Jacobs Talent Initiative
The Jacobs Talent Initiative (JTI) helps local employers recruit, attract, and retain top university talent while increasing the number of students who choose San Diego as their career destination after graduation.
Through partnerships with regional employers, universities, and community stakeholders, JTI provides students with direct exposure to San Diego’s innovation economy through networking events, employer engagement programs, career readiness activities, and industry experiences.
The initiative is made possible through the generous support of Dr. Irwin Jacobs, whose longstanding commitment to innovation, education, and workforce development continues to strengthen San Diego’s technology ecosystem. Additional support is provided by Tech San Diego and its member companies, whose investments help sustain programs that connect the region’s future workforce with local career opportunities.
“Talent is the number one barrier to growth for the region’s small and mid-size companies, which are at a disadvantage when it comes to sourcing university talent. For far too long, the best and brightest local university graduates have led an exodus from San Diego every spring to other tech clusters, including Silicon Valley, Seattle, New York, and Austin. We need to engage these students with the local tech community; our regional tech cluster is among the most vibrant in the world, so there are plenty of opportunities here for graduates.”
– Kevin Carroll, Tech San Diego’s Executive Director
“Bridging academia and industry through community-building, professional development and work-based experiences for student talent are key components of the Jacobs Talent Initiative. Providing these opportunities for university tech talent to learn directly from industry experts, gain essential workplace skills, and access a built-in professional network is fundamental for their career readiness. We are proud to establish these meaningful approaches to successfully transition university tech talent into our San Diego workforce.”
– Christy Quiogue, Tech San Diego’s University Talent Director
Initiatives Include:
Tech San Diego will continue to develop an on-campus presence through the Jacobs Talent Initiative, where we spend time on the local college campuses of San Diego to collaborate with students, faculty, university administrators, career advisors and program coordinators. Tech San Diego members also provide curriculum guidance for technology-related disciplines through initiatives such as the Coffee with the Chair series.
The Jacobs Talent Initiative partners with CSUSM, SDSU, UCSD, USD and PLNU on numerous campus events to highlight the regional tech community. Our goal is to engage students directly with industry professionals and increase their awareness and interest of applying to employment opportunities, such as student internships and early career full-time positions, offered in our San Diego innovation companies.
Through the Jacobs Talent Initiative, Tech San Diego works closely with student groups on campus such as the Data Science Student Society, Women in Computing, Eta Kappa Nu (Engineering Honors), and the Computer Science & Engineering Society to name a few. The purpose is to support each student organizations’ professional development programs and facilitate industry engagement and networking.
Tech San Diego is uniquely positioned on the local campuses, such as in the career centers, women’s centers, cultural centers and College of Engineering, through the University Talent Director, Christy Quiogue. With unique, immediate and consistent interactions with student talent in career advising sessions, student organization activities and campus event participation – top tech talent is identified for our local career opportunities.
~~Snapshots of JTI Initiatives in Action~~
Engaging with Top Tech Talent at the Universities!
SDSU Career Fair “Practice Your Pitch”
UCSD Women’s Center STEMntorship Network
CSUSM Engineering Summer Bridge Tech Talk
UCSD Data Science Day “AMA Roundtables”
