Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for University Talent Partner

🎯 Role Definition

The University Talent Partner is a strategic talent acquisition professional focused on designing, executing, and evolving campus recruitment and early-career talent programs. This role builds long-term university relationships, runs on-campus and virtual programs (events, info sessions, career fairs, hackathons, workshops), manages internship and graduate hiring processes end-to-end, and partners closely with hiring managers, people operations, employer branding, and diversity & inclusion teams to meet hiring goals. The University Talent Partner leverages data, CRM/ATS systems, and market insights to optimize candidate sourcing, conversion, and retention of early-career hires.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Campus Recruiter / Early Talent Coordinator
University Relations Specialist / College Recruiting Associate
Talent Acquisition Coordinator with campus program responsibilities

Advancement To:

Senior University Talent Partner / Early Talent Lead
Campus Recruiting Manager / University Relations Manager
Talent Acquisition Partner for early-career programs

Lateral Moves:

Employer Brand Manager (Campus Programs)
Diversity & Inclusion Program Manager (focus on pipeline initiatives)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Own end-to-end university recruitment programs for assigned schools and regions, designing calendar-driven campus engagement strategies that align with hiring needs for internships, co-ops, and full-time entry-level roles.
Build, maintain, and grow strategic partnerships with university career centers, faculty, student organizations, and alumni networks to increase brand presence and candidate pipeline quality.
Plan and execute on-campus and virtual events including career fairs, information sessions, workshops, hackathons, and speaker engagements that drive measurable candidate engagement and applications.
Partner with hiring managers and business leaders to intake role requirements, craft compelling job descriptions targeted at early-career talent, and set realistic campus hiring goals and timelines.
Manage the full recruiting lifecycle for early talent — sourcing, screening, interviewing, offer negotiation, and onboarding coordination — ensuring a high-touch candidate experience that reflects the employer brand.
Develop and manage structured internship and rotational program curricula in partnership with people operations and business units to ensure meaningful work, mentorship, and conversion into full-time hires.
Create and maintain a measurable campus recruiting plan and tracking dashboard (applications, interviews, offers, acceptances, conversion rates) to report program ROI and influence strategic hiring decisions.
Utilize ATS and candidate relationship management (CRM) tools to maintain accurate candidate pipelines, implement nurturing campaigns, and automate follow-ups for prospective students and applicants.
Develop targeted sourcing strategies including campus ambassador programs, student chapter engagement, referrals, social media outreach, and talent community building to diversify candidate pools.
Conduct screening interviews, coordinate assessment tasks, and train interviewers on competency-based interviewing and consistent evaluation rubrics to improve selection quality.
Collaborate with employer branding and marketing teams to create role- and campus-specific content (flyers, presentations, social assets, video testimonials) that strengthens the company’s campus reputation.
Lead campus diversity recruiting initiatives, working with D&I partners to source underrepresented candidates, run inclusive events, and develop scholarships, mentorships, or sponsorships that improve representation.
Negotiate and manage vendor relationships and budgets for external campus events, virtual recruiting platforms, and promotional materials to optimize spend and maximize candidate reach.
Design and run pre-hire candidate experiences such as virtual onboarding, bootcamps, and project-based assessments to ensure readiness and reduce time-to-productivity for early-career hires.
Provide consultative coaching to hiring managers on assessing early-career potential, building interview panels, and creating development pathways that increase intern-to-full-time conversion.
Drive continuous improvement of campus recruiting processes by capturing qualitative feedback from candidates and hiring managers and implementing process changes to improve time-to-hire and acceptance rates.
Monitor market and university trends, competitor campus activity, program benchmarking, and salary trends to inform university recruitment strategy and compensation recommendations.
Create and present quarterly business reviews and program performance narratives for leadership, including actionable recommendations and resource requests tied to hiring forecasts.
Manage student ambassador and internship program teams, including recruiting, training, guiding activities, setting KPIs, and ensuring aligned messaging across campuses.
Ensure compliance with employment policies and local regulations in campus hiring activities and maintain consistent record-keeping for audit-ready recruitment practices.
Implement and maintain candidate feedback loops and NPS-style measurements for campus events and internship programs to continuously improve candidate experience and employer brand.
Collaborate with learning & development to design early-career learning paths, mentorship pairings, and performance checkpoints that increase retention and career progression of early hires.
Advocate for the company at campus and industry events, panels, and conferences, serving as a public-facing representative to strengthen recruitment networks and referral channels.
Execute targeted outreach campaigns for niche technical or non-technical early talent (engineering, sales, product, operations, analytics) including role-specific assessment projects and challenge-based recruiting.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc reporting requests and exploratory analysis to identify pipeline gaps, conversion bottlenecks, and diversity metrics for university programs.
Maintain and continuously improve a knowledge repository of campus engagement assets, event playbooks, and best practices for scalable program replication.
Coordinate logistics and travel for campus tours, interview days, and recruiting teams; manage event checklists, vendor contacts, and on-site recruitment kits.
Assist in budget forecasting and expense reconciliation for campus activities, ensuring efficient use of recruiting dollars and supplier invoices.
Contribute to cross-functional projects such as employer brand campaigns, internship payroll planning, and campus scholarship program design.
Mentor junior campus recruiters and internship program coordinators, providing training on candidate assessment, sourcing tools, and stakeholder communication.
Support the development of recruitment marketing collateral and job posting optimization for SEO and university career board visibility.
Act as a subject matter expert for ATS/CRM setup for early talent workflows, including tagging, segmentation, and nurture sequences to improve candidate lifecycle management.
Participate in pilot programs or proof-of-concept initiatives to evaluate new virtual recruitment technologies, coding challenge platforms, or assessment tools.
Keep up-to-date documentation of regional campus processes, interview templates, and diversity outreach checklists to ensure consistent execution across teams.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Campus recruiting program management: experience designing multi-campus calendars, events, and conversion-focused initiatives optimized for internships and graduates.
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and early talent CRMs such as Greenhouse, Lever, Workday Recruiting, or Phenom; ability to configure pipelines and reporting.
Data analysis and reporting: Excel, Google Sheets, and basic SQL or BI tools (Looker, Tableau, Power BI) to create dashboards and measure program KPIs.
Sourcing tools and techniques: LinkedIn Recruiter, Handshake, college career portals, Boolean search, and social media sourcing for students and recent graduates.
Event planning and logistics: vendor negotiation, venue coordination, virtual event platforms (Hopin, Zoom, Brazen), and hybrid recruiting execution.
Employer branding and content development for campus audiences: slide decks, email templates, social content, and student-facing collateral optimized for engagement.
Candidate assessment design: creating coding challenges, case studies, structured interviews, and role-specific evaluation rubrics for early talent.
Project management tools and methodologies: Asana, Jira, Trello, or similar to manage programs, stakeholders, and deliverables.
Budget management and vendor contracting for campus events, advertising, and sponsorships.
Familiarity with diversity sourcing platforms and partnerships (e.g., NSBE, SHPE, Grace Hopper, HBCU networks) to increase underrepresented candidate flow.

