Filling an entire campus-hire roster for Clayton & McKervey
Clayton & McKervey — a mid-market public accounting firm specializing in international tax, assurance, and accounting — needed to staff its winter and summer internships and its incoming class of full-time staff accountants. Rather than stretch an internal team across a busy recruiting season, the firm handed the whole effort to Emerge.
The challenge
Campus recruiting in public accounting is fierce and time-boxed. The firm was competing for the same finite pool of accounting students as much larger employers, on the same compressed fall calendar — and it needed to fill every seat for the winter/summer internships and the fall staff class, not just a few.
What we did
Emerge became the firm’s talent acquisition department for the season. We started with a Cultural Discovery to understand what made the firm distinct, then selected nine regional universities to focus the campaign.
Over two months in the field, we ran a full-funnel campaign:
- 30 campus events — a mix of grassroots activations and scheduled events, backed by social media, to get in front of students and drive applications.
- On-campus interviews to narrow the applicant pool and deepen each candidate’s connection to the firm.
- A candidate reception for everyone invited to in-office interviews, then a three-week interview period managed end to end.
The results
The campaign filled the firm’s entire 2019 roster — winter and summer interns and fall staff accountants:
- 30 campus events across nine universities
- 310 students sourced
- 122 first-round interviews
- 53 second-round interviews
- 13 of 16 offers accepted — an 81% acceptance rate
The result wasn’t just a full roster. An 81% offer-acceptance rate meant the candidates Emerge engaged genuinely wanted to join — the firm met its talent through real connection, not just a job posting.
From the campaign
