What can employers do to keep the graduating talent here locally?

Deb's Answer:

 A colleague recently asked me this question. I had the perfect opportunity to hear first hand from local college students their answers when I gave the keynote address for Explore Rochester IT, (http://www.explorerochesterit.com/), an innovative initiative that promotes Rochester as a great place to work in Information Technology.

 
Through a selective summer internship program, students rotate through three different companies over nine weeks. The participating companies this year included Bausch & Lomb, CAI, Excellus, Iberdrola USA, Paychex, RIT, Unity Health System, University of Rochester and Wegmans. Fourteen students, sophomore to senior Information Technology related majors, from the following schools participated: SUNY Brockport, Finger Lakes Community College, Monroe Community College, Nazareth College and RIT.

In response to the question, “When you select an employer, what will you be looking for in a work environment?” students stressed the importance of an organizational culture in which they could look forward to going to work each day. As Nazareth College senior Elise Kanaley said, “Before the internship, I placed ‘organizational culture’ at the bottom of my list of values. Now it’s at the top.”

So, what constitutes a desirable work environment? Here are the themes expressed by the interns:

a company that invests in its employees

an employer who appreciates what you do, where there's support and a sense of belonging

a place where you can have fun as well as get the work done, where there's laughter and you see friendly, smiling, positive people

an opportunity to work on challenging, worthwhile projects that are meaningful to the business

a casual, free environment that encourages innovation

There you have it, from Explore Rochester IT, two ways for local employers to encourage students to stay in the area—experience (let them get to know you through internships with your organization) and environment (provide a work environment that makes employees look forward to coming to work each day).