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The Pillars of an Award-Winning Program
WillowTree 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
WillowTree was founded in the college town of Charlottesville, VA — home to UVA — and thus early talent is part of the company’s DNA. WillowTree prioritizes early talent from early on in its company history, and many of its current leaders across the business came from these programs. WillowTree builds and facilitates innovative Early Talent Programs that recognize great talent comes from a variety of backgrounds, including those from university, military transition, bootcamps, and those re-skilling. The company is deeply connected to its communities and has even built a curriculum with local community college to continue to develop talent in its backyard. Pride in the programs extends from the interns to the CEO, and most team members have touched the program in some way.
Innovative and Multi-Faceted Approach to University Recruitment
The Early Talent team at WillowTree invests in deep, long-term relationships with candidates. The team built an admirable brand at target schools (determined not by cache or alumni, but by how they perform in WillowTree’s process and programs), and capitalizes on these relationships to drive application numbers and engagement. The team facilitates countless events on campus. The most innovative event the team ran this year was pairing up app development clubs from two target universities to visit the WillowTree office and network not just with WillowTree team members, but with one another.
Overarching Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
WillowTree’s Early Talent programs bring considerable diversity to the company as a whole, and considers many forms of diversity (gender identity, race/ethnicity, sexual identity, first-gen, socio-economic, etc). The team seeks to build recruiting strategies that attract folks from historically marginalized groups, as well as programs that engage them and provide opportunities for development. Its primary focus is public schools that have considerable diversity in their enrollment, and are beginning to build partnerships with women's colleges across the South.
Impactful Internship Program
Interns are fully embedded on client teams and are put to the test on work that matters with major clients. Interns have a dedicated (and trained) mentor working with them through the summer to help guide them through their work, give them feedback, and are focused on their growth. WillowTree hosts social events about once a week, a speaker series with executives, Lunch and Learns, and provides additional identity-focused mentorship through its Employee Resource Groups.
Growth and Development of the Next Generation of Talent
New Grads at WillowTree participate in a robust monthly onboarding and, in addition to their manager, have a new hire mentor to aid them in their first 90 days at WillowTree. They have access to both team-specific and company-wide growth sessions, and to learning and development content and courses.