Facilities and Operations Initiates New and Creative Ways to Expand Recruitment
During Fiscal Year 2022, the Facilities and Operations Human Resources department looked at recruiting from different angles to inspire the next generation of facilities employees.
Between July and August 2021, Facilities and Operations held a virtual six-week internship for 66 high school students from two New York City high schools, Bronx Design & Construction Academy and Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology. The students learned about workplace challenges, focused on diverse recruitment and retention, and were tasked with identifying new ways to advertise jobs online that target diverse, qualified applicants, especially recognizing how trade positions have evolved from a more manual focus to a heavier emphasis on technology (i.e. from wrenches to iPads). The program also taught the students how to create a career plan for retaining staff for facilities trades and informational technology, including identifying training and professional development opportunities to help trade workers move up the ladder.
To help complete the project, students were grouped with teachers at their school and met with Facilities and Operations Human Resources program managers Terri Caldes, Ann Bloom and Jillian Vincenty on a weekly basis to receive feedback and recommendations as they worked on their individual projects. Students also had the opportunity to meet with Facilities and Operations team members from across departments to learn about Columbia employees’ personal career growth/journey.
By the end of the program, the students confirmed not only having an understanding for the need of a targeted retention and recruitment process for diverse applicants, but also an appreciation of what goes on “behind the scenes” during the employees’ lifecycle.
“We were all really impressed with the presentations completed by the students and the unique approaches proposed to reach the next generation of applicants, including an idea that that human resource professionals should use an electronic business card with a link to the organization’s careers website that is updated in real-time,” says Human Resources Program Manager Ann Bloom. “We are so happy to have been able to continue hosting the internship because we learned a lot from the students as much as they did from us.”
The following spring, members of Facilities and Operations participated in the Industry Scholars Program’s Speaker Series, part of a new initiative in the New York City Career and Technical Education (NYC CTE) curriculum that aims to increase student access and exposure to different career tracks including automotive and transportation, construction, finance, healthcare, culinary, hospitality, media and design, and IT.
Hugo Brun-Pantoja, associate director, Operations; Vicki Dunn, assistant vice president, Dining Services; Sanjay Mahajan executive director, Event Management; and David Grimes, associate director, Housing Services represented Facilities and Operations, and shared details about their career path, what they look for when recruiting entry-level positions, how they see the current job market, and the future of facilities management, construction and engineering.
In March 2022, Facilities and Operations hosted a career fair to recruit diverse talent for the Morningside Campus and the new Manhattanville Campus. Over 150 members from the local community attended the first in-person career fair since the beginning of the pandemic, where they learned about the various roles available and met one-on-one with hiring managers.
Among the open positions within Campus Services and Operations promoted at the career fair included Chef Manager, Pantry Worker, Mechanic, Handyperson, Porter, Door Attendant, Heavy Cleaner, HVAC Specialist and more.
Columbia is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents. For a full list of positions available within Facilities and Operations, visit the Facilities and Operations Career Page.