University Relations & Talent Acquisition Specialist

About the role

The University Relations & Talent Acquisition Specialist supports Coherent’s university relations, early-career recruiting, and Talent Acquisition programs. This role builds relationships with universities, technical colleges, student organizations, and professional associations to attract interns, co-op students, apprentices, new graduates, and other early-career talent. The Specialist coordinates recruiting activities from sourcing and candidate engagement through interviewing, offer administration, onboarding, and program support. They also assist with university events, employer branding, recruiting communications, reporting, and process improvement.

Responsibilities

• Support relationships with universities, technical colleges, career centers, faculty members, student organizations, and professional associations.
• Aid in identifying schools, academic programs, and student populations aligned with Coherent’s workforce needs.
• Coordinate university outreach activities, including career fairs, information sessions, classroom presentations, technical events, networking events, and campus visits.
• Support campus ambassador, employee alumni, and student mentoring programs.
• Maintain regular communication with university contacts and coordinate event logistics, registration, materials, and follow-up.
• Represent Coherent in a professional and engaging manner at university and community events.
• Help promote Coherent’s employer brand, career opportunities, technology, culture, and early-career programs.
• Support recruiting for interns, co-op students, apprentices, new graduates, and other early-career positions.
• Partner with recruiters and hiring managers to understand position requirements and develop appropriate candidate outreach strategies.
• Source, identify, and engage candidates through university partnerships, applicant-tracking systems, job boards, social media, referrals, and other recruiting channels.
• Review resumes and applications and conduct initial candidate screens as appropriate.
• Cook up interview schedules, candidate communications, feedback collection, and recruiting updates.
• Maintain accurate and timely candidate information, interview activity, dispositions, and status updates in the Applicant Tracking System.
• Aid in offer preparation, pre-employment requirements, onboarding coordination, and candidate follow-up.
• Support a consistent, positive, and timely candidate experience throughout the recruiting process.
• Build and maintain talent pipelines for recurring and hard-to-fill early-career positions.
• Support the administration of Coherent’s internship, co-op, and early-career programs.
• Coordinate program communications, calendars, orientations, meetings, speaker sessions, networking events, and professional development activities.
• Aid in intern onboarding, site coordination, manager communications, and program logistics.
• Assist with mentorship and engagement activities designed to increase learning, connection, and retention.
• Collect feedback from interns, managers, HR partners, and program participants.
• Aid in conversion activities and tracking of interns and other early-career employees after program completion.
• Help ensure early-career programs are delivered consistently across participating locations.
• Partner with the Manager, University Relations and Global Mobility, Talent Acquisition, HR business partners, hiring managers, and site leaders to support recruiting priorities.
• Provide timely updates regarding candidate pipelines, event participation, open positions, hiring progress, and potential issues.
• Build effective working relationships with candidates, students, managers, recruiters, university representatives, and internal partners.
• Escalate complex candidate, scheduling, compliance, or hiring issues to the Manager or appropriate Talent Acquisition partner.
• Support hiring manager communications, recruiting materials, interview preparation, and early-career hiring guidance.
• Prepare recruiting, event, and program reports using Applicant Tracking System and other HR or reporting tools.
• Track recruiting activity, pipeline development, event outcomes, hiring results, offer acceptance, conversion, and program participation.
• Maintain accurate records and documentation in accordance with company policies and applicable legal and data-protection requirements.
• Support compliance with recruiting, employment, onboarding, and record-retention processes.
• Aid in the preparation and maintenance of recruiting guides, communication templates, presentations, event materials, and process documentation.
• Identify opportunities to improve university relations, candidate engagement, recruiting efficiency, and the early-career experience.
• Perform other related duties and projects as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, Communications, Marketing, Education, or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• One to three years of experience in Talent Acquisition, university relations, campus recruiting, human resources, program coordination, career services, or a related field.
• Experience supporting recruiting, career events, internships, co-op programs, or other early-career initiatives preferred.
• Experience using an Applicant Tracking System, HR system, event-management platform, or reporting tools preferred.
• Experience building relationships with students, candidates, universities, hiring managers, or external partners.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple activities, deadlines, events, and stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong customer-service and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and handle sensitive candidate and employee information.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office or comparable business software.
• Ability to travel occasionally to universities, career fairs, Coherent locations, and recruiting events.

Skills

• Strong interpersonal, teaming, and problem-solving skills.
• Work effectively with other members of Coherent Corp.

Benefits

Coherent offers a comprehensive career development platform within an environment that challenges employees to perform at their best, while rewarding excellence and hard-work through a competitive compensation program.

Pay

Competitive salary commensurate with experience.

Schedule

Full-time position.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Coherent is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

About Coherent

Coherent is a global leader in lasers, engineered materials, and networking components. We are a vertically integrated manufacturing company that develops innovative products for diversified applications in the industrial, optical communications, military, life sciences, semiconductor equipment, and consumer markets. Coherent provides a comprehensive career development platform within an environment that challenges employees to perform at their best, while rewarding excellence and hard-work through a competitive compensation program. It's an exciting opportunity to work for a company that offers stability, longevity, and growth. Come Join Us!