Success Stories
When we talk with potential ePartners, we frequently are asked the question, "What kinds of success stories have come out of your ePartners Program?" The list is ever-changing ... following are just a few examples.
Online Resume Database Speeds Time-to-Hire
Our ePartners tell us that our online database has helped them significantly reduce their time-to-hire and their cost-per-hire for computer science talent. Our database allows our corporate partners to search resumes based on a number of criteria including operating systems knowledge, programming languages experience, and GPA to quickly identify qualified candidates to meet their co-op, intern, part time or full time hiring needs. Automatic email notices allow users to quickly contact candidates for follow-up and action.
Career Connections Event Provides ePartners an Exclusive Targeted Recruiting Bonanza
Our
annual Career Connections event, typically held during the fall, brings
our ePartners together with computer science students in a relaxed setting.
Our ePartners tell us they use this event to identify potential hires
and to talk with students about future needs and hiring plans. A number
of the ePartners have found it to be an tremendous opportunity to develop
and sustain valuable relationships with prospective employment candidates
-- particularly valuable during periods of economic downturn and hiring
uncertainties. Our Career Connection events consistently attract crowds
in excess of 300 computer science students.
Communications & Exposure Opportunities Help ePartners Shape & Influence Perceptions
Our
ePartners have at their disposal an array of engagement and communications
opportunities, including direct e-mails to students, event sponsorship,
presentations to student groups, Web site links and featured stories in
departmental communications regarding their involvement with the department.
These opportunities to communicate with a targeted audience has helped
a number of our ePartners mold and shape student and alumni perception.
One has been very successful in using the ePartners Program to help redefine
its image among students as a high-tech leader in IT.
ePartners Influence CSC Curriculum
Since its launch in early 2000, the ePartners Program has provided the framework for frequent and ongoing engagement between our corporate partners and our faculty. Input from such interactions are filtering into the classroom. For example, students in our Senior Design Project course now are also gaining communications and presentations skills along with project management and practical experience while working on real-world problems for their project sponsors. The results, in terms of skills developed and in terms of project deliverables, have been outstanding.
Senior Design Center Projects Yield Incredible Returns
About
20 corporations sponsor Senior Design Center student projects each fall
and spring semester. While the Senior Design Center is an academic unit,
project sponsors typically see significant real-world results beyond their
involvement in the exchange of knowledge and experience. At least one
sponsor has reported savings of over $1 million in operating costs based
on the outcome of the students' project. We cannot promise that every
project will yield such returns, but there is a potential for significant
ROI.
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Faculty
Outreach
We have organized several successful outreach opportunities in which faculty members, specializing in a particular research area of corporate interest, have visited our corporate partner sites to deliver targeted presentations on their research and technology trends. One Super ePartner invited faculty to participate in their monthly interactive staff development lunches -- a valuable forum for the exchange of information.
Making Better and More Cost-effective Hiring Decisions
Several of our ePartners report that the opportunities provided by the program to interact and engage students has been a useful means for assessing talent, enabling them to make better-informed hiring decisions. Many companies closely assess skills and talents of their Senior Design Center project team members and then target the very best performers for intern assignments. They report that this takes much of the guesswork out of the hiring process and help ensure that they make full time offers only to those students who have proven themselves to be great fits in terms of skills, attitude, and effort.
