Talent Report+THRIVE

From Awareness to Action: Implementing Effective DEI Programs

In this episode, host Jim Morgan, VP of Workforce Strategies at MRA, speaks with Andres Gonzalez, VP of Community Engagement and Chief Diversity Officer at Froedtert. They discuss how organizations can transition from simply raising awareness to actively implementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. Andres shares insights from Froedtert's journey, emphasizing the integration of DEI initiatives within leadership and organizational strategy. The episode provides actionable strategies for embedding DEI into the core of organizations to create lasting impact on both employees and the community.
Episode Highlights:
Strategic Alignment: The importance of aligning DEI efforts with organizational goals and ensuring strong leadership support.
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs): How ERGs contribute to talent management, development, and community outreach.
Culturally Equitable Care: The role of providing culturally and linguistically appropriate care in improving healthcare outcomes.
Community Collaboration: The impact of working with community-based organizations to address broader social determinants of health.
 
Helpful Resources
Contact Your Host, Jim Morgan
About MRA
Get HR assistance however, wherever, and whenever you need it.
Plan your organization’s strategies for growth.
Find, develop, and retain the right people to build a high-performing workforce.
 
 

Total Rewards: Crafting a Competitive Advantage

In this episode, John Komosa, Director of Global Compensation at Generac, shares insights on how the company approaches compensation and benefits in a global marketplace. He discusses key influences like the economy, industry changes, and market alignment across various countries and industries. John also highlights the challenges Generac faces in the competitive engineering and technology job markets.
Key Takeaways:
The importance of market influences and economic conditions on compensation
How Generac aligns compensation strategies globally while considering regional differences
The role of benefits in total rewards, tailored to generational and individual needs
Strategies to attract and retain talent in a tightening labor market
Utilizing compensation surveys and consultants to ensure market competitiveness
Tune in to learn how a global company navigates the complexities of compensation!
 
Helpful Resources
Contact Your Host, Jim Morgan
About MRA
Get HR assistance however, wherever, and whenever you need it.
Plan your organization’s strategies for growth.
Find, develop, and retain the right people to build a high-performing workforce.
 
Related Episodes
HR's Role in Corporate Strategy
Strategies for Building a Strong Corporate Culture
Key Trends from SHRM 2024
 

Key HR Trends from SHRM 2024

In this episode, we dive into the key HR trends emerging from the SHRM 2024 conference. Join us as we sit down with three SHRM 2024 attendees who share their unique perspectives on the event. They discuss the most impactful sessions, the latest developments in HR practices, and the innovative strategies they plan to implement in their own organizations. Whether you attended SHRM 2024 or missed out, this episode offers valuable insights and takeaways from the forefront of the HR industry. Tune in to stay ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving world of HR!
Helpful Resources
Contact Your Host, Jim Morgan
About MRA
Get HR assistance however, wherever, and whenever you need it.
Plan your organization’s strategies for growth.
Find, develop, and retain the right people to build a high-performing workforce.
 
Related Episodes
Voices from SHRM24: HR Stories, Challenges, and Roles Uncovered
HR's Role in Corporate Strategy
The Road Ahead: Strategic Career Planning and Progression
 

Voices from SHRM24: HR Stories, Challenges, and Roles Uncovered

Join us in this special episode recorded live from the national SHRM conference, where we dive into the heart of HR through the voices of attendees. Listen as professionals share their personal HR stories—both positive and negative—highlight the HR roles they believe would benefit their organizations the most, and discuss the pressing challenges they face in today’s workplace. This episode provides a unique snapshot of the current HR landscape, offering insights and experiences straight from the front lines of human resources. Tune in to hear the candid and thought-provoking perspectives of your peers.
 
Helpful Resources
Get HR assistance however, wherever, and whenever you need it.
Plan your organization’s strategies for growth.
Find, develop, and retain the right people to build a high-performing workforce.
 

