Talent - Jeff Daniel

CollegeHire features one-stop shopping for companies and students. Instead of offering job opportunities at just one company, CollegeHire recruiters represent more than two dozen companies -- a broad selection of work and of workplaces. By interviewing with CollegeHire, students are, in effect, taking part in interviews at Amazon.com, McKinsey & Co., D.E. Shaw & Co., startups like Motive Communications and Agillion, and the rest of CollegeHire's partner companies. But they're doing so without the inconvenience of preparing for individual interviews with all of those companies. "Wouldn't you rather interview with one company than interview with 30?" Daniel asks students.

And by contracting with CollegeHire, companies are, in effect, recruiting at 37 of the top schools in the United States and Canada. More important, they're recruiting without having to do the time-consuming and expensive legwork -- branding on campus, networking, and conducting interviews -- necessary to identify qualified candidates interested in working for them. "Wouldn't you rather have someone else filter the talent pool and present you with only the strongest candidates?" Daniel asks companies.

This year, Daniel's goal is to find jobs for 1,500 of the roughly 20,000 high-tech candidates due to graduate during the 1999-2000 school year from the schools that he currently targets. The service is free to students. It's the companies that pay CollegeHire -- typically an annual retainer and a fee-per-hire that is based on the number of hires a company wants.

Early on, CollegeHire gathers more information about students than companies usually do. In addition to a résumé, a recruit's profile includes scores from online tests in various technologies offered through CollegeHire's site; impressions from two interviews (one general, the other technical); and the results of a survey on working style and preferences. After all, says Daniel, if hiring the right people is so crucial, why not give companies as much information about candidates as possible? "How can you decide to fly someone across the country for an on-site interview based only on a résumé and one short interview?" he asks. "You don't have enough to go on. It's pure guesswork." Daniel wants his customers to be able to make more informed decisions.

At CollegeHire, account developers keep tabs on the latest job openings and the specific job requirements for those positions. They then consult with internal "campus owners" and assemble a group of qualified candidates for their client companies. Through CollegeHire's Web site, recruiters ask those students if they're interested in the jobs. Once recruits give the go-ahead, CollegeHire presents its candidates to companies. These clients view the candidate profiles online and select which students they want to interview.

Daniel also puts more information in the hands of the students. On CollegeHire.com, they can research prospective employers. CollegeHire posts profiles of its clients, their job openings, and links to company Web sites. It also publishes Hired magazine, a monthly online job-search resource. In addition to articles on the job market and campus recruiting events, Hired offers advice from columnist "Job Search Jane" -- tips for interviewing, negotiating, and more.

If you want to get to know students more than superficially, you have to be willing to spend a lot more time on campuses than an afternoon at a career fair. Daniel calls his recruiters "campus owners," because they do more than just recruit. They research things like student life, clubs, academic programs and departments, hangouts, and associations at the 37 schools where CollegeHire currently recruits. "Owning a campus is a lot like learning your way around a foreign country," Daniel says. "The best way to learn is through total immersion."

In the months leading up to both winter and spring graduation, campus owners spend nearly every day at school. They meet students in cafeterias, they take them out for group dinners, and they conduct info sessions on partner companies. They also email the dozens, and at some schools hundreds, of students they meet -- answering questions about the job-hunting process, checking in after a big exam, and sometimes even offering advice on personal problems. "The students get comfortable talking to you," says Lauren Esposito, 23, who "owned" Harvard and MIT last year. "That's what makes it so much fun. I took some of my MIT recruits shopping. They were like my best friends."

As for CollegeHire's relatively ancient CEO, Daniel is 29 going on 22, considering his rapport with students. He gets dozens of emails after info sessions, and still considers getting to know recruits one of the most enjoyable parts of his job. "They're not jaded," he says. "They have great hopes and plans, and I think that's cool. But I'm not trying to pass as a college student by saying things like 'Hey dude, did you check out the new Korn CD?' No way. You have to know where you belong, and where you don't."