4 min read January 2024 — Invest: spoke with Jennifer Kebea, president of Campus Philly, about the shift to “skills-based hiring,” the importance of the life sciences and the tech sector to the local economy, and the organization’s mission to retain college students after they graduate. “Our three-part strategy is to build, retain and attract,” she said.
What impact does Campus Philly have on the local market and the student population of Philadelphia?
Campus Philly is a mission-driven organization that focuses on the retention of college-educated talent in Philadelphia. We work with a cross-sector of partners that include higher education, the city and state, corporations and other business partners, as well as cultural organizations. Our goal is to ensure that young people are attracted to the education system in the region, get connected and find their fit, and ultimately find jobs, launch their careers and choose to stay in Greater Philadelphia. Campus Philly, a twenty-year old nonprofit, was founded because Greater Philadelphia was experiencing “brain drain” like a lot of big urban metro areas. That dynamic has completely shifted over the last two decades. In the 2000s, we only kept 25% of our college graduates, but our recent analysis shows that we now retain 50% of our graduates. That means 50% of students who graduate from a regional college or university choose to stay here as workers within our economy, and that has a huge impact on the region.
The 24-35 age grouping has grown the most in our city over the last twenty years, which is a huge win for Greater Philadelphia. We are connecting young people with the right resources to get them engaged in the region, and we also can help them access internships and jobs after they graduate. We do see some challenges ahead. Gen Z is now in college, and they are a smaller cohort than the previous generations. Retaining college students will no longer be enough, and we must think ahead and much more comprehensively to attract and retain talent for our local workforce. Campus Philly’s latest research report, Philadelphia Momentum, puts that call forward. Our three-part strategy is to build, retain and attract. We want to build pathways to grow local talent, retain the talent that is here, and when necessary, attract specific talent from other locations across the country.
What are the key factors in fostering student retention in Philadelphia?
There are multiple industries that are growing and attracting an emerging workforce. Livability is another important factor, and this includes housing costs, access to amenities, and safety factors. We have an opportunity to make sure these things remain available to young people who are considering our region. One big headline from the Philadelphia Momentum report is that when you compare Philadelphia to other big cities, we have experienced the largest growth rate of bachelor’s degree holders compared to other comparable cities. We have increased our bachelor’s degree holders by 155% over the last 20 years, so we are significantly outpacing cities we benchmark against. Beyond that, the report also makes two important callouts to life sciences/cell and gene therapy sectors and the tech sector. We rank third in life sciences degree completions nationally, so that is a huge growing sector in Greater Philadelphia. The tech sector also demonstrates a lot of room to grow.
How are you partnering with potential employers to cater to shifts in their needs and demands?
The shift to skills-based hiring is happening across the country, and it is happening out of necessity. Certain industries need to hire workers quickly and we are seeing more creativity and flexibility with hiring strategies. This presents a fantastic opportunity for individuals to upskill and join the workforce quickly. The demands of the 21st century will require all workforce development pathways to operate in unison. The data still shows that pursuing a four-year degree is a smart path in terms of compensation and opportunity for advancement. At the same time, we need nontraditional pathways because they are great access points for historically underserved populations and career changers. Currently, we are noticing that our employer partners have some restrictions in their hiring abilities. Six months ago, it was different, and six months from now it may be different again, but there is some volatility there at this time.
The services that we provide to our corporate partners center around connecting them to college students and recent graduates for internships and early-career opportunities. We are seeing employers turn toward retention strategies, and that will remain a big focus over the next year, while we see some hiring processes cooling down. We have a partnership with the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, which invests in our mission, research, and programming for early career talent pipelines across the region. Our relationship with SEPTA, our public transit system, is also a multifaceted relationship that is essential to our key stakeholders – college students and recent graduates. We will continue to expand on these partnerships as we move forward.
What is your outlook for Campus Philly and the Greater Philadelphia market for the next two to three years?
Generation Z is a smaller cohort nationally than the millennial generation. To ensure our region has the talent it needs to grow our economy in the coming decade, regional strategies around talent attraction and retention need to shift. Our region needs to focus on three goals: increasing opportunities for local talent, retaining talent that have graduated from regional higher ed institutions, and when necessary, attracting talent from other markets. Executing this strategy calls for a collaborative effort from regional partners.
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