In Parker Dewey's 2026 Student Sentiments Survey of 1,168 college students and recent grads, location was the top factor in deciding whether a role is worth applying to, with 62% naming it specifically. But reputation or brand recognition (52%) and building a relationship with someone on the team (51%) were very close behind. Having had prior work experience with the company mattered too, at 43%.

So keep in mind that brand name and geography aren't running away with the decision. Relationship and firsthand experience are right behind them, and those are things any employer can build regardless of where the office sits.

Willing to move, if the opportunity earns it

On relocation specifically, only 10% of respondents ruled it out entirely. Half said yes outright, and another 40% said it depends on the role. Read together with the location data, this points to something more specific than "students want big cities." Students want enough information and enough confidence in the opportunity to take the risk on a place they don't already know.

Recruiters who work regularly with harder-to-sell locations point to the same fix: dig into what actually makes the area good to live in (cost of living, local history, the things a chamber of commerce would brag about) and get specific about it in the job post and the outreach, rather than leaving candidates to fill in the blank themselves.

And the geography isn't destiny in the way it looks on paper. WalletHub's 2026 ranking of the best U.S. cities to start a career put Atlanta, Orlando, and Austin at the top and New York dead last, weighed down by cost of living and quality-of-life scores. Being a known name isn't the same as being a good place to start out.

What this means for your recruiting

Make the case for the place, specifically. Not a generic "great community" line, but what a 22-year-old actually wants to know: cost of living relative to salary, what there is to do outside work, walkability and public transportation, whether other recent hires actually like living there. Showing candidates the concrete, specific upside of an area, rather than just asserting it's a great place to live, is what actually helps someone picture the move.

Give candidates a real relationship and a real look at the work before they have to decide. This is where a lot of companies rely on a single round of interviews to build trust that usually takes months. A paid work engagement, where a candidate works directly with your team on a defined project before any hiring decision is made, does double duty here. It gives the candidate firsthand experience with your team and your work, which our survey shows matters almost as much as brand. And it gives your team a natural, low-stakes way to build the relationship that closes the rest of the gap, all before either side has committed to a move.

Location is not a dealbreaker

What's actually costing you candidates is more likely a lack of the specific, firsthand information that would let them picture saying yes. Give them that, and location becomes a detail to work with instead of a wall to climb over.

Want to see how a paid work engagement could give candidates that firsthand look at your team before you're asking them to relocate? Get started HERE.