Execs hope mentoring program will keep grads in St. Louis

St. Louis Post Dispatch - Tuesday, January 1, 2008
by Angela Tablac

College graduates: Remember St. Louis in your job search.

That's the message from top business executives who want to showcase the area's economic opportunities for young talent.

The Regional Business Council, a group of 100 area executives, each of whom runs a business with $50 million or more in annual revenue, developed a program in 2003 that pairs St. Louis and Southern Illinois college students with CEOs of top area companies.

"We've lost a lot of people that live in the area, get educated and then they move out of town," said Bruce Holland, a mentor who is president of Holland Construction Services in Swansea. "The real loss is the ones that come here for schooling but we can't entice" to stay.

Although the council limited its initial focus to business students, it expanded the program this year to engineering majors because many business leaders needed educated, local engineers, said the council's executive director, Kathy Osborn.

The council, which covers 16 counties, also capped participation this year at 100 students.

For the program, 11 universities and colleges in St. Louis and Southern Illinois %u2014 plus the University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Missouri-Rolla and Lincoln University in Jefferson City %u2014 select students, and the council matches them to chief executives and presidents. Throughout the academic year, the undergraduate and graduate students visit their mentors' offices and meet the companies' other leaders, learn about the industries and attend seminars on workplace-related topics like dressing for a job.

Plus, they tap their mentors for career advice.

Holland "gives me a lot of feedback in terms of what could be my next step (after graduation)," said Jenna Toennies, 21, a Southern Illinois University Edwardsville senior majoring in mechanical engineering.

Hunter Myers, a St. Louis University senior from Memphis, Tenn., said he signed up for the program because he wants to stay in the St. Louis area after graduation and hopes to make contacts with companies.

"It's a really good opportunity for networking," said Myers, 21, an aerospace engineer.

The executives said they benefit, too. Some said that in addition to philanthropic reasons, they use the program as a recruiting tool.

"I had a selfish interest because we're always looking for talent," said David Hoffman, chairman and chief executive of DHR International, an executive search consulting firm.

The Washington, Mo., native is moving his company, which has about $100 million in annual revenue, from Chicago to Clayton. Hoffman himself took a job outside Missouri when he graduated college, "but I wasn't involved in a mentoring program."

He's mentoring Paul Franklin, a management major at McKendree University in Lebanon.

Although the executives manage busy schedules, none has shirked mentoring duties since the program began, Osborn said. Yet about five to 10 students a year don't keep up with program commitments early in the academic year, Osborn said. Those students either improve their attendance or drop out and are replaced.

Osborn said the council hasn't fully tracked the program's success in retaining participants after they graduate. But about one-third of the students in last year's group took jobs at St. Louis companies, according to the council.

Osborn said local businesses need this program.

"There's nothing more important to a business than talent. In some ways, we're in a competition not only with local companies but national companies," she said. "We want that talent that's coming out of our own schools to come into the St. Louis community."

atablac@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8140