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The Pillars of an Award-Winning Program
Anheuser-Busch was selected as a 2023 Campus Forward Award Winner for their unwavering commitment to seeking out and hiring early career talent, their emphasis on diversity & inclusion, and investments in nurturing and retaining the next generation of talent. Please see below for the highlights of their approach to early career recruitment.
Demonstrated Investment in Early Career Hiring
Anheuser-Busch has placed significant focus into its early career talent strategy, as it knows this pipeline is integral to the success and continued growth of the company. Anheuser-Busch is passionate about curating a learning and development-focused career launchpad for early career talent by leveraging its 9 different functional talent programs, internships, and co-op opportunities. The early career team has continued to bring innovative strategies to both recruit and retain entry-level talent into the organization and is excited to continue on this journey moving forward.
Innovative and Multi-Faceted Approach to University Recruitment
The Early Career Recruitment team’s strategy this year was a hybrid model of both in-person and virtual activations. With Anheuser-Busch having a large US footprint, the Early Career team used a data-centered approach, tapping on historical hiring data, campus demographic data, and other key metrics to prioritize which schools across all regions of the country it should visit in person. This also included building relationships with two HSI schools, which the company has not historically partnered with. The team also had a virtual component to the strategy, including hosting weekly virtual events such as an ‘Ace the Interview’ preparation session for all early career candidates to join using the RippleMatch platform. The company also participated in a wide variety of virtual career fairs from schools across the US, and partnered with an HBCU and HSI to host school-focused information sessions.
Overarching Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
The Anheuser-Busch Early Career team worked closely with the DEI team to develop a strategy focused on bringing in talent representative of diverse backgrounds and experiences. This included partnering with HBCUs and HSIs across the US. The team hosted a series of personalized information sessions, engaged directly with students on campuses, and hosted diversity partnership events with ERGs, which were targeted toward students from underrepresented groups. Examples of these events included an ERG showcase, as well as a virtual panel with Hispanic and Latinx students. Finally, the team has continued its engagement with several partner organizations, including the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, where AB sponsored 9 interns from HSF this past summer in the marketing team. It’s important for AB to not only attract but also retain talent, so AB has 6 ERGs that employees across the company can join for additional mentorship and support.
Impactful Internship Program
Anheuser-Busch hosts between 150-250 summer interns annually across the United States. The internship program is the hallmark pipeline to the company’s full-time talent programs and entry-level roles. Over the course of 10-weeks, interns will be responsible for managing a business strategic project in a functional area and for delivering results, and will present their final deliverables to senior leadership of the function. The Anheuser-Busch internship program affords substantial growth for early career talent through a robust learning and development curriculum, mentorship, and leadership exposure. Interns will spend their first days with the company with their fellow interns at an in-person induction, learning about the company history, culture, and getting a variety of opportunities to network.
Growth and Development of the Next Generation of Talent
The Anheuser-Busch Early Career team wants to ensure that it not only recruits top talent, but also retains them. The investment in retention starts day one, with an in-depth company and cultural onboarding where interns and trainees receive not only important information about the company, but hands-on learning workshop experiences and networking sessions to ensure they start to build a sense of belonging. The Anheuser-Busch Early Career Programs offer a thorough learning and development curriculum to ensure trainees build up foundational knowledge in the functional area they are pursuing within the program before being placed into a role within that functional area post-program. Each program offers mentorship to provide additional support to trainees, as well as leadership development opportunities to round out their immersive experience.