Dive Brief:
- The Ford Motor Co. "walks the talk" concerning its summer intern program, according to Talent Management. Rather than keeping interns busy with meaningless tasks, Ford has built its internship program as a way to funnel top talent into the giant automaker's leader pipeline, Talent Management reports.
- Beyond being a chance for bright college students to land a post-graduation job, an internship program is a golden opportunity for Ford to convince young talent to buy into its "legacy-driven" culture—no easy task in today's dazzling startup world.
- The article explores the myriad of ways Ford makes its internship program more effective than most, including decent pay ($18 to $35 an hour). Ford told Talent Management that the process engages an internal team of 500 or so Ford managers who all participate in stages of the intern recruitment process.
Dive Insight:
Ford connects with professional organizations — the Society of Women Engineers, the National Black MBA Association and the National Society of Hispanic Engineers, for example — in its search for diversity among those applying to the 12-week program. Recruitment team members also fan out to 50 different colleges and universities nationwide in search of summer intern talent.
“Internships are a critical part of our recruiting process because it’s two way,” Kurtz told Talent Management. “We have the opportunity to give students a sense of what Ford is all about and share with them our unique culture. And with this next generation entering the workforce, corporate culture weighs heavily on their decision to accept a job offer.”
According to the article, 68% of interns join Ford after graduation (the average is 52%, according to a National Association of Colleges and Employers survey quoted in the article), so the strategy appears to be working.