HR's Role in Corporate Strategy

Join us in this insightful episode as we explore the pivotal role HR plays in shaping and executing corporate strategy. Our special guest, Amy Jones from Didion, an esteemed MRA member company, brings her extensive experience and unique perspective to the conversation. We'll delve into how HR can drive organizational success, align talent management with strategic goals, and foster a culture of innovation and growth. Whether you're an HR professional, a business leader, or simply interested in the intersection of human resources and corporate strategy, this episode offers valuable insights and practical takeaways. Don't miss it!
 
Contact Your Host, Jim Morgan
About MRA
 
Helpful Resources
Get HR assistance however, wherever, and whenever you need it.
Plan your organization’s strategies for growth.
Find, develop, and retain the right people to build a high-performing workforce.
 

The Road Ahead: Strategic Career Planning and Progression

Join us as we chat with Laura Cullen from JP Cullen about essential career strategies. Laura covers effective onboarding, creating impactful learning plans, and nurturing young leaders. Learn how to develop tailored learning plans and empower emerging talent within your organization. Tune in for practical advice to advance your team!
 
Contact Your Host, Jim Morgan
About MRA
 

Succession Planning Trends Explored at MRA's HR Conference

In this episode we dive into the latest trends in succession planning as unveiled LIVE at MRA's HR Conference. Join us as we explore expert insights and innovative strategies shared by leading HR professionals. Whether you're an HR veteran or new to the field, this episode provides valuable takeaways to help you ensure your organization's leadership pipeline is robust and future-ready. Tune in to stay ahead in the evolving landscape of human resources and gain actionable tips to implement in your succession planning process. Don't miss this insightful discussion on preparing your organization for tomorrow's challenges today.
 
Contact Your Host, Jim Morgan
About MRA
Succession Planning Resource

Strategies for Building a Strong Corporate Culture

In this episode, we sit down with Kelly Kauffman, a seasoned executive from the Milwaukee Bucks, to delve into the secrets of building and sustaining a winning culture within a corporate setting. From fostering teamwork to nurturing employee engagement, Kauffman shares invaluable insights and practical tips drawn from her experience with one of the most successful sports franchises. Whether you're leading a team or aspiring to enhance workplace dynamics, this podcast offers actionable advice to empower your organization's culture and drive success. Tune in and discover how to cultivate a culture that inspires greatness.
 
Contact Your Host, Jim Morgan
About MRA
MRA can help with Culture, change, & Strategy
 

Celebrating Transformations: Thriving with Talent Report+

Exciting changes are coming … new content, new host, and new podcast schedule … 30 minutes THRIVE is now Talent Report+THRIVE – get even more Talent Report highlights featuring one-on-one Q&As with MRA members—the expert guests, industry leaders, and change-makers taking on the business challenges of today.
Join us for this special episode where we celebrate changes and welcome Jim Morgan as our new host! Reflecting on invaluable insights from the past year and a half, we talk about the lessons learned and unveil the thrilling new podcast format! We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Sophie Boler for her leadership in guiding 30-minute THRIVE to success, and we wish her the best in her exciting next chapter at MRA.
Join us for the next episode of Talent Report+Thrive Podcast on April 24th and get ready to embark on this exciting new direction with Jim Morgan leading the way!  Tune in every 4th Wednesday for your next episode.
 
