Specialist, Talent Acquisition - University Recruiting

Ford; Dearborn (MI); Hybrid; USD 87,000 - 145,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision coverage

Parental leave and back-up child care

Tuition assistance

Vehicle discount program

Job summary

Ford is seeking a Specialist, Talent Acquisition (University Relations) to lead campus recruiting for interns, co-ops and new grads. You will partner with universities, career centers and student organizations to build a pipeline of top early-career talent.

You’ll manage sourcing, screening, offers and onboarding, coordinate campus events, and ensure a fair, compliant experience while aligning with business goals. This hybrid role requires campus visits and occasional after-hours work.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• At least 5 years of relevant experience with a bachelor’s degree, or at least 3 years with a master’s degree. Experience should include HR, university relations, or campus recruiting, with exposure to external stakeholder management and large-scale recruiting events.
• Ability to travel to campuses and career fairs, including occasional evening or weekend work during peak recruiting seasons.

Responsibilities

• Partner with hiring managers and HR business partners to define intern/entry-level hiring needs and headcount plans. Collaborates with cross-functionally to align recruiting strategy with business goals, intern program managers, and cross-functional team heads to align recruiting strategy with business goals and ensure a seamless candidate-to-hire experience.
• Owns a portfolio of target schools, building relationships with career centers, academic departments, and student organizations. Tracks engagement, ROI, and hiring outcomes by school to guide investment decisions. Represents the company at career fairs, info sessions, and conferences, including logistics and staffing for these events.
• Designs engagement strategies across the student funnel—info sessions, coffee chats, networking events, and social outreach. Creates compelling job/internship postings, conducts screening interviews, and supports intern cohort programming to improve full-time conversion rates.
• Coordinates recruiting simultaneously across interns, co-ops, and new grads, tailoring sourcing and screening to each population. Manages high-volume campus cycles and coaches hiring managers on early-career processes and campus hiring timelines.
• Manages postings, ATS/HCM workflows, and interview logistics. Implements policies and training on campus recruiting best practices for hiring managers and HR partners. Uses data (school yield, conversion rate, offer acceptance, etc) to optimize strategy. Maintains confidential data in compliance with applicable laws.

Skills

Campus recruiting

Stakeholder management

External partner management

Event planning

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR or related field

Master's degree in HR or related field

Tools

ATS/HCM systems

Job description

We made history and now we work to transform the future – for our customers, our communities and our families. You'll see your work on the road every day, helping people move freely and pursue their dreams. At Ford, you can build more than vehicles. Come build what matters.

As part of our Human Resources team, you’ll help us attract, hire and retain the top talent we need to achieve our bold vision. You’ll play a vital role in defining, developing and maintaining the winning culture that empowers diverse individuals to work together and create the impossible. We’re seeking change leaders, talent strategists, employee advocates and culture architects to enable our teams, partners, and businesses to do and be their best.

In this position...

The Specialist, Talent Acquisition (University Relations) leads full-cycle recruiting for intern, co-op, and entry-level/new-grad talent, managing sourcing, screening, selection, offer rollout, and onboarding with consistency, fairness, and compliance. This role builds strong partnerships across hiring managers, HR partners, university career centers, and student organizations to deliver a best-in-class candidate and stakeholder experience, helping the company compete like a challenger for top early-career talent.

What you'll do...

• Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Collaboration Partners with hiring managers and HR business partners to define intern/entry-level hiring needs and headcount plans. Collaborates with cross-functionally to align recruiting strategy with business goals, intern program managers, and cross-functional team heads to align recruiting strategy with business goals and ensure a seamless candidate-to-hire experience.
• University & School Relationship Management Owns a portfolio of target schools, building relationships with career centers, academic departments, and student organizations. Tracks engagement, ROI, and hiring outcomes by school to guide investment decisions. Represents the company at career fairs, info sessions, and conferences, including logistics and staffing for these events.
• Student & Candidate Engagement Designs engagement strategies across the student funnel—info sessions, coffee chats, networking events, and social outreach. Creates compelling job/internship postings, conducts screening interviews potential, and program requirements, and supports intern cohort programming to improve full-time conversion rates.
• Managing Multiple Talent Levels Coordinates recruiting simultaneously across interns, co-ops, and new grads, tailoring sourcing and screening to each population. Manages high-volume campus cycles and coaches hiring managers on early-career processes and campus hiring timelines.
• Core Operations Manages postings, ATS/HCM workflows, and interview logistics. Implements policies and training on campus recruiting best practices for hiring managers and HR partners. Uses data (school yield, conversion rate, offer acceptance, etc) to optimize strategy. Maintains confidential data in compliance with applicable laws.

You'll have...

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• At least 5 years of relevant experience with a bachelor’s degree, or at least 3 years with a master’s degree. Experience should include HR, university relations, or campus recruiting, with exposure to external stakeholder management and large-scale recruiting events.
• Ability to travel to campuses and career fairs, including occasional evening or weekend work during peak recruiting seasons

Even better, you may have...

• Master’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Experience managing relationships with career centers, student organizations, or other external partners.
• Experience planning or managing large-scale recruiting events.
• Relevant certification, such as CPTA, Professional Recruiter Certification, AIRS Certified, or LinkedIn Talent Solutions (LTS).

As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder…or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:

• Immediate medical, dental, vision and prescription drug coverage
• Flexible family care days, paid parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
• Family building benefits including adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility treatments, and more
• Vehicle discount program for employees and family members and management leases
• Tuition assistance
• Established and active employee resource groups
• Paid time off for individual and team community service
• A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.

This position is a salary grade 7 and ranges from $86,600-$144,900.

Final determination of salary grade will be based on candidate's skills and experience, and base salary will be set within the applicable range according to job scope, responsibility and competitive market value.

Internal applicants: moving into this role may result in an adjustment to your current compensation based on the posted pay range for this role, taking into consideration your qualifications and other relevant factors.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, if you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.

This position is hybrid with a requirement to be onsite four or more days per week. #LI-Hybrid #LI-JB5