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University Talent Partner

Chicago, IL (Elmhurst)

 

Who We Are

McMaster-Carr is a leading e-commerce company that industrial customers have trusted for over 120 years. Our products help them get manufacturing lines back up quickly, keep operations running smoothly, and prototype the next generation of innovative solutions. We earn and keep that trust by offering the right products, making them easy to find, and delivering them fast, so our customers can solve problems with greater speed, precision, and ease.

Our industry-leading e-commerce experience, indispensable product selection, and world-class service bring hundreds of thousands of customers to our site each day. But we’re never standing still. Our curious, exceptional people are at the heart of our evolution. They turn new challenges and disruptive technologies into opportunities to refine our operations, expand our offering, and deliver a better experience for every customer.

 

How You'll Make an Impact

We’re expanding our team to meet ambitious goals, and we know that great people are the key to our success. As a University Talent Partner, you’ll play a critical role in shaping how we identify and evaluate early career talent. You’ll thoughtfully recognize potential, understand context, and surface insights that help us make thoughtful hiring decisions.
Your work will directly support our ability to build high-performing teams, refine our approach to campus recruiting, and deliver meaningful candidate experiences. You’ll collaborate closely with your management team, engage with students and university partners, and bring a discerning eye to every step of the process.

You’ll also lead efforts to deeply understand each campus ecosystem—identifying where top talent lives, which academic programs and student organizations align with our hiring goals, and how to tailor our approach to each school’s unique strengths. You’ll plan and execute campus events with precision, anticipating challenges and solving them before they arise. And you’ll prepare McMaster-Carr leaders to participate effectively in the recruiting process—equipping them with campus insights, guiding them through interview best practices, and helping them represent our brand with clarity and impact.

 

What You'll Do

As a University Talent Partner your key responsibilities include:

  • Campus Intelligence & Strategy: Conduct research to understand the academic strengths, student organizations, and talent concentrations at each target university. Use these insights to shape outreach, event strategy, and long-term engagement plans.
  • Talent Identification & Evaluation: Engage with students and assess their potential through thoughtful conversations, contextual analysis, and nuanced judgment—not just resume review.
  • Candidate Conversations: Engage in thoughtful conversations with students to uncover their motivations, strengths, and potential. Use these insights to inform hiring decisions and deepen our understanding of early career talent. Conduct offer calls to clarify expectations and gather strategic insights into each candidate’s priorities, helping shape a personalized and meaningful offer experience.
  • Insight Development: Turn observations into ideas. Share candidate insights that help hiring managers assess fit and long-term impact.
  • University Relationship Building: Cultivate strong partnerships with key stakeholders on campus, like career centers, faculty, and student organizations to strengthen McMaster-Carr’s presence and pipeline.
  • Event Planning & Execution: Design and deliver high-impact campus events with precision and foresight. Anticipate potential challenges and proactively solve for them to ensure smooth execution and a strong candidate experience.
  • Leader Enablement: Prepare and support McMaster-Carr managers and ambassadors to participate in campus recruiting. Provide campus-specific guidance, interview training, and strategic direction to ensure alignment and consistency across the candidate experience.
  • Continuous Learning: Reflect on hiring outcomes and share feedback that helps us refine how we assess and engage early talent.

 

Who You Are

We’re looking for curious, thoughtful professionals who are energized by people and ideas. Ideal candidates demonstrate:

  • Discerning Judgment & Talent Evaluation: Ability to assess diverse experiences and identify potential beyond the resume by synthesizing context, observed behaviors, and candidate interactions. Skilled at recognizing capabilities, motivations, and long-term fit through thoughtful engagement and insight development.
  • Strategic Research & Adaptability: Skilled at uncovering campus-specific insights and adjusting strategies to align with evolving team goals and candidate profiles.
  • Operational Excellence & Foresight: Strong attention to detail and ability to anticipate challenges before they arise. Comfortable managing logistics and executing events with precision.
  • Insight-Driven Decision Making: Skilled at turning nuanced observations into actionable insights that inform recruiting strategy.
  • Collaborative Relationship Building: Builds trust across teams and with university partners through clear communication and a shared commitment to thoughtful, high-impact hiring.
  • Leader Enablement & Influence: Comfortable guiding and coaching internal stakeholders to participate effectively in recruiting, ensuring alignment and consistency across the candidate experience.


Cash Compensation
Total cash compensation is generally around $106,500 to $122,000 and includes a profit sharing based on company profitability.

Benefits
Growth & Learning

  • 100% tuition reimbursement
  • Informal and formal mentorship
  • Employee resource groups

Health & Wellbeing

  • Medical, dental, pharmacy, and vision plans with no monthly premiums
  • Inclusive, all-gender benefits

Family & Future

  • Paid parental leave for all new parents
  • Adoption and surrogacy assistance
  • First-time home buyer assistance
  • Industry-leading company-funded retirement accounts

Time Off

  • Paid vacation and personal time

 

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and dedicated to providing employees a workplace with reasonable accommodations and free of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. At McMaster-Carr, we do not make employment decisions based on age, ethnicity, citizenship status, military status, gender identity and expression, race, religion, disability status, marital status, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected group.
(EOE/M/F/Vet/Disability/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity)

This position is not eligible for work authorization sponsorship by McMaster-Carr

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We may collect professional, education and employment-related data, and any assessments made throughout the recruiting process, to evaluate candidacy for employment. To communicate with job applicants, we may collect applicant names, contact information, and other personal identifiers, including those outlined in the California customer records statute. Through voluntary disclosure, we may also collect protected classifications under federal or California law (e.g., race, gender, etc.). For additional details about the personal information we collect and its uses, please click here.

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