Summer Internship Program

Textron shortened their in-person internship program from ten weeks to six weeks, keeping interns local to their home states when possible and reassigning interns to different locations to limit travel. Recruiters and managers worked diligently to change intern project plans quickly and ensure their workload could be completed in a shorter timespan without compromising the depth of the project. While their timetable was shortened, Textron was still able to give interns a meaningful experience and extend full-time offers by the end of the program.

Virtual Recruitment

The Textron campus team utilized many methods to reach candidates, such as sending out pre-event communications, attending career fairs on a variety of platforms, and working closely with career services and student ambassadors to increase brand awareness. The expansion of the student ambassador program was one of the biggest initiatives that helped Textron pivot quickly as these students were able to let the campus team know how COVID restrictions were affecting their campuses.

Candidate Experience

Efforts were focused towards replicating as much of the in-person experience as possible with a goal of prioritizing students' needs and concerns. For example, although interviews were conducted virtually, the team incorporated a face-to-face interaction via video chat to establish a more personal connection between the candidate and the interviewer. Textron also provided interviewees with resources on how to access virtual interviews and were available as support for any questions they had leading up to their interview. 

Diversity and Inclusion

In 2020, Textron increased diversity participation at its core schools by 61% by engaging with a variety of student groups including the Society of Women Engineers, the National Society of Black Engineers, and the Society of Hispanic Engineers. To take their diversity prioritization to the next level, they continued to develop partnerships with HBCUs and attended six different national diversity conferences.