The total rewards package at colleges and universities is one of the most powerful, yet often underleveraged, tools in recruitment. Higher education institutions frequently offer exceptional benefits, comprehensive healthcare, generous paid time off, tuition support, robust retirement plans, and campus experiences that enrich both professional and personal life. These offerings can meaningfully offset what may be perceived as lower compensation when compared to private sector roles.

The challenge is not the value of the benefits themselves, but how they are presented. Too often, benefits are shared as static bullet points that fail to connect with a wide audience. A university workforce spans multiple generations and life stages, from part time employees to early-career professionals, to seasoned leaders planning for retirement. Benefits that could strongly resonate often go unnoticed simply because they are not described in ways that speak to the diverse needs and motivators of today’s talent.

The Power of Framing: Before and After

Below is an example of how reimagining a benefits summary transforms it from a checklist into a story that connects with candidates.

Before:
Benefits for employees working 30 hours or more per week include employer paid life insurance ($50,000) and long-term disability, options for health, dental, and vision insurance, FSA, 14 paid holidays including 1 personal holiday, vacation accrual (initially 10 days/year), sick leave (up to 12 days/year), and employer contributions to your 403(b) retirement plan (up to 8%)

After:
We offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to meet you where you’re at in life, and it typically adds 30–35% to your total compensation package.

• Emphasis on maintaining a healthy work-life balance with ample PTO and flexibility, which includes up to 24 PTO days per year.
• Our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides free, confidential counseling and referral services that support emotional well-being.
• Enjoy the vibrant campus life with access to athletic and gym facilities, renowned sporting events, artist events, and world-renowned speakers.
• Numerous professional development opportunities to advance your career, including tuition waivers.
• Retirement plans catered to fit your personal saving goals: 403(b) Supplemental Retirement Plan (similar to a 401k plan).
• Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits tailored to support various life stages.
• We recognize that transportation to and from work can be expensive, and we are here to help support you with pre-tax commuter benefits and/or parking perks depending on department.  

This reimagined version doesn’t just list benefits, it tells a story. It connects institutional offerings to life moments, career growth, and personal well-being. It invites candidates to see themselves within the organization and understand the tangible value of joining the team.

The Strategic Advantage

Making benefits visible and meaningful is more than good marketing; it is a recruitment strategy. Transparent, relatable descriptions of total rewards can widen your applicant pool, attract mission-driven professionals, and help candidates see the full value of employment in higher education.

Institutions that take time to translate benefits into language that connects, emphasizing well-being, growth, and community, strengthen their ability to compete for talent across sectors. By aligning benefits communication with storytelling, institutions transform a simple list into a differentiator that inspires interest, loyalty, and pride.

The Takeaway

Your benefits package is one of the most compelling tools in your recruitment toolkit, but its impact depends on visibility and clarity. Taking the time to craft a narrative around your offerings, tailored to resonate across life stages and professional journeys, ensures prospective employees see the true value of joining your campus community.

In today’s multigenerational workforce, successful recruiting requires more than just finding talent, it demands understanding who that talent is, what motivates them, and how they engage. As Baby Boomers retire and Millennials and Gen Z become the majority of the workforce by 2030, institutions must embrace generational diversity as a strategic advantage.

Generational awareness goes beyond age. It shapes how candidates interpret job postings, how they prefer to communicate, and what they value in an employer. Recognizing these differences, and the unconscious biases that can accompany them,  enables more inclusive, equitable, and effective recruitment.

Know Yourself and Your Audience

Effective recruitment begins with self-awareness. Every search committee brings its own assumptions, shaped by experience, habits, and generational context. Identifying and addressing these biases is essential to avoid unintentionally narrowing the applicant pool. Screening in, rather than screening out, opens doors to candidates with diverse experiences and transferable skills

Crafting Job Postings for a Multigenerational Audience

A job description is no longer a static list of qualifications, it is a marketing tool. Reframing postings to highlight what candidates gain, purpose, growth, and support, resonates across generations

• Baby Boomers often value loyalty, mentorship, and tradition.
• Gen X seeks balance, autonomy, and clear expectations.
• Millennials look for meaningful work, development, and collaboration.
• Gen Z prioritizes diversity, flexibility, and social impact

A compelling job posting should serve as an external marketing document that tells a story. It should illustrate the impact the role has on the department, the student experience, and the broader institutional mission. Candidates want to understand how their work contributes to something meaningful and how they will make a difference.

