Talent Acquisition Manager- College Relations

Talent Acquisition Manager- College Relations

The College Relations Talent Acquisition Manager leads the strategy, execution, and continuous improvement of college, university, and early-career recruiting programs. This role builds strong partnerships with academic institutions, student organizations, internal business leaders, and talent acquisition partners to attract, assess, and hire high-potential interns, rotational, and entry-level talent. The manager serves as a strategic advisor and operational leader, ensuring a consistent, high-quality candidate experience.

This role is located at our Arden Hills Corporate Headquarters (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in office each week).

Key Responsibilities:

College Relations & Early Talent Program Management

• Develop and execute a comprehensive college relations and early-career recruiting strategy aligned to business priorities, workforce plans, and company talent goals.
• Plan and design internship, rotational and entry-level hiring programming that support conversion, retention, engagement, and long-term talent development.
• Lead campus recruiting activities, including career fairs, information sessions, classroom presentations, networking events, interview sessions, events, and virtual engagement campaigns, creating a dynamic brand on campus.
• Manage college relations budget and spend.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Partner with business leaders and HR stakeholders to forecast early-career hiring needs, define role requirements, and create school-specific recruiting plans. Advise them on hiring demand, market availability, school strategy, and conversion risks.
• Partner with Talent Marketing on employment branding and communications to create compelling messaging, social content, and campus materials that resonate with student and early-career audiences.
• Build, maintain, evaluate and optimize relationships with target colleges, universities, technical schools, faculty, career centers, student organizations, and professional associations.

Team Leadership

• Nurture a positive, inclusive culture with College Relation Recruiters through focused management, coaching, direction, and accountability of a team of direct reports and business Talent Leads.
• Coach and support recruiters, coordinators, hiring managers, company campus ambassadors on college recruiting practices, interview readiness, candidate experience, and selection consistency.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Communications, Marketing, Education, or a related field.
• Eight years of experience in talent acquisition or Human Resources including active leadership in campus recruiting and university relations.
• Demonstrated experience with talent planning, developing and executing recruiting strategies, and building relationships with colleges, universities, or external talent partners.
• Experience leading a team of recruiters and partnering with hiring managers, early talent program leads, and business leaders to understand talent needs and deliver recruiting solutions.
• Ability to analyze metrics and translate insights into program improvements.
• Strong knowledge of full-cycle recruiting practices and compliance.
• Ability to travel 15-20% to college campuses and recruiting events, especially during peak recruiting seasons.

$107,680-$161,520. In most cases, candidates offered employment can expect to be hired at a pay rate near the middle of our salary ranges.

About Land O'Lakes, Inc.

Join us and be part of a Fortune 250, farmer- and member-owned cooperative that is reimagining the business of food. We have been named a Top Workplace by Indeed and LinkedIn, and to the TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list.

We provide a broad portfolio of benefits to keep you and your family at your best. Land O'Lakes is Where Your Future Takes Root.

Land O'Lakes and our global entities support diversity in employment practices.

Neither Land O'Lakes, nor its affiliates or search firms, will ever contact you and ask for confidential information over the phone or in email. If you receive a call or email like this, please do not provide the information being requested.

If you need to submit a reasonable accommodation request to complete the employment application process, please call the HR Solution Center at 844-LOL-HR4U (844-565-4748) M-F 8:00am-4:30pm CT.