The most popular bachelor’s degrees at UW–Madison are currently Computer Science and Data Science. At this time, there are over 2,000 students enrolled in these two majors on campus. According to a recent article in Computerworld, in the US, job postings for IT positions in March 2023 increased by over 76,000, for a total of around 316,000 openings. Since April 1, 2022, UW–Madison has conducted 283 IT recruitments, many of which were filled by an early to mid-career professional. UW–Madison is addressing student interest and assisting with IT recruitment on campus by creating a new IT track within the Job Rotation Program.
The Job Rotation Program, housed in Talent Acquisition within the Office of Human Resources, is a 2-year program that is intended for early career professionals. During the two years, rotator employees in the program go through four 6-month rotations across campus, gaining a breadth and depth of experience across different units on campus. The program also provides opportunities for professional development including completing the Fully Prepared to Lead certification along with intentional networking and mentorship. After completion of the program, rotators are eligible to be waived into a related permanent role on campus, bypassing the typical recruitment process.
The Job Rotation Program started out with Human Resources and Finance tracks in January 2020 with one program manager who oversaw the first cohort of four rotators—and has continued to grow. All four Cohort 1 rotators received offers for full-time permanent positions at UW–Madison, and three accepted their offer. The four Cohort 2 rotators will complete the program this July. Again, all four received offers for full-time permanent roles on campus upon completion of the program, and similarly, three of the four rotators accepted their offer.
Cohort 3 started in July 2022 with 12 rotators. Cohort 4 will begin in July 2023 and will have 20 rotators! The Talent Acquisition team has grown to include a director and three program managers to oversee each track: HR, Finance, and IT.
This July, we will onboard the first IT rotators! While recruiting for this role, there was an overwhelming amount of applicant interest through Handshake and career fairs on campus. In the recruitment process, the team communicated with over 133 individual potential employees and connected the opportunity with over 1,300 schools via Handshake. More than 120 applicants applied from across the country! The successful recruitment ended with offers to four IT rotators who accepted the invitation to join the inaugural cohort on the IT track.
There is strong interest from IT units across campus who want to partner and host a rotator. By adding this new track, we aim to further support the needs on campus for early career professional IT positions. The program adds to the university’s talent pool by vetting and preparing employees to succeed in their careers at UW–Madison.
Talent Acquisition in the Office of Human Resources would like to extend a huge thank you to our partners in DoIT for helping us launch this track by providing resources and connections.
For more information, including information on how to host a rotator, please look at our Job Rotation Program website.