Associate Talent Acquisition Partner - Early Careers

About the role

As an Associate, Talent Acquisition Partner for Early Careers, you will serve as the dedicated early careers partner supporting universities and teams across Oregon, Washington and Idaho in the Northwest Division, working closely with hiring managers, division leadership, and HR Business Partners to attract and hire intern and new college graduate talent. Reporting to the Head of Early Careers and working as part of Southland’s enterprise Early Careers team, you will apply best practices, playbooks, and programs within your division and adapt them with your business partners where local market and campus dynamics warrant. You will coordinate campus activity and interview events, guide hiring managers and candidates through the process, and help deliver an internship experience compelling enough that participants return to Southland and recommend us to their peers.

As one of the nation’s largest MEP companies, Southland Industries is built on the foundation of great people. Since 1949, we have put our people first, enabling growth, professional achievement, and innovation.

Responsibilities

• Lead the division’s recruiting process for intern, co-op, and new college graduate roles — organizing recruiting events, interview coordination, selection support, offer, and onboarding — in close partnership with hiring managers.
• Sustain pipeline continuity year-round rather than only during peak season, maintaining candidate engagement between touchpoints.
• Maintain requisitions, candidate records, and pipeline activity in the ATS and CRM with accuracy and discipline.
• Deliver a candidate experience that reflects Southland's culture — responsive, personal, and transparent at every step.
• Serve as the dedicated early careers partner to hiring managers, division leadership, and HR Business Partners, earning trust through consistency and follow-through.
• Execute the division's campus recruiting plan in coordination with the enterprise team and division stakeholders, keeping hiring managers engaged in the schools and events that matter most to their pipeline.
• Advise hiring managers on interviewing early talent, supervising interns, and the expectations students carry into today's job market.
• Keep stakeholders informed on pipeline health, event outcomes, and hiring progress; raise risks early with recommended options.
• Cultivate relationships with target campuses in your market — career centers, faculty, and student organizations — partner with campus champions to set recruiting events calendars that match hiring goals.
• Facilitate hiring events, career fairs, info sessions, classroom visits, jobsite tours, and early talent conferences in partnership with division representatives.
• Represent Southland on campus and at early career events as an approachable and credible voice for our work and our people.
• Share best practices and market intelligence with the enterprise team, including competitor activity, student expectations, and program feedback that should inform enterprise strategy.
• Plan and execute division interview events, including scheduling, interviewer preparation, logistics, candidate communication, and follow-through on decisions.
• Coordinate interview panels and support a consistent, structured evaluation approach across the division.
• Maintain momentum from interview event to offer, coordinating offer logistics with HR and compensation partners.
• Lead communication campaign to keep in touch with candidates between offer acceptance and their internship or start, giving candidates a clear view of what a career at Southland offers.
• Partner with hiring managers and division leadership to shape the intern experience — project assignments, mentor pairing, orientation, and onboarding.
• Coordinate the program calendar, including speaker series, learning sessions, jobsite visits, project showcases, and networking events.
• Manage program logistics including housing, travel, equipment, start and end dates, and compliance requirements, in coordination with appropriate internal teams.
• Maintain regular check-ins with interns and their managers throughout the program, addressing concerns before they escalate.
• Support intern-to-full-time conversion through consistent engagement, candid feedback, and clearly communicated next steps.
• Apply enterprise early careers standards, tools, and playbooks within your division, adapting with business partners for market and campus nuance while staying connected to the enterprise approach.
• Contribute to the enterprise team's shared work — process improvements, recruiting materials, and best practice sharing across divisions.
• Track and share core metrics with division and enterprise partners: pipeline activity, event return on investment, offer acceptance, conversion, and program feedback.
• Provide candid perspective on what is working and what is not; proximity to the front line directly informs how the enterprise program evolves.
• Travel up to 30%, concentrated in the fall and spring campus recruiting seasons.

Qualifications

• 2–4 years of recruiting or talent acquisition experience; coordinator experience with demonstrated readiness to run full-cycle recruiting will be considered.
• Bachelor's degree preferred.
• Exposure to campus recruiting, internship programs, or high-volume interview events is a strong plus.
• Industry experience in engineering, construction, or the skilled trades is a plus but not required; genuine interest in learning the business is essential.
• Authentic interest in developing early-career talent, with the patience and approachability to make candidates feel welcome.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, able to manage concurrent timelines, events, and logistics without loss of accuracy.
• Strong communicator who is credible with senior business leaders and equally at ease with a first