Employer Relations Confidential | Edition 001

Guest: Associate Director for Employer Engagement at the University of Oregon, Jon Ambrose

Career centers are under more pressure than ever to prove ROI, compete for employer attention, and prepare students for a job market that keeps shifting beneath them. Employer Relations Confidential is a recurring series that goes straight to the source: the practitioners doing the work. Each edition features an unfiltered conversation with an Employer Relations leader about what's actually working, what keeps them up at night, and where the field is heading. No fluff. Just real answers from real professionals.

In our pilot edition, we interviewed the Associate Director for Employer Engagement at the University of Oregon, Jon Ambrose. Here's what he had to share...

What metrics do you use to determine whether your employer engagement efforts are successful, and why did you choose those measures?

Our job is to empower students to get jobs. At the end of the day, meaningful employment outcomes are what matter most. Whether those outcomes are full-time positions, internships, part-time jobs, or other career opportunities, student hiring is the most important metric we track.

That said, students often need support long before they receive an offer. We invest heavily in career education through alumni panels, networking events, employer information sessions, career tours, and similar programming. Rather than assuming students find value in those experiences, we ask them directly. For example, following every event, we ask students a simple question: "Did this event provide you with valuable information and resources to help you prepare for your future career?" This feedback helps us determine whether our programming is meeting its intended purpose and informs future decisions about where we invest our time and resources.

---

How has your employer relations strategy evolved over the past three years, and what factors drove those changes?

While the pandemic may feel far behind us, aspects of recruiting remain fundamentally changed. Much of the hiring process remains in digital spaces, with recruiting, applications, interviews, negotiations, and long-term employment occurring virtually.

At the same time, the widespread adoption of large language models such as ChatGPT and Claude has changed how employers evaluate early talent. Resumes, cover letters, portfolios, and online profiles are increasingly competing with polished AI-generated content that can make candidates appear more similar than ever. Somewhat paradoxically, this has increased the value of in-person engagement. Employers want opportunities to meet students face to face. An application can be polished by AI. A conversation cannot.

All that to say, our strategy has remained centered on student needs. We continue expanding digital opportunities for students and employers to connect, while also maintaining strong on-campus programming. The balance between those approaches continues to evolve. My team constantly monitors data, labor market trends, and employer feedback to determine where we can have the greatest impact.

---

What role do job development and regional partnerships play in your employer engagement strategy, and how have these collaborations helped improve employment outcomes?

As a public institution, we benefit tremendously from strong relationships with employers, chambers of commerce, workforce boards, economic development organizations, and community partners.

We all share a common interest in building a strong regional economy. When local employers thrive, our students have greater access to part-time jobs, internships, and full-time career opportunities. When we help students develop skills and connect with opportunities in Oregon, we strengthen the talent pipeline that supports our communities and employers.

These partnerships create opportunities that no single organization could provide alone. By working together, we can better identify workforce needs, connect talent with opportunity, and support both student success and regional economic growth.

---

What advice would you offer to colleagues who work with employers?

Regardless of what is happening in the economy, employers are ultimately looking for people who can help solve their organization's problems.

Every employer, industry, and sector has its own challenges, priorities, and language. The more we understand those realities, the more effective we become. My team strives to learn what keeps employers up at night and identify ways our students and services can help address those needs.

At the end of the day, many employers view career centers as talent partners. While many enjoy supporting career education and helping students, they are also trying to solve real business challenges. The better we understand those challenges and help address them, the stronger and more sustainable those relationships become.

---

What is the most innovative employer relations initiative, service, or strategy your organization has implemented?

Innovative may be too strong a word, but we strive to make data-informed decisions whenever possible. As a result, many of our programs may look familiar to other career centers: career fairs, employer panels, site visits, networking events, job shadows, and career tours.

What differentiates our approach is the discipline behind deciding what to do and, equally important, what not to do. Before launching a new initiative, we spend considerable time understanding student needs, analyzing participation data, identifying campus partners, developing budgets and timelines, and securing support from employers and alumni.

We want to build programs because the data suggests they will meet a specific need for our students. Because of that deliberate process, our success rate with new initiatives is quite high. I am proud of my team for that.

---

What are the biggest challenges career centers face when it comes to job development and employer relations?

I worry about the erosion of traditional entry-level opportunities in many industries. As some employers reduce investments in training and expect candidates to arrive with increasingly specialized experience, it can become more difficult for recent graduates to gain a foothold in the workforce.

As opportunities become more competitive, career centers must work harder to help employers understand the value of investing in early talent. This also means working more proactively with organizations that may not have historically hired college talent.

There is tremendous talent on college campuses today. One of our responsibilities is helping employers recognize that opportunity and encouraging them to invest in the next generation of professionals.

---

How do you identify and engage new employers?

Outreach. So much outreach.

We identify potential employer partners through labor market data, alumni connections, employer award lists, industry associations, prior student placements, referrals from existing partners, and tracking to see if organizations are actively recruiting at other institutions.

It truly takes a village. I am fortunate to work alongside outstanding staff (including student employees), alumni, and workforce partners who are constantly sharing organizations we should engage with. Building relationships is a team effort, and some of our best partnerships begin with a simple referral.

If an employer had to choose your organization over every other career center or workforce partner in your region, what would you want them to say is your greatest differentiator?

We all need to really know our institutions. We need to understand our student population, academic programs, and the unique strengths of our university as a whole.

Employers partner with us because they are trying to solve talent needs. The better we understand what makes our students distinctive, the better we can illustrate to employers why taking the time to come to campus will be worth their while.

I could talk about why the University of Oregon is a fantastic place for students to study and for employers to recruit from, but we need to tailor it to the problem employers are facing. It does not matter to a hospital short on registered nurses how good our football team is. But it does matter to graduate programs that student-led research is baked into our undergraduate experience.

---

Looking ahead five years, what do you believe will distinguish the most successful employer relations and business services teams from the rest?

We are in the people business. I think the most successful employer relations teams will be those that remain focused on outcomes while adapting to change. Again, our job is to empower students to get jobs.

Equally important, they will invest in their own people. This work is rewarding, but it is also continuous. Teams that can sustain high quality service while supporting the well-being and professional growth of their staff are the ones I would bet on.