The number of internships advertised for LSU and Southern University students on the Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s Handshake jobs platform increased to 515 from 307 and to 29 from five, respectively, from 2021 to 2022, according to BRAC’s latest progress report on the partnership aimed at retaining graduates in the region.
BRAC partnered with LSU and Southern in 2020 to use Handshake, a nationwide digital job board, to help connect students to jobs in the region.
Key takeaways from this year’s report include:
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- Between September 2021 and September 2022, employer account activation increased 32% for LSU and 42% for Southern.
- The highest concentrations of jobs posted on the LSU system continue to be in construction, oil and gas, and staffing and recruiting, whereas the highest concentrations of jobs posted on the Southern system continue to be in government, nonprofits, and health care.
- Just over 50% of LSU undergraduate students have an active profile on Handshake, while 25.9% of Southern undergraduates have an active profile.
- As of September 2022, the top three colleges by activation rate at LSU are the College of Coast and Environment (62%), College of Agriculture (63%), and College of Humanities and Social Sciences (59%).
- As of September 2022, the top three colleges by activation rate at Southern are the College of Science and Engineering (35%), College of Agriculture, Family and Consumer Sciences (33%), and College of Business (27%).
Since the initial partnership announcement with LSU and Southern in September 2020, BRAC facilitated the transitioning of the LCTCS system and FranU onto the Handshake platform, making the Capital Region the only metro in the country with all of its four-year and two-year institutions aligned behind a single recruitment platform. The year three Handshake Report Card will include data from the new educational institutions that have since joined the partnership.
According to BRAC’s announcement today, key priorities going into 2023 include driving greater student activation across campuses and individual colleges, educating employers to activate recruiting at all available regional institutions, and increasing internship opportunities for current students. See the report.
This story originally appeared in a Nov. 16 issue of Daily Report. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.