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Recruiting in the 90's
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January 29, 1997: 1:28 p.m. ET
Technology offers companies a way to avoid costly, timely campus visits
From Correspondent Fred Katayama
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- Corporate America has found a vastly cheaper way to recruit promising students. All it takes is a $5,000 computer system, with a terminal at the corporate headquarters, and another on the college campus.
Citibank can talk to college career counselors and interview students through a video conferencing system, without leaving the office.
Like some other companies, Citibank donated this system to 30 universities. VIEWnet costs $5,000 each and $60.00 an hour to run versus $1,000, which is the average cost for a campus visit.
"So $1,000 versus the cost of $12 or $13 an interview is an amazing savings. So we save about $800 or $900 per interview," said Connie Thanasoulis-Cerrachio of Citibank.
It has helped New York University's Business School attract recruiters like Hewlett Packard.
"We also got other companies from other parts of the U.S. that were not interested in coming all the way to New York to recruit, but now have signed on to do the same thing," said Martin Levine, associate dean for Stern School of Business at NYU.
At NYU, seven companies such as NationsBank and Exxon, have conducted interviews since the system was installed in November of last year. It has already yielded results: one student landing a job in Minnesota at General Mills.
Another student is awaiting word on an internship from Procter and Gamble.
"It was good, first of all. It's more like an interview situation because you're sitting there, they can see you and you can see them," said Andrew Frazier, a student at NYU.
Citibank says these systems have grown five-fold to more than 150 on campuses in the past year, as companies seek to cut costs while colleges look to land more jobs for its students.
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