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The Pillars of an Award-Winning Program
Zebra Technologies 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
Zebra strives to create a work environment that is open, accessible, and interactive for all interns, no matter their geographic work location or work type. In fact, for the first summer ever, Zebra’s internships in 2022 were a mix of in-person, hybrid and fully remote positions. Through the program, all interns have access to an education network filled with a wide-array of training to sharpen professional skills through live and virtual workshops, C-level networking events, a formal mentorship program and much more. Zebra wants to provide a space for its interns to learn from each other, to build affinity for Zebra, and to build comradery with their fellow Zebra interns and supervisors. While Zebra wants its interns to stay with the company long-term, and provides full-time conversion offers to interns, it also wants interns to feel empowered with professional training that will support them throughout their career — wherever they may go after their Zebra internship.
Innovative and Multi-Faceted Approach to University Recruitment
Zebra's early career team goes above and beyond to connect with students on and off of campus. Since Covid — and even before — this team has had to get creative in their use of tools, the events they engage in, as well as the communication tools used to talk to students. The team relies heavily on its applicant tracking system, but uses tools such as Handshake, virtual engagements, a video interview tool (HireVue), as well as a chat application GroupMe to remain connected and encourage students to chat with each other about their experiences. While sourcing candidates, Zebra also relies on its employees to bring great referrals. Zebra also connects with HBCUs on campus or virtually to bring diversity into the funnel, as well as groups such as SWE and NSBE. Once in the funnel, Zebra has a 24-48 hour response time to ensure a fantastic candidate experience, and utilizes TA experience partners when scheduling interviews and preparation materials to ensure students are ready for their interviews.
Overarching Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
Throughout recruitment season, Zebra attends NSBE, SWE, and HBCU events, which the company thinks directly contributed to increasing the diversity of its applicants. For the 2021-2022 recruitment cycle, 68% of all internship applicants came from diverse backgrounds. Zebra is also exploring offering housing for all interns in summer 2023 to help attract underrepresented candidates who may have difficulty relocating. Zebra hosts live trainings over the summer with highly-trained internal and external speakers to help expose interns to DEI initiatives within Zebra, and the challenges individuals in diverse populations may experience over the course of their careers. Zebra also hosts an I&D seminar with members of Zebra’s Talent Acquisition team, and organizes events directly with (and interns have access to) Zebra’s employee resource groups such as: EDGE network (our gen-Z ERG), ZEAL (our LGBTQ ERG), and WIN (Women Inclusion Network).
Impactful Internship Program
What makes Zebra’s program impactful is that the company has an exceptionally dedicated Early Careers Team that works tirelessly to create a fun and educational summer program for interns. Looking ahead to 2023, Zebra has grown the program to 130 summer interns, and is diversifying the Early Careers Programs to include Co-Ops and full-time rotational programs.
Growth and Development of the Next Generation of Talent
Zebra invests in the retention and success of entry-level hires through broad-based rotational programs, a 70-20-10 model of learning, and development run by an outstanding talent management team, along with buddy assignment and mentorship. Within their first six months, new hires must review Zebra Island, which is a virtual game that enables them to learn about the business. These things are a great way to connect new hires to the organization, and make them into what Zebra calls, "sticky hires".