ? Who makes the forms that are used for verification? They get verification calls that are too vague in the information they are asking for.
• Usually the company with the help of legal dept. ? Question around a school that had a severely dyslexic student that was almost fired for not disclosing aspect of his disability.
• Law must accommodate disabilities.

Building Partnerships Between Colleges and Employers

Recruiting Strategy-who participates at the employer level?

• One company recruiter observed that the recruiter is looking for "fit" and hiring manager is looking for specific experience. Their managers don't go on the road, which results in a disconnect between the interviewing and hiring decision.
• Fidelity has done a lot of work in training managers to interview based on behavior, not experience. Also follows up recruiting with recruiting weekend by bringing finalists in for weekend where they spend time with managers.
• Feedback at career offices is that students appreciate meeting higher level staff.

Relationship between schools and employers

• Dartmouth encouraged all to be creative in how they get companies get on campus. For example, do on campus recruiting the day after the career fair. Companies are receptive. Don't have rigid rules.
• Jack-You are partners, not customers. Must work together. ? Many schools were frustrated with how companies handled the reneging after the relationship building. How to maintain professionalism and relationship moving forward after this experience? Few companies worked with the career offices.
• Good best practice is for companies is to work with the career services offers. ? What is the policy for this? Concluded it's a case by case reaction. Not so much integration with career office, but more how the student is treated.
• A matter of education. Employers should be educated on what the career office needs. ? It's a challenge for the companies in knowing how and who to communicate with. Relations differ at each school. How to establish parallel relationships?
• Analog had to sign a no-reneg contract with Brown in order to participate in OC recruiting.

Working with Career Services

• A corporate representative has more clout than the career services.
• The issue is not necessarily that the recruiters are working around career office by going directly to faculty, it is more that they are out of the loop and miss out on the stats.
• Career offices track how many jobs are posted, resumes sent, etc. Another consequence to not using career office: the other students are not getting exposure to the jobs that are open.
• It is better to ask faculty to direct their best and brightest to the career services rather than directly to you.
• If you go to a faculty member and ask for the best and the brightest, you can't be sure they will screen appropriately. They may have bias.
• One school put a fix in place for the situation where the OC interview process (and the career office) was bypassed at Career Fairs. The school provided the recruiters with info to pass on to the students so they would be aware of the system.
• The OFF campus events can also utilize the electronic systems to gather resumes. Will also serve to keep the career office updated.
• Teradyne does include career fair sources in the numbers updated to schools.
• When is best time to contact schools for hiring results? Summer time!
• NACE numbers aren't always on track for salaries.

Best Employer On-Campus Recruiting Practices

• Recommendation: Buddy up with a student organization for networking events.
• Connect with career office to get the inside scoop on what organizations to use.
• One company has decided already that at some downtown Boston schools, already have decided it's not worth time to do traditional info session. 6-8pm time is tough...students working.
• Dartmouth switched their career services seminars to lunchtime and had much better turnout. Has worked out better for employers, too, to come for breakfast and lunch times instead.
• Employers need to also make sure the info isn't duplicated on web site, or it won't be worthwhile for the students. ? What do the employers want to let the students know?
• Get out the general information. Might make sense to utilize the website for that info. Each campus is different.
• That face to face contact is important though. Might want to follow up with e-mail. The value of the info session is the face to face interaction.
• Saw great success by sending out personalized e-mailed invitations to the info session. "Come meet your recruiter" twist helped, too.

Use of Greeters

• Bringing alumni is important.
• Encourage your alumni to sign up for networks through the school.
• Many companies bringing greeters-works very well. Bring alumni, even better!
• Check with the school...some won't allow it due to space.
• The number of greeters has gotten out of control. Some conversations are inappropriate. (talking about social life, bars, life after work). Difficult to distinguish which are the students and which are the greeters. Thinking about limiting the # of greeters.
• Some schools don't allow greeters.
• One college recruiting coordinator went along to Cornell as a greeter. Worked well in making up info that was covered during info session. Got good feedback from both the students and the recruiters.
• Hears that students want to know more specifics about company, not so much interested in locations, size. ? Have the alumni ever invited the professors in to see them in their companies? How do the companies get involved? Through invitations?
• Any time that schools can proactively contact the companies for seminar or talk or resume workshop, they should. Employers will be looking for those things. ? What do schools want from employers?
• Feedback, info on hiring list.
• Make sure all candidates hear back.

