Crain’s Chicago Business Shows How Cat and Deere Leverage UIUC, Research Park for Talent

At the University of Illinois Research Park, it’s said (a bit tongue-in-cheek) that companies there receive every unfair recruiting advantage possible when it comes to access to the strong tech talent at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

This week John Pletz of Crain’s Chicago Business explores how this ecosystem is delivering computing talent to two UIRP companies, Caterpillar and John Deere.

The premise? That a corporate presence in both Chicago and Champaign is keeping talent in the state.

“Caterpillar and Deere are setting foot on campus more often and making jobs more appealing by setting up shop in Chicago. As a result, they’re having more success in meeting their own hiring needs while giving students with high-demand skills more reasons to stay in Illinois instead of leaving for the coasts,” Pletz writes.

Companies are also going beyond the traditional mechanisms to engage with students, campus colleagues told Pletz.

“While traditional recruiting strategies—such as attending career fairs or participating in hackathons—are great for keeping brands in front of the broad CS audience, we have noticed companies are also adding much more targeted activities to their recruiting arsenal,” says Cynthia Coleman, director of external relations for U of I’s computer-science department.

Read the entire Crain’s Chicago Business story about Deere and Cat online HERE (access may be restricted by a paywall).