Ernst & Young Previews New Campus Recruitment and Social Media Strategies

NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Ernst & Young's Americas Director of Campus Recruiting Dan Black spoke to an audience of leading companies about the organization's campus recruitment efforts during an event co-hosted by The Great Places to Work Institute in New York City this past week.  Ernst & Young firms plan to hire approximately 6,000 students for internships or entry level positions in the Americas this year, an increase over last year's hiring numbers. In addition, sixty percent of Ernst & Young's workforce will be Generation Y by the end of 2011. This large shift in generational demographics has required Ernst & Young to adapt quickly to the changing needs and desires of its people and recruits.  The organization is going into this year's peak recruitment season with new and creative strategies to connect with potential recruits.

"The top talent always has options, regardless of the economic conditions," said Black. "When it comes to job prospects for top students, it's still a buyer's market for the best buyers.  We are constantly raising our game and thinking about new and innovative ways to connect with these top students."

Ernst & Young LLP in the US was the first professional services firm to launch a careers page on Facebook in 2006 and, since that time, the firm has continued to find innovative ways to reach campus audiences.  At the recent Great Places to Work event, which was designed to showcase leading practices from companies on the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For list, Black previewed some of the new campus recruitment strategies that Ernst & Young LLP is deploying this fall, with an emphasis on social and new media.  

Text polling, for example, was used at the firm's four-day International Intern Leadership Conference in Orlando this year. Text polling allowed more than 1,600 Ernst & Young LLP employees and interns to participate actively in presentations throughout the event, and it will be an important part of Ernst & Young LLP's presentations on campus this year.

Ernst & Young LLP is also increasing its focus on mobile initiatives and advertising on lifestyle websites such as Pandora, Facebook and Yahoo!. Pandora, the internet radio site, features three Ernst & Young radio playlists that were chosen by the 2010 summer interns as part of an intern competition.  Based on market research and analysis, Ernst & Young has determined that more than fifty percent of its target recruitment audience said that they would be interested in receiving more information about potential employers on their mobile devices.  A mobile version of Ernst & Young's Careers site also launched this fall at http://www.ey.mobi/US/en/Careers/Mobile-Careers---Home.

Ernst & Young still maintains a strong focus on Facebook with more than 50,000 fans on its careers page.  This year, Ernst & Young LLP will be hosting a quiz challenge through its mobile site and a new campus hire is tweeting daily through Twitter about her job at the firm at http://twitter.com/EYStaff.

In addition to social and new media initiatives, Ernst & Young will continue a program called Your World, Your Vision, which awards $10,000 to three winning teams who submit proposals on how to positively impact their community.  Ernst & Young has also added a program to its recruitment strategy this year called the Global Student Exchange Program.  Recognizing the desire among today's students for international career opportunities and mobility, Ernst & Young is now offering overseas assignments for select interns during their summer internship program.

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Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. This press release is issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a member firm providing services to clients in the US.

SOURCE Ernst & Young