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The Pillars of an Award-Winning Program
UnitedHealth Group 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
UHG believes its people are its competitive advantage. At UHG, investing in early career talent means investing in the people who will help it to solve the major challenges facing the healthcare industry today, and to achieve its mission to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone. UnitedHealth Group focuses on creating differentiated internships and early career programming that will drive business outcomes in four key areas across the enterprise: performance, retention, mobility, and diversity.
Innovative and Multi-Faceted Approach to University Recruitment
The Early Careers team at UnitedHealth Group prides itself on in-depth hybrid approaches to its recruitment strategy. In today’s world, one single approach isn’t going to capture all the great talent that makes up the early career population. The UHG early career recruitment strategy includes proactive, nationwide, digital outreach, targeted relationships and engagement with key partner universities, and strategic partnerships with student organizations. Engagement efforts include virtual and in-person info sessions, workshops, and career fairs where recent early career hires, leaders, and recruiters connect with students to highlight opportunities, culture, and the UHG employee value proposition. Once students apply, the recruiters pride themselves on providing high-touch support through its keep-in-touch strategy from offer acceptance to start date.
Overarching Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
The Early Careers Diversity team at UnitedHealth Group has pushed a change in the narrative of what successful diversity recruitment looks like, and provides additional metrics beyond just the number of diversity hires to measure success. The team utilizes a data-driven, three-pronged approach that includes recruiting for social impact, HBCU & MSI strategies, and national organization partnerships. For example, UHG launched two open forum sessions open to anyone, regardless of if they have applied to a role. The first is hosted quarterly by C- Level Executives on topics like mental health, social responsibility, ect., and the second is a monthly “Recruiter Café” series where recruiters and members of ERGs co-host sessions focused on various professional development topics. Once hired, there are opportunities such as mentorship, ERG participation, rotational programs, and robust orientation.
Impactful Internship Program
UHG’s summer internship program is a strategic element of its talent attraction strategy. Internships are offered for undergraduate and graduate students in a variety of functional areas across the enterprise. The internship program is designed to provide meaningful, hands-on project experience while also offering professional development support, leader engagement, and networking opportunities, both within the intern cohort and across the employee population. In summer of 2022, the internship experience was hybrid, and students primarily worked from home. In week eight of the program, interns were flown to the headquarters in Minnesota for a week-long, in-person experience consisting of social responsibility events, social events, deep-dive sessions on healthcare, and face-time with leaders. These efforts have resulted in record high intern conversion rates.
Growth and Development of the Next Generation of Talent
UHG offers a variety of programs, tools, and resources to support the engagement and development of employees. Several of these are designed specifically for the early career population including a“Stay Connected with UHG” series, which are virtual broadcasts hosted by the early careers recruitment team focused on topics such as tips for preparing for day one and employee resource groups, so the transition from candidate to employee is smooth. Ignition is a four day in-person orientation experience where early career colleagues are invited to deep dive into challenges facing the healthcare industry, work through innovative problem-solving processes to ideate solutions, network with colleagues, and get advice from senior leaders. Rotational programs are designed to provide a breadth of experiences as early career professionals launch their careers, and ensure a multitude of networking opportunities in the first 1-2 years of employment.