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The Pillars of an Award-Winning Program
Huntington National Bank 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
At Huntington Bank, it is understood that early career talent is the key to innovation, thought diversity, and fresh perspective. Therefore, the Bank continues to invest in and grow the program, and in 2023, the program size will be 20% larger than it was the year before. Additionally, a source of program pride is the goal to achieve an 80% full-time offer rate to our full time eligible interns. This highlights the Bank’s passion for attracting and retaining young, diverse, top talent. As a result of the desire to build early career talent, the Bank continues to invest in development opportunities, such as a new mentorship program for interns to access “early career buddies” to help them navigate the transition from college to the working world.
Innovative and Multi-Faceted Approach to University Recruitment
Huntington Bank’s innovative approach to recruitment starts by building relationships early with students. Huntington’s early identification program, RISE, supports freshmen and sophomores in discovering their career interests and prepares them for future internships while building a pipeline of talent into Huntington’s internship program. This year, the bank more than doubled the participation in this program and have seen many RISE participants apply to the internship program. Additionally, as students grow in their college career, the early career team engages with them through career fairs, school-agnostic Huntington information sessions, and events with student organizations on a variety of topics relevant to their development, such as personal branding and resume building. Internally, the early career team partners with Community Development, DEI, and its regional presidents to ensure no stone is left unturned in Huntington’s effort to attract top talent to begin their career with us.
Overarching Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
Huntington Bank’s internship program is designed to bring diverse voices and fresh perspectives into the organization to not only move the needle on diversity, but to integrate interns’ diverse perspectives into strategic direction and decision-making. Starting with Huntington’s early identification program, RISE, diverse candidates engage early in their college career with Huntington, gaining valuable insights on personal and professional development. This year, Huntington also removed the minimum GPA requirement to apply to the internship program, as that requirement disproportionately impacts its diverse candidate pool. Huntington has also forged partnerships with HBCUs, such as Central State and Wilberforce, to connect with diverse students in Huntington’s footprint. After joining Huntington, interns can join several BRGs and Inclusion Councils, seeking not only to bring diverse colleagues into the organization, but to ensure that they feel valued, included, and mentored.
Impactful Internship Program
Huntington Bank’s internship program is impactful through its innovative approach to collaboration, the involvement of executive leaders, and the conversion offer rate of 77%. Throughout the summer, interns collaborate to develop proposals on how Huntington can reinvent banking. Through this process, interns learn innovative ways of problem solving that can not only set their project apart, but can also impact the way they work, ideate, and collaborate. Interns present directly to senior and executive leaders, streamlining their perspectives to decision-makers and making a lasting impact on Huntington. However, this is not the only form of leader engagement. Throughout the summer interns will connect with each executive leader in small pods, getting to know their career paths and vision for the organization. Leaders also use these pods as an opportunity to hear interns’ perspectives on the future of Huntington.
Growth and Development of the Next Generation of Talent
Huntington’s early career colleagues engage in continued career development through the Momentum program. Momentum introduces early career colleagues to the Emerging Professional BRG, includes a formal mentorship program, and eases the transition into the workforce by building connections with other colleagues. Segment-specific rotational programs, such as Tech Elevate, allow for conversion into a structured training ground to internally build top talent in highly competitive fields. Huntington’s performance engagement process allows for early career colleagues and their managers to discuss their career interests and development. As colleagues reach their stride, Huntington’s Top Talent Program, Emerge, is designed to further develop future leaders.