Recognized for Excellence
Duolingo received a Campus Forward Award for Excellence in Recruitment Strategies, DE&I, and Internship Programming.
This reflects Duolingo's unwavering excellence and commitment to providing the best experience for the next generation of talent. Duolingo invests in multi-faceted recruitment strategies, fostering inclusion during the recruitment process and at the company, and standout internship programs. See below for the highlights of their strategies in each one of these categories.
Excellence in Recruitment Strategies
Starting in the 2023/2024 season, Duolingo's UR team committed to a “school-agnostic” recruiting strategy—one that prioritizes engaging with sourced candidates through partners like ColorStack and Rewriting the Code in smaller, more personal settings. The engagement shifted towards summer activities via sourced candidate "intern meetups" in NYC and SF, partnership and industry conference engagement through Grace Hopper and Afrotech, virtual interview prep summits, and engaging ~25 former interns as campus ambassadors, who hosted Duolingo recruiting events with student organizations on their campuses. The results? Students engaged this year were 5.5x more likely to receive an offer than other inbound applicants. There was also a significant increase in representation of students from underrepresented populations and school backgrounds in the 2024 class!
Excellence in DE&I
Duolingo’s early talent recruiting strategy is school-agnostic, instead focusing on organizations that invest in underrepresented talent in tech, including Colorstack and ReWriting the Code. Duolingo supports these students through interview preparation summits, conference scholarships (i.e. Afrotech), exclusive IRL events, and more. Additionally, Duolingo hosts an early access internship program called “Thrive”, aimed at preparing ~25 rising juniors from underrepresented populations in tech for future roles in software engineering, product management, product design, and studio art. This program develops students through “Hootcamp” curriculum, unique group projects, and multi-layered mentorship. Finally, the Duolingo’s UR team partners with ERGs to provide an optional, identify-based mentorship program called Kaliedescopic Connections, aimed at giving providing early talent the opportunity to meaningfully connect with Duos from similar backgrounds.
Excellence in Internship Programming
At Duolingo, interns not only get to spend their summer experiencing the playful and mission-centric culture at one of our US-based offices, but they will also springboard their professional skills via 1:1 mentorship and integration into product teams to develop unique, company-aligned projects. In addition to cohort programming, DuoInterns are involved in Duolingo’s culture via our Hackathon, 100+ clubs & ERGs, and more! The DuoIntern cohort is made up of two programs: Thrive Program: Targeted at rising juniors from historically underrepresented populations in tech, developing early technical and professional skills. Graduating Intern Program: Targeted at rising seniors, preparing students for successful transition into full time “Duos”! This year, Duolingo hosted 86 interns across both programs, which resulted in a 78% conversion rate and 98% OAR.
