The whole Overland office begins working towards Summer 2026 as soon as the Summer of 2025 concludes. Our Leader Hiring team spends the fall meeting interested staff who become the fantastic Overland leaders we all know. Throughout September and October, we visited everywhere from our “hometown” schools – Williams College in Williamstown and Montana State in Bozeman – all the way to Colorado, Virginia, Maine, and beyond.
Goals of Recruiting Visits
On the road, our goal is to meet as many prospective leaders as possible, whether through hosting information sessions, attending career fairs, or tabling in student centers. Over the years, we’ve built relationships with career advisors and outing club directors at many of the colleges we visit, so we tailor each visit based on what we’ve learned works best at that school. And it’s the relationships, whether with career advisors who can then recommend Overland to their students or with current and prospective leaders themselves, that are at the heart of our on-campus recruitment.
Beth reflected on recent visits to schools like Middlebury College and St. Lawrence University. “I love our recruiting trips because they give us wonderful insight into our prospective leaders’ lives” she said. “So many of the campus liaisons we get to build relationships with, whether in career centers, specific departments, or campus outdoor programs, really shed light on those things and welcome us with open arms. Getting to interact with our applicants in their own communities allows us to form more holistic relationships with them, which is something I really appreciate.”
At the end of October, we also got a unique opportunity to attend three outdoor education-specific career fairs, organized by Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby colleges in Maine. Typically, we stick out amongst a crowd of corporate jobs and finance internships at career fairs, and it was a nice change to be surrounded by like-minded camps and organizations. However, this presented a new challenge as we sought to differentiate ourselves from the many fantastic outdoor opportunities students are presented with. Overall, it was a great week of meeting passionate students and fun to make connections with the other employers after attending the same events at all three schools.
Reconnecting with Former Leaders
Another highlight of these recruiting trips is getting to see our current and former leaders at their school. “Many of my favorite moments on the road were by far the opportunity to connect with former leaders on their campuses,” said Emma. “Whether it was a chat over coffee, a walk around campus, or a delicious taco lunch, it was so fun to see our leading staff outside of the context of the summer. Our leaders are so talented and involved at their schools, so seeing them in that element contextualizes all the amazing work they do during the summer.”
Pictured below are our leaders at Bowdoin College, Georgetown, and Tufts University!
We’ll take a break from on-campus recruiting for now as we focus on reading applications and conducting interviews, but will continue to host virtual information sessions for interested applicants. One of the most best parts of the job is to go from meeting a prospective applicant on campus to seeing them have a successful summer of leading with Overland. We certainly hope to see some of the great students we met this fall at Leader Training in June!
