Armstrong World Industries is a Campus Forward Award Winner

Building an Innovative and Multi-Faceted Approach to University Recruiting

This was an exciting year, as the college recruiting team had their first in-person interview event since 2019. The team had to balance virtual and in-person together which at times were tough but brought a lot of learning points. The team was able to connect with the people who they wanted to without being distracted with other avenues. Additionally, they took advantage of connecting with Engineering Departments and clubs so they could find engineering students interested in their positions. These are just a few of the ways the Armstrong team has been looking past career fairs and really connecting to the population of students who they would like to speak with.

Crafting a Standout Candidate Experience

The college recruiting team at Armstrong World Industries focuses on getting the best talent through multiple resources and channels. It is important for the team to connect with unique and diverse talent, whether that is diversity in race or diversity in geographic locations and schools. The team focuses on engaging talent through conversations and throughout the interview process. The team takes time to bring these candidates along the interview process, investing time and effort to get know them and have them learn about the company and culture. The college recruiting team also makes sure candidates have a wide range of different people to speak to about the position and organization.

Moving the Needle on Diversity & Inclusion

Armstrong looks at diversity recruitment from a holistic perspective. Race and ethnicity is very important to the company, just as geolocation, school and background. The company is located on the East Coast, which makes it easy for them to hire local, but can make it more challenging to have the opportunity for a change in thought, direction or experience. The team approaches diversity recruiting by taking the opportunity to meet with HBCUs, diverse organization and attend summits to help them approach recruitment in a unique and thoughtful way. RippleMatch has been a huge asset to Armstrong in helping with recruitment and meeting candidates they might not have met through their core schools.

Investing in Impactful Internship Programs

At Armstrong World Industries, interns are highly valued. Armstrong believes they are the next generational leadership and it's important to the company to foster those relationships. They have many internship ranging in finance, sales, engineering, IT and even sustainability. They offer mentorship and networking with upper management and give them the chance to learn about the company through meeting different employees. Additionally, interns are invited to meetings, have different lunch meeting opportunities, and social networking events, like a local baseball team that interns are invited to in order to hang out with their departments. Armstrong believes it's important to give interns a valuable real life experience while getting paid for their contributions.

Supporting the Growth and Development of Entry-Level Talent

Armstrong takes time to train and develop their early talent coming into Armstrong. The team knows how nerve-racking it is to start a new career out of college, so they set new grads up for success through meeting different avenues of the business not just their department. New hires are connected with a mentor, they get to meet the CEO in a new employee meeting, and are offered multiple orientation avenues. This includes a 2-day conference for early talent employees that offers sessions on what is trending in the business, opportunities for new grads to learn about themselves, Armstrong's DEI mission, and a senior leadership speed networking event – a favorite cited by new grads.

Congratulations to the team at Armstrong World Industries for being selected as one of the winners of RippleMatch's 2022 Campus Forward Awards!

RippleMatch's Campus Forward Awards recognizes the top early career teams and programs in the nation. Through a detailed application process, early career teams shared their approach to recruitment, candidate experience, D&I, and internship & entry-level programming. The programs picked for this award represent the best of the best, selected from applications submitted by campus recruiting teams across industries.

See all Award Winners for the category of Small Early Career Programs below