Best Practices for Colleges

• ? What tricks have career offices used to build relationships with faculty? Career services sometimes has a hard time in getting faculty more involved in recruiting.
• Try to find the "friendly faculty"...what are their interests? Brought some to visit companies.
• If school has new faculty event, that's a good means.
• Many employers' complaints go directly from companies to faculty.
• At some schools, faculty is included in the lunch during the OC interviewing. Alumni doing the recruiting can also help develop that.
• Observation that sometimes can get territorial. Time for career services to recognize cooperation is needed. Need to have a focused approach. For instance, get Teradyne into a classroom! With the resources and information available to the students, it is likely they will be more aggressive in pushing back on what they are learning.
• Babson had an event where students got to bring their resumes in to representatives (usually alumni) to look at their resumes. Also had faculty there so they could meet people from the companies. ? How much info do companies want from schools? Babson is transitioning to

Erecruiting this year.

• More likely to go to web sites, not read brochure. What is key to know?
• Employers would also like to know the industries and locations your students go to.
• Any stats in general. Types of students coming in, programs, where they go after, population, easy to navigate info, student group organizations.
• Who to contact, contact information.
• Some schools have industrial associations. These are good, but can be hard to justify paying out each year.
  
  Other activities and how they are communicated
  ? Is there a way to work with schools on events like open houses?
• Yes, but try and be timely (2 wks notice, plus)-an e-mail announcement works great.
• Specifically, an e-mail including something short and sweet that that can be sent along or posted for the employer.
• Even better, send along a link to a website.

Revenue Generation

• How colleges raise funds for career services
• Some Ivy League schools have begun charging for on campus interviewing due to companies expecting more and more when they come to campus, i.e. phones, internet hookup, hospitality.
• Yale will start charging this year. With that includes a continental breakfast, phone and internet access, lounge with fax, telephone, etc. $200/interview room. Free for non-profit organization.
• Frustration around companies following up with food costs, the admin time in chasing around invoices.
• URI has a "Friends of URI" program that provides preferred status and exposure. Trying to generate revenue.
• Columbia is looking for sponsors as well.
• Tufts supplied employers with info on where they could order food from, which takes career office out of the equation.
• At Wentworth, they charged for career fairs for the first time. Worked very well. Dean of the division was floored that they cleared $10K. ? What is a fair price for a career fair?
• $300-500.
• Career fairs are reasonably priced. Some of the professional societies are high priced, i.e. the SWE Conference.
• Some of the schools are squeezing the schools for $$ by tacking on extra money for extra recruiters.
• Dartmouth requests that only 2 people attend because there isn't enough space. In terms of revenue generation, Dartmouth doesn't have to rely on career fairs for funding-only charges to reimburse for cost.

Other programs involving funding from employers

• ? Do companies have their Coops/Interns sign any contracts? None of the employers practice this. ? What about Sponsored Research? Contractual agreement, usually associated with independent study. Usually paid for by company.
• Cisco recently sponsored a project. Logistically, had to work around getting badges for students to work in building without being an employee. Getting started, had to work with legal on contract.
• Issue arises around who owns the information. One company had their name stripped from publications. ? Who is involved on school end, who chooses student? At WPI, need a faculty sponsor. Schools are encouraged to put this on their radar screen-great opportunity for learning.
• At Dartmouth, there are three ways for student project. Create own product and market it, company sponsored, or have company pay school, school pay student.
• At Lowell, there is a contract where company pays school, school pays $10/hr to student. Allows international students to be paid by school avoiding F1's.
• Pitt has a senior design project.
• Stevens is trying to replicate WPI's program. Has 60 senior design projects. Would rather see company sponsored, not campus based. Charge $4K per project, plus direct costs right now. $2K to faculty development, the other to the department. Sometimes determined by company, other times company asks students to propose project.

Other Issues

• Interview Techniques and Other Recommendations for Students ? What about an electronic portfolio that would have samples of their work?
• Typically only in specific majors. Not for engineers.
• Would rather have that further down in the process. Otherwise, too much to digest. If a student has been published, the manager will likely ask for it, and the student will likely have it ready. ? Do employers look at students' web sites?
• Most of the time, it is off-putting. Inappropriate.
• Students should also be sensitive to their e-mail addresses, voice-mail messages, etc. ? What phone should they put on?
• Most employers responded saying they prefer mobil phones. Students are not home that often. Students tend to be attached to their mobil phone most often.
• Recommends managers use e-mail more often. Employers are on a different time schedule than students are. ? How important is it that students wear a suit?
• The better the candidate the more latitude they can take in what they wear. If they are borderline, it'll help them to wear a suit.
• Companies are tending back to less casual.
• Overall, it's a sign of respect. Can't hurt to overdress.
• Stay true to company culture. If you come on all hip and that's not the company culture, that's not fair. Suit to the interview, be casual at the info session.

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