Crafting Employer Engagement Strategies that Align with Your Institution’s Mission (feat. Gerald Tang)

In this repurposed live session from the Career Everywhere Community, Meredith Metsker sits down with Gerald Tang, Executive Director of Career Services and Internships at Bridgewater State University, to explore how institutions can rethink and strengthen their employer engagement strategies.

Gerald shares how his team moved beyond counting career fairs and job postings to develop a tiered, data-informed employer engagement model that aligns with institutional mission, regional workforce needs, and equity goals. From leveraging alumni and labor market data to launching BSU’s Hire Locally campaign, this episode offers practical insights for career services leaders looking to build more meaningful, sustainable employer partnerships.

You’ll learn:

• Why event attendance alone doesn’t equal strong employer relationships
• How to define and assess employer engagement tiers
• What data sources can inform smarter employer strategy
• How regional focus and mission alignment can guide employer outreach

Resources from the episode:

• Gerald’s LinkedIn profile
• Gerald’s slide deck (including spreadsheet examples)
• BSU Elevate campaign and webpage
• BSU virtual career center (powered by uConnect)
• BSU Hire Locally page
• BSU’s labor market insights module (powered by uConnect)
• Career Everywhere Community (free and open to any higher ed career services professional)

Continue the conversation in the Career Everywhere Community! Join 2,000 other higher ed career services leaders today: careereverywhere.com/community