Rivian is a Campus Forward Award Winner

Building an Innovative and Multi-Faceted Approach to University Recruiting

The Rivian UR team once again hosted a series of creative and unique virtual events, geared towards further developing roots with existing university partnerships, while expanding their reach with underrepresented communities. By taking more of a university-agnostic approach, the team was able to reach students far beyond the traditional "core schools." In addition to their inaugural participation in the Grace Hopper Conference (GHC) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Conference, the UR team also hosted virtual events specifically geared towards students from HBCUs and HSIs throughout the fall.

Crafting a Standout Candidate Experience

The University Recruiting Team at Rivian prides themselves on providing a unique, world-class experience for their 40,000+ annual applicants. The team understands that each student and their candidacy is unique and that a "cookie cutter" approach to recruiting doesn't always work. During the past year, the Rivian UR team hosted a series of virtual webinars geared towards career enrichment (including "how to build a resume" and "how to prepare for your interview at Rivian"), especially with students from underrepresented communities who often times don't have the same level of access to career resources.

Moving the Needle on Diversity & Inclusion

2021 was a milestone year for Rivian's early-career diversity hiring. In addition to their inaugural participation in the Grace Hopper Conference (GHC) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Conference, the UR team also hosted a series of virtual career enriching events specifically for students of HBCUs and HSIs, including resume workshops and interview skills training. The UR team closely partnered with Rivian's Employee Resource Groups to ensure the programming accurately reflected Rivian's culture of belonging, and that the content would resonate with the under-represented individuals who were in attendance.

Investing in Impactful Internship Programs

The Rivian Internship program exists to be the first step in a long, successful career for hundreds of diverse students each year. From the project responsibilities, visibility to executives, community & belonging, and overall impact each intern leaves on the company, Rivian prides itself on ensuring interns truly feel like a full-time employee during the 12 week program. This is evident by the 70% of interns who return either full-time or for a 2nd internship each year. The program continues to more than double in size each year, which demonstrates the importance and commitment Rivian has to early-career professionals.

Supporting the Growth and Development of Entry-Level Talent

Rivian is dedicated to growing and developing early-career professionals through a 2-year rotational program called TRAIL. This program couples learning and practical experience for high performing new-grads to accelerate growth, development, and business critical contributions to the enterprise, all while developing a pipeline of top diverse future leaders of Rivian. During each 6-month rotation, TRAIL professionals will receive guidance from a team of mentors, to help navigate day-to-day issues, as well as assisting in making the transition from academics to the professional world.

Congratulations to the team at Rivian for being selected as one of the winners of RippleMatch's 2022 Campus Forward Awards!

RippleMatch's Campus Forward Awards recognizes the top early career teams and programs in the nation. Through a detailed application process, early career teams shared their approach to recruitment, candidate experience, D&I, and internship & entry-level programming. The programs picked for this award represent the best of the best, selected from applications submitted by campus recruiting teams across industries.

See all Award Winners for the category of Large Early Career Programs, Small Team below