Talent Acquisition Advisor - Early Career Programs

varsitybrands; Farmers Branch (TX); Hybrid; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Varsity Brands is seeking a Talent Acquisition Advisor - Early Career Programs to shape and scale its early career talent strategy. You will partner with business leaders, HR, and universities to build internships, co-ops, and entry-level hires across campuses.

You will lead strategies, design onboarding, and manage relationships with universities and professional associations while ensuring compliant and high-quality candidate experiences across the enterprise.

Qualifications

• Influence and advise senior leaders in a visible, matrixed environment.
• Strategic talent advisory and stakeholder management with ability to translate needs into scalable early career solutions.
• Strong business acumen and ability to assess workforce needs and talent-market conditions.
• Ability to collect, analyze, and interpret data from multiple sources and turn findings into compelling insights.

Responsibilities

• Serve as enterprise expert on early career talent strategy, university recruiting, and market trends.
• Partner with business leaders, HR Business Partners, Talent Acquisition leaders, and Workforce Planning to identify future talent needs and determine where early career talent can create meaningful business value.
• Develop and lead a scalable, multi-year early career strategy that aligns with business priorities, workforce plans, and the overall Talent Acquisition strategy.
• Advise leaders on role design, onboarding, development, and conversion practices for internships, co-ops, rotational programs, and entry-level hiring.
• Build and steward strategic relationships with universities, community organizations, professional associations, and other early career talent partners; assess partnership performance and recommend investments.
• Lead the design and execution of a compelling early career employment brand and recruitment marketing approach in partnership with Internal Communications, Marketing, and Talent Acquisition.
• Own the annual early career recruiting calendar, campus engagement plan, budget recommendations, and program operating rhythm; balance business needs with candidate experience and resource priorities.
• Plan and facilitate high-impact virtual and in-person engagement activities, including career fairs, information sessions, interview days, campus events, and targeted outreach.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition colleagues to develop sourcing strategies, provide clear recruiting guidance, and ensure a consistent, high-quality candidate and hiring-manager experience.
• Lead the selection process for assigned early career roles, including requisition planning, candidate assessment, interview strategy, offers, and candidate communications, in accordance with company practices and applicable law.
• Design and improve program experiences that support successful onboarding, mentorship, development, engagement, and conversion of early career talent.
• Use talent-market intelligence, program data, candidate feedback, and stakeholder input to identify trends, assess return on investment, and make recommendations for program enhancements.
• Create and communicate clear program dashboards, progress updates, and executive-ready insights that inform decisions and demonstrate program impact.
• Establish and document scalable processes, tools, and best practices that enable consistent execution across business units and promote continuous improvement.
• Partner with internal resources to advance inclusive early career outreach and build diverse candidate pipelines.
• Stay current on emerging early career technologies, recruiting practices, and regulatory requirements; apply innovations that improve reach, efficiency, and experience.
• Ensure all early career recruiting and program activity is compliant with applicable employment laws, company policies, and data practices.

Skills

Strategic talent advisory

Stakeholder management

Data analysis

Workforce planning

University recruiting

Job description

JOIN THE BEST TEAM IN SPORT & SPIRIT

At Varsity Brands, we believe every student deserves the opportunity to succeed and every educator wants to make a difference. It takes a team to make a real impact, and through our two divisions - BSN SPORTS and Varsity Spirit - and our network of 6,000+ employees and independent representatives, we are proud to partner with a wide range of educational institutions and club and professional sports to transform the student journey in SPORT and SPIRIT.

Location: Onsite Hybrid 2-3 days per week at our Varsity Brands HQ in Farmer Branch TX

HOW YOU WILL MAKE AN IMPACT:

The Talent Acquisition Advisor - Early Career Programs is a strategic talent advisor responsible for shaping, scaling, and continuously improving Varsity Brands' early career talent strategy. This role partners with business leaders, HR, Talent Acquisition, and Workforce Planning to translate future workforce needs into targeted early career pipelines, including internships, entry-level hiring, rotational experiences, and university partnerships.

As a visible enterprise advisor, the Talent Acquisition Advisor - Early Career Program brings market insight, data, and practical recommendations that strengthen the candidate experience, broaden access to emerging talent, and build a sustainable pipeline of future leaders for Varsity Brands.

WHAT YOU WILL DO:

• Serve as the enterprise subject matter expert and trusted advisor on early career talent strategy, university recruiting, and emerging-talent market trends
• Partner with business leaders, HR Business Partners, Talent Acquisition leaders, and Workforce Planning to identify future talent needs and determine where early career talent can create meaningful business value
• Develop and lead a scalable, multi-year early career strategy that aligns with business priorities, workforce plans, and the overall Talent Acquisition strategy
• Advise leaders on role design, timing, selection approach, onboarding, development, and conversion practices for internships, co-ops, rotational programs, and entry-level hiring
• Build and steward strategic relationships with universities, community organizations, professional associations, and other early career talent partners; assess partnership performance and recommend investments
• Lead the design and execution of a compelling early career employment brand and recruitment marketing approach in partnership with Internal Communications, Marketing, and Talent Acquisition
• Own the annual early career recruiting calendar, campus engagement plan, budget recommendations, and program operating rhythm; balance business needs with candidate experience and resource priorities
• Plan and facilitate high-impact virtual and in-person engagement activities, including career fairs, information sessions, interview days, campus events, and targeted outreach
• Partner with Talent Acquisition colleagues to develop sourcing strategies, provide clear recruiting guidance, and ensure a consistent, high-quality candidate and hiring-manager experience
• Lead the selection process for assigned early career roles, including requisition planning, candidate assessment, interview strategy, offers, and candidate communications, in accordance with company practices and applicable law
• Design and improve program experiences that support successful onboarding, mentorship, development, engagement, and conversion of early career talent
• Use talent-market intelligence, program data, candidate feedback, and stakeholder input to identify trends, assess return on investment, and make recommendations for program enhancements
• Create and communicate clear program dashboards, progress updates, and executive-ready insights that inform decisions and demonstrate program impact
• Establish and document scalable processes, tools, and best practices that enable consistent execution across business units and promote continuous improvement
• Partner with internal resources to advance inclusive early career outreach and build diverse candidate pipelines
• Stay current on emerging early career technologies, recruiting practices, and regulatory requirements; apply innovations that improve reach, efficiency, and experience
• Ensure all early career recruiting and program activity is compliant with applicable employment laws, company policies, and data practices

This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities required of the employee for this job.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Knowledge, Skills, AbilitiesDemonstrated ability to influence and advise senior leaders in a highly visible, matrixed environmentStrategic talent advisory and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to translate business needs into scalable early career solutionsStrong business acumen and ability to assess workforce needs, talent-market conditions, and program tradeoffsAbility to collect, analyze, and interpret data from multiple sources and turn findings into cle