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It’s a competitive job market out there. But recruiters still like to hear what other recruiters are facing in the job market – the challenges, the common needs, even one another’s success stories.

The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh’s Career Services provided the perfect forum.

Nearly 80 regional and state employers based in industries from health care to insurance to manufacturing, sales and even nonprofit service, sent representatives to Career Services’ “Recruiters Connection” at UW Oshkosh’s Reeve Memorial Union on Aug. 22.

The morning-long networking and educational event gave human resources and recruitment professionals a chance to share experiences in employer roundtable discussions, hear from UW Oshkosh Career Services student-clients in a special panel discussion and learn from UW Oshkosh College of Business Professor Dale Feinauer on the keys to swift and effective hiring processes.

The Aug. 22 lineup concluded with a tour of the Career Services headquarters in UW Oshkosh’s Student Success Center.

“This gives (recruiters) a chance to find value in seeing what other people struggle with and what they succeed at,” said Jaime Page-Stadler, director of UW Oshkosh Career Services.

Career Services is UW Oshkosh’s “provider of career information, advice and occupational guidance,” helping students develop professional skills and experience while in the midst of their academic career at the University. It also works closely with regional, state and national employers eager to better connect their needs with the abundant student talent and experience on campus.

Rich Bower, management recruiter with La Crosse-based Kwik Trip, Inc., said the Recruiters Connection event was a valuable opportunity to ask employer-peers how they more effectively peel back the more public layers of their organization and reveal other management and executive career opportunities within for prospective employees.

“We’re more than a ‘gas station,’” Bower said. “… We’ve got much more all the way up to our corporate facility in La Crosse. The relationship with the college has opened a lot of doors.”

Brian Beyer, branch manager for Cintas Corporation of Greenville, said any program connecting colleagues and he to fellow recruiters while helping them develop a better understanding of the talents and trends propelling students into the job market is worth his time.

“It’s just good to hear what’s new with students and with the Career Services staff,” Beyer said.

The Recruiters Connection event kicks off a busy new academic year for Career Services.

On Sept. 4, as part of UW Oshkosh’s opening week, it will host the campus’s Student Employment Fair. That will be followed by the popular and annually-growing Career Fair on the Fox on Sept. 24. The massive employment fair, stationed in UW Oshkosh’s Kolf Sports Center, connects dozens of prospective employers with hundreds of UW Oshkosh students seeking new career opportunities.

Page-Stadler said events like Recruiters Connection are a natural stepping stone to build the partnerships that, eventually, find employers marketing their job opportunities at the huge career fair.

“.. It’s all about them, but we also get a good list of employers interested in working with our campus,” Page-Stadler said.

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