When it comes to developing URR strategy, Mark Woodrum, university recruiting leader for Cloudera, encourages organizations to drill deeper than general data.

For example, when selecting target schools, consider the majors relevant to your organization and the degree levels it plans to target. Volume and diversity of these specific majors are also important.

“These pieces of information NACE can provide allow you to target your investments based on the richness of diversity,” Woodrum says. “You can identify specific target populations and create a strategy to capitalize on these areas. On the flipside, by using this data, you’ll know when and where a school is weak.”

This is especially evident when you obtain data for a particular business unit that has its own focus.

“The biggest value in the NACE research is being able to look at the majors you are targeting, not just the school as a whole,” Woodrum says. “It’s a different subset of people and presents a different profile of the school.”

For example, he says, at first glance, the data might show that a school isn’t a good match for your organization in terms of overall numbers. However, deeper data from that particular school might reveal that it is an excellent fit for your organization to specifically recruit minority engineering majors.

“The depth of this data allows you to better target your investments of time and resources,” Woodrum says.

When it comes to using NACE data to influence university strategy, Woodrum says that organizations commonly make a mistake by not publicizing the legitimacy of the independent data used to make their decisions.

“There’s huge value in that NACE produces legitimate, independent data,” he says. “This is not an opinion, and you need to communicate that you’re using independent data—rather than anecdotal information—to make your decisions. This is a huge step toward establishing credibility with executives.”

For information about identifying target schools, contact NACE Research.