I recently became familiar with a unique staffing firm here in Milwaukee (headquartered in Chicago) called Brill Street. Rather than explain what makes them special, I'll let co-founder and Executive VP Nancy Lerner tell you more in this brief interview. Before jumping in, I'll just share the comment that my experience with undergraduate interns has left me convinced that it's an underappreciated, underutilized talent pool.

What differentiates Brill Street from other staffing firms?

We are a niche staffing company dedicated to bringing together high performing college and graduate students with thriving businesses of all sizes to get real work done throughout the year and on flexible schedules. Currently, we are the only staffing company solely focused on current students as a viable talent pool.

In your experience, are college students genuinely capable of the same caliber of work as more seasoned workers?

As emerging professionals, students are capable of different things than experienced professionals, so to utilize them to their full potential, employers must evaluate college and grad students by different criteria than seasoned workers. First, they should be evaluated by what they have the potential to do, not by what they have already done. Second, students have a different mindset than experienced workers they are learning and acquiring knowledge/experience, which makes them flexible, adaptable, curious and productive. They have not yet developed bad habits or attitude. They are driven by a desire to prove themselves, to please, and to learn from others with more experience. Students perform best when they are mentored, not managed, which requires a different set of skills and expectations on the part of the supervisor.

How do you screen for top talent and maturity?

Through our extensive campus outreach activities, we attract top students, screen them rigorously, and place them on projects and assignments with client companies.

On the recruiting front, Brill Street builds strategic alliances with top colleges and universities in local markets by working directly with Career Services staff, faculty, and campus student groups. Our recruiting efforts are also fostered by word-of-mouth referral activity from engaged, satisfied Brill Streeters. Once we attract top students, we screen them rigorously through our online application, face-to-face interviews, review of academic records, and review of (a minimum of) two letters of referral/recommendation.

Aside from the obvious ­ freeing up resources ­ what are the advantages for an employer of working through Brill Street rather than developing and managing their own intern program?

In addition to enabling a company¹s experienced staff to focus on higher-level tasks, partnering with Brill Street:

• Introduces downstream recruiting to identify potential permanent hires by working on a trial basis
• Addresses resource shortages on demand quickly and affordably
• Allows companies to outsource their campus recruiting and customized internship programs efficiently and cost-effectively
• Gives back to the community by cultivating a pool of emerging professionals through experiential learning
• Brings energy and new ideas to a company¹s culture

Another dimension of Brill Street¹s offering is our ability to consistently deliver high performing students to clients in need. We are:

• Currently the only staffing company specializing in the student workforce niche
• Connecting with millenials sooner than other human capital companies
• Bringing F-1 visa holders to the marketplace for the first time to the advantage of both students and clients
• Building an exciting, do-good-for-others culture that resonates with students, clients and our own employees.

If employers have positive experiences with "Brill Streeters," are they able to hire them? What would the financial arrangements be?

Our primary delivery model is based on billing Brill Streeters at affordable hourly rates to our clients; as the employer, we take care of taxes and payroll.  If a client chooses to hire a Brill Streeter upon his/her graduation, there are no conversion fees, providing the Brill Streeter has worked a prescribed number of hours. If clients choose to hire Brill Streeters before they graduate, or if they hire Brill Streeters who have already graduated, we charge a very reasonable fee that is a fraction of the typical fees charged by third-party recruiters.

For more information, contact Nancy Lerner at 312.421.2122 or nlerner@brillstreet.com

Comments

[Ava]

Brill Street placed me on an assignment as basically an Administrative Assistant. I absolutely hated it and they did not care! I'm a DePaul finance student!!!

[nancy lerner]

Unfortunately, we don't have any record of a finance student from DePaul named Ava being a Brill Streeter....

In terms of our assignments, our goal is to match client needs with the interests and skills of students, which gives both parties the absolute best experience and value. For undergraduates with limited work experience, this is a fantastic opportunity to learn skills they don't currently possess, gain insight into professional environments--and enjoy the opportunity to "audition" for a potential employer.

We never put Brill Streeters on assignments they aren't enthusiastic about; by the same token, if a Brill Streeter begins an assignment and finds it unfulfilling, we replace him/her. On the flip side, if a client is unhappy with the performance of a Brill Streeter (which happens only very occasionally), we will also replace the candidate with a better fit.

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