The posting
The Campus Recruiting Manager is a key strategic and operational talent leader at Clark Construction responsible for driving the strategy, execution, and continuous evolution of our regional and national university recruitment efforts. This is a premier opportunity for an experienced, high-performing campus recruitment leader to take ownership of our flagship university partnerships, mentor and guide recruitment team members, manage active requisitions, and act as a strategic architect for Clark's next generation of builders and project leaders.
The Role
Based out of our Southern California offices (Costa Mesa or Los Angeles), this role operates as a true player-coach: spearheading high-volume entry-level hiring strategy while actively managing a requisition load, attending career fairs alongside the team, and leading relationships with top-tier universities, internal business leaders, and alumni teams.
Responsibilities
Your career with Clark will be defined by dynamic career building experiences, where you will be exposed to:
Strategic Leadership & Campus Planning
- Campus Strategy Architecture: Lead and define the annual campus recruiting strategy, target school portfolios, event calendars, and headcount allocation to meet aggressive, high-volume entry-level and intern hiring targets.
- Flagship University Engagement: Drive high-touch campus engagement models across key engineering, construction management, and business programs, ensuring Clark remains the employer of choice.
- Executive & Alumni Alignment: Serve as a trusted advisor to senior regional and operational leadership, partnering with executive sponsors and mobilizing internal Alumni Teams to maximize campus impact and brand reach.
- Talent Sourcing & Diversity Initiatives: Expand Clark’s reach across student organizations, competition teams, and diversity associations to build diverse, high-performing talent pipelines.
High-Volume Execution & Player-Coach Delivery
- Requisition Management & Full Lifecycle Recruiting: Act as a working manager by owning a personal requisition load, managing full-cycle recruiting from candidate identification, screening, and super days through offer extension, closing, and pre-onboarding.
- On-the-Ground Campus Leadership: Attend career fairs, student mixers, and campus info sessions alongside the recruiting team, directing bespoke presentations, technical workshops, and interview days that reflect Clark’s brand standard of excellence.
- Candidate Experience Quality: Champion an industry-leading, seamless candidate experience, ensuring high touchpoints, prompt feedback loops, and strong offer-to-accept conversion rates.
- Team Guidance & Capability Building: Guide and mentor recruiters and recruiting coordinators, providing daily direction on campus best practices, event logistics, and candidate management.
Analytics, Budget & Continuous Improvement
- Metrics & Performance Dashboards: Track, evaluate, and deliver actionable insights on recruiting KPIs, conversion ratios, school ROI, competitor intelligence, and pipeline health for executive reviews.
- Budgetary Management: Oversee regional campus recruitment budgets, managing expenditures related to career fairs, branding collateral, sponsorships, travel, and candidate entertainment.
- Systems & Workflow Optimization: Leverage recruitment technology (Workday, Handshake, CRM platforms) to streamline campus operations, track SLAs, and modernize recruitment workflows.
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Communications, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
- 5+ years of total recruiting experience with a strong focus on campus recruiting
- Demonstrated experience operating as a player-coach, balancing strategic planning with active candidate sourcing, managing a requisition load, and attending campus events.
- Demonstrated track record managing high-volume hiring cycles across competitive, fast-paced environments.
- Willingness and ability to travel up to 40–50% during peak recruiting seasons (Fall/Spring), with minimal travel outside those windows.
- Flexibility to be based out of Clark's Costa Mesa, CA or Los Angeles, CA office. Flexibility is required for early mornings or evening campus engagements during critical hiring phases.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in construction, engineering, architecture, consulting, banking, or related high-performance industries.
- Prior experience mentoring, leading, or coordinating the day-to-day workflow of campus recruiters or HR coordinators.
- Proficiency with modern HR and campus recruitment systems (e.g., Workday Recruiting, Handshake, and recruitment CRMs).
What a Successful Candidate Looks Like
We look for charismatic, forward-thinking leaders who embody these core principles:
- Player-Coach Mindset: You lead from the front. You enjoy high-level strategic talent planning just as much as you enjoy managing requisitions, working a booth at a career fair, and closing candidates directly.
- Strategic Influence & Presence: You are an inspiring communicator and compelling brand ambassador, equally comfortable presenting to a lecture hall of 200 students or advising regional executive leadership.
- Proactive & Forward-Thinking: You anticipate hiring hurdles, navigate shifting market dynamics, and proactively build contingency plans long before peak recruiting crunch periods begin.
- Relationship Architect: You excel at establishing deep, trust-based partnerships across internal operations, career centers, faculty, student leaders, and industry associations.
- Ownership & Drive: You operate with urgency, high operational standards, and complete accountability, taking pride in delivering exceptional hiring outcomes for the business.
- High-Performing Culture: Clark is a demanding, rewarding environment. We look for individuals who are energized by complex challenges and driven to achieve standout results.
The work environment and requirements described below are representative of those necessary for an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this role.
The Physical Side of the Role: Given that a good portion of your day will be spent at a desk, you should be comfortable with prolonged periods of focused work, whether it's collaborating with colleagues, analyzing data, or developing strategies. The role demands effective communication and sharp visual acuity for reviewing complex documents and performing detailed computer work. While there are times for quiet concentration, you'll also be expected to move actively throughout the office and travel occasionally to various locations, including dynamic construction sites, utilizing different modes of transportation. The ability to lift and move objects up to 10 pounds regularly, and up to 25 pounds on occasion (think a box of files or small office equipment), is also required.
Your Work Environment: Your primary workspace will be in our professional office, which has a typical, quiet-to-moderate noise and light levels. As part of your work, you may also be required to visit active construction sites. These environments are naturally more dynamic and can include exposure to outdoor weather conditions, louder noise, and moving equipment. Your safety is our top priority, and you'll be expected to follow Clark Construction's safety policies and procedures, and all applicable laws, at all locations.
Our High-Performing Culture: This is a demanding, high-performance environment. We are looking for candidates who are energized by challenge, thrive under pressure, and are prepared to do what it takes to achieve exceptional results. Success in this role requires significant commitment, including flexibility to work extended hours, especially during critical project phases or client deadlines. Beyond regular working hours, there will be occasions where business needs require your attention, particularly for time-sensitive matters or emergencies. You are expected to monitor and respond to communications (phone calls, emails, text messages) as required to address these situations effectively. Your ability to manage these expectations and be responsive when critical issues arise is key to your success in this role and our collective success as a team.
A Drug Free Workplace: Clark promotes a drug free workplace. A pre-employment drug “fitness for duty” screening is required, and the company conducts random quarterly drug “fitness for duty” tests.
Clark offers a total compensation package that includes base salary, bonus potential, and a comprehensive benefits package including health/dental/vision benefits, paid time off, retirement/401k, and Company Contribution plan. Additional benefits include life insurance, commuter benefit, short & long term disability, fitness reimbursement, FSA, tuition reimbursement, back-up daycare, tutoring & family support benefits, EAP/Work-Life assistance, and a holiday contribution program. For this role the base salary range is $70,500 - $170,000. Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s education, experience, skills, and geographic location. Base pay is one part of the Total Compensation Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work.
https://www.clarkconstruction.com/careers/clark-experience