In the required qualifications section, clearly describe what transitional experience could look like so that individuals do not self-select out. This is especially critical for rural institutions where the talent pool may be smaller for mid-level roles. By expanding examples of relevant experience, institutions can draw in professionals with transferable skills who might otherwise assume they are not qualified.  

Interview Design

Different generations express strengths differently. A well-structured interview process accommodates a range of communication preferences, from phone and video conversations to written exercises, ensuring fairness and inclusivity. Building interview questions that explore growth mindset, adaptability, and contribution helps evaluate potential beyond tenure or specific institutional experience

Search committees play a pivotal role in shaping candidate experience and outcomes. These committees are often comprised of senior-level individuals with deep institutional knowledge and extensive career experience, particularly within higher education. While this expertise is valuable, it can also introduce unintentional bias, especially when evaluating candidates earlier in their careers or those coming from outside higher education. Taking the time to staff a search committee that is generationally diverse and reflective of both industry and non-industry backgrounds can help broaden perspective, mitigate bias, and enhance the likelihood of identifying the best final candidate.

Candidate Motivators by Generation

Compensation is important but so are belonging and balance. Boomers may value stability and benefits; Gen X seeks flexibility and recognition; Millennials look for growth and impact; Gen Z expects transparency, diversity, and career mobility

Institutions that highlight career pathways, mentorship, and well-being alongside pay stand out to candidates across generations.

The Takeaway

Embracing generational diversity is not about adjusting to trends, it is about expanding opportunity. When institutions build awareness of generational motivators, use inclusive language, and design flexible, human-centered processes, they do not just recruit talent, they build commitment, connection, and community across every age group.

All of these strategies are free, but they do take time. Setting yourself, your team, and your search up for success begins with investing time on the front end to establish a clear, intentional recruitment strategy. Failing to invest in this critical planning stage can set the entire process up to struggle. Thoughtful preparation, understanding your audience, defining the story you want to tell, and aligning your approach with institutional goals, creates the foundation for a successful search and a strong, diverse candidate pool.

As colleges and universities navigate demographic shifts, budget constraints, and evolving workforce expectations, retaining and attracting talent has become more complex than ever. The CUPA-HR 2025 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey* offers a data-driven look at how today’s higher ed employees are feeling — and what that means for recruiting in 2025 and beyond.¹

Turnover Is Improving, But Retention Challenges Persist

The good news: employee intent to leave is down. One in four higher education employees (25%) say they’re likely to seek other employment this year, a meaningful drop from one in three (33%) in 2023.²
The caution: turnover still exceeds pre-pandemic levels, signaling continued instability in the higher ed workforce.³

Younger employees, men, employees of color, and non-supervisors remain most at risk for attrition, underscoring the need for engagement and retention strategies across your workforce.⁴

What’s Driving Career Decisions

While pay remains the top reason employees look elsewhere, the data shows that belonging and feeling valued are stronger predictors of retention.⁵ Institutions that recognize, develop, and connect their people are more likely to keep them.

Key motivators for job changes include:
• Competitive pay and promotional opportunities⁶
• Desire for a supportive workplace culture and reduced stress⁷
• Continued interest in remote and hybrid flexibility, though many employees say their current arrangements do not match their preferences⁸

The New Retention Equation

According to CUPA-HR’s predictive model, the strongest factor influencing retention is job satisfaction and well-being, even more than pay.⁹ Employees who feel connected, valued, and engaged are significantly less likely to leave.

Other top predictors include:
• Confidence in leadership ethics and values¹⁰
• Opportunities for flexibility¹¹
• Institutional stability and trust¹²

In short, employees stay where they feel respected, supported, and heard.¹³

What This Means for Recruiting

For leaders in auxiliary services and beyond, the recruiting conversation has shifted. It is no longer just about filling positions; it is about positioning your institution as an employer of choice. Highlighting culture, connection, and purpose alongside pay and flexibility will resonate most with today’s candidates.

As you recruit the next generation of higher ed talent, remember: the pulse of recruiting is shaped by the employee experience. A focus on belonging, balance, and belief in the mission will be your most powerful retention and recruitment tool.