By Rich Sheridan
January 26, 2009
Attention, Ann Arbor area employers: You have a chance to help end the brain drain that is so often lamented by our state. By making a small commitment to the one-day local career fair put on by the University of Michigan, each of you has a chance to demonstrate to the young talent coming out of the university that Ann Arbor has a very viable business community to consider after graduation.
Too often, the only employers visiting the Ann Arbor campus are those that want to whisk the new graduates off to far-flung places around the country. These days, graduates often select the city these wish to work in first and then look for employers. Many students would like to stay in our great town, but they are not convinced there are enough businesses to support two or three job changes over the next several years. Thus, they go off to the larger cities.
So what can we do? I want to alert you to the upcoming MPowered career fair at U-M on Feb. 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. My company, Menlo Innovations, went last year for the first time and it was a great experience for us. This student-organized event was very well executed. We ended up bringing on two great paid interns for the summer, and both have expressed a keen interest in coming back to work for us after graduation. I believe there were about 80 local employers represented.
Why should your company attend? This is a wonderfully organized, one-stop event for small companies to connect with the talent at the U-M. The number of companies attending shows the students there are loads of reasons to stay here in Ann Arbor. The talent is impressive!
"But Rich, we're not hiring right now, so why should we attend?"
This event is a tour-de-force for our community and whether we have openings at the moment, we need to show the students the possibilities. One of the laments I've heard over the years is that we aren't doing enough to attract and retain the young talent.
Here's our chance to put Ann Arbor on their radar screen. You may not be recruiting these students today, but a good conversation today may lead to something down the road when you do need them. Many of these students have siblings who may also have an interest in either staying in Ann Arbor, or returning. Parents of these students may have business contacts that could become some of your customers! There is opportunity to network with other companies in the area who attend. This is also a good way to build a relationship with the university.
To learn more, check out the Web site: mpowered.web.itd.umich.edu. It takes a village to build a village. I hope to see you there.