Soft Skills

Relationship building: proven ability to develop trusted, long-term partnerships with university stakeholders, student leaders, and internal hiring managers.
Communication and presentation: clear, polished public speaking and storytelling skills for events, info sessions, and leadership updates.
Organizational skills and attention to detail: manage many concurrent campus cycles, deadlines, and logistics with competing priorities.
Influence and stakeholder management: ability to align cross-functional teams and hiring managers around campus hiring strategies and conversion expectations.
Coaching and development: mentor early-career candidates and internal interviewers to ensure consistent evaluation and positive candidate experience.
Adaptability and resilience: thrive in fast-paced recruiting environments and respond quickly to changing hiring needs or campus schedules.
Cultural competence and inclusivity: demonstrated commitment to inclusive hiring practices and sensitivity to diverse student backgrounds.
Problem-solving and analytical mindset: identify root causes for pipeline issues and design experiments to improve hiring outcomes.
Time management and prioritization: balance reactive hiring needs with proactive pipeline-building activities.
Creative thinking for candidate engagement: design compelling program ideas and campaigns that attract top early-career talent.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Communications, Psychology, or a related field.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s plus certifications or a master’s degree in Human Resources, Organizational Psychology, Business, or related disciplines.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Human Resources Management
Business Administration / Management
Communications / Marketing
Organizational Psychology
STEM disciplines (for technical campus programs)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3–7 years of talent acquisition experience with at least 2 years focused on campus/early talent recruitment, university relations, or internship program management.

Preferred:

5+ years designing and scaling university hiring programs, experience managing multiple campus markets, and a track record of delivering measurable intern-to-full-time conversion improvements and diversity outcomes.