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The Pillars of an Award-Winning Program
Mastercard was selected as a 2024 Campus Forward Award Winner for their unwavering commitment to seeking out and hiring early career talent and investments in nurturing and retaining the next generation of diverse talent. Please see below for the highlights of their approach to early career recruitment.
Multi-Faceted and Thoughtful Approach to University Recruitment
The early career recruiting team at Mastercard takes a candidate-centric recruitment approach that includes a hybrid recruitment strategy, combining both virtual and in-person events to engage with candidates through their preferred method. The campus recruiting team has a university-agnostic approach while simultaneously maintaining strong relationships with select schools and partnerships. Mastercard has a dedicated HBCU recruitment manager focused on deepening their relationships with those schools. Additionally, Mastercard understands that it can be stressful for students selecting their first job opportunity after school. As a result, the campus recruiting team is focused on providing an exceptional candidate experience throughout the process by offering interview prep sessions and granting students direct access to ask questions at every stage of the recruitment process.
Overarching Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
Mastercard is guided by their commitment to decency, which permeates everything they do. At Mastercard, diversity, equity and inclusion are grounded in a broader commitment to empowering people, preserving the planet and fostering prosperity. Mastercard believes that when they create meaningful connections, inspire acceptance and cultivate a culture where everyone belongs, the company is better as a result. DEI initiatives are embedded throughout Mastercard’s early career recruiting approach, as it’s imperative to have representation at the entry-level while building the future leaders of tomorrow. To engage with diverse early career talent, the team is focused on deepening their relationships at HBCU, HSI and CUNY schools, and they partner with a robust set of diversity focused partnerships with national and regional organizations. Some of these partners include NY Jobs CEO Council, Tapia, ColorStack, Thurgood Marshall, and Out for Undergrad. In addition to recruitment efforts, Mastercard offers interns and new grads additional support through mentorship, business resource groups and training programs. Mastercard also offers a Career Readiness Certificate Program to help Freshman and Sophomores prepare for a career at Mastercard and be successful throughout the recruitment process. Mastercard’s inclusion efforts extend beyond their corporate walls. Mastercard recognizes the strength in leveraging the power of their people, resources and network to be a force for good in the community. Through the Strategic Growth business and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, the company is leveraging core assets and competencies to develop and fund ways to advance equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion worldwide. Mastercard entered into an innovative partnership with the Atlanta University Center (AUC) Data Science Initiative by providing a $6.5 million dollar grant to drive the expansion of data science education, research and opportunities across HBCUs. Mastercard also sponsors The HBCU Smart Cities Challenge encouraging student developers, entrepreneurs, designers and engineers at HBCUs to develop tech solutions that leverage IoT technology. It supports use cases for IoT technology such as air quality management, traffic management, smart parking, water management and smart waste management.
Impactful Internship Program
Mastercard makes a significant investment in early career programs, starting with the internship experience. Interns will spend the vast majority of their time on a manager-driven project that is determined based on the role and team they join. This structure gives interns the opportunity to experience real-world projects with tangible business impact. Throughout the course of their program, interns have a well-rounded experience where they can also participate in an Executive Speaker Series or Volunteer Activities, meet Mastercard’s Business Resource Groups, and take advantage of a virtual learning and development curriculum. Additionally, interns will have formal performance management review where they will receive developmental feedback at the mid-point and at the end of the internship. At the end of the internship, interns have the opportunity to present their work to leadership. Through an immersive Intern Challenge that is unique to Mastercard, the interns are grouped into cross functional teams and work together to tackle a problem using innovative solutions Interns also have a chance to go through an accelerated interview process with a different business area through the intern mobility process. As a hybrid internship experience, interns have the chance to engage and understand Mastercard’s culture to make the most informed decision post-internship, ultimately leading to a high intern return offer rate.