 
Resources:
MRA Membership 
About MRA 
Register for the next Talent Report+

Back by Popular Demand: How HR Helps Managers Manage

Description: In this episode, we delve into the crucial role of HR in empowering managers to excel in their leadership roles. We explore the various facets of HR support, from department alignment to performance management and employee development, providing listeners with actionable insights and practical steps to enhance their management skills and foster a thriving, engaged workforce. Join us as we unlock the secrets of "How HR Can Help Managers Manage"!
Resources:
MRA Membership 
About MRA 
Let's Connect:
Guest Bio - DQ Spencer 
Guest LinkedIn Profile - DQ Spencer 
Host Bio - Sophie Boler 
Host LinkedIn Profile - Sophie Boler 
Transcript:
Transcripts are computer generated -- not 100% accurate word-for-word.
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:21:03UnknownHello everybody and welcome to 30 minute Thrive, your go to podcast for anything and everything HR powered by MRA, the Management Association. Looking to stay on top of the ever changing world of HR? MRA has got you covered. We'll be the first to tell you what's hot and what's not. I'm your host, Sophie Boler, and we are so glad you're here.
00:00:21:05 - 00:00:49:14UnknownNow it's time to thrive. Well, hello everybody, and welcome to this episode of 30 Minute THRIVE. Thanks for joining us today. I'm excited for our conversation today because you get to hear from DQ spencer. DQ is an mra. HR Business partner located in our golden valley, minnesota location. But i know you come with a lot of experience and enthusiasm, especially for our topic today, how our can help managers manage.
00:00:49:16 - 00:01:06:08UnknownSounds like a big topic, but I'm excited to kind of break it down. I know we're going to run through a lot of aspects of HR and kind of give our listeners some good action items and stuff so that they can walk away with. So I know this is your first time on the podcast, so I appreciate you come on and excited.
00:01:06:10 - 00:01:26:20UnknownAwesome. Me too, hi podcasters. I know that you recently spoke at an event on this topic actually. So before we kind of kick things off, I'm just curious to know why is this really an important topic for our listeners? Yeah, I know you're right. I did speak on the event. It was an awesome event.
00:01:26:20 - 00:01:49:13UnknownA lot of energy and enthusiasm. This is a very important topic because a lot of organizations are still struggling with aspect of the function of HR organizations talking about people and people assets being the most important aspect of the company. But they have a hard time showing that people are, because they're the only nonrenewable asset that organizations have.
00:01:49:15 - 00:02:15:23UnknownYou can't copy the processes, equipment, technology, terminology, but you can't really copy people. So that's why this one is very important. Yeah, that's a great point as we kind of dive in. Now, can you explain how HR really collaborates with managers to emphasize their functional strengths? And kind of part two of that question is how can they use those strengths with their teams to achieve those organizational goals?
00:02:16:00 - 00:02:37:16UnknownYeah, So as you know, I don't know. I don't know. I have a football background. I like to use sport terminologies. That's great. Yeah, Yeah. So, I mean, HR is part of a team, right? HR is one of the few functions that truly supports the whole organization. So they have knowledge throughout each function, but they're not be the subject matter expert on that function.
00:02:37:16 - 00:02:50:12UnknownRight? So to probably collaborate with them, you have to just include that clue to include them in our communication conversation and work to collaborate and build that functional component.
00:02:50:14 - 00:03:19:12UnknownSpeaking of teamwork, we're in a world where teamwork is crucial. So how can HR departments kind of facilitate collaboration among their employees and help managers foster that culture of cooperation and teamwork and collaboration? Yeah. So that collaboration comes from that communication, right? And so a big part of HR is communication, and it's talking to the employees, talking to the supervisors, the managers, the leads.
00:03:19:14 - 00:03:43:09UnknownIt's really getting to know your people, your biggest assets. HR is a science and that you'll understand that. I mean, as HR, you have that strength, you have that background of understanding people behaviors, thought processes, patterns and processes. But as a as a functional leader, let's say, in accounting or finance, your your, your function, your strengths are going to be with that.
00:03:43:11 - 00:04:03:17UnknownSo you can you can collaborate with them and to partner with them, engage them. You have to communicate, you have to get in there, you have to go to them. You have to understand what the culture is and how you can THRIVE that. Those behaviors in and and processes to to and build and engage their culture properly. Absolutely.
00:04:03:17 - 00:04:26:22UnknownAnd I know as an HR business partner, you work with a lot of different companies, a lot of different HR department. So do you have any examples or success stories, I would say, of kind of where the HR departments work with teamwork and kind of fostering that collaboration? Yeah, I don't know. Somewhere along the line, HR has gotten such a bad rep as as the good Lord.
00:04:27:01 - 00:04:48:07UnknownYep. And I've been in HR for about 16 years. I have my my Bachelors of Science in HR McMaster Science and during my doctorate business in HR. And through that, I've learned a lot. But I've also learned just as much through my experience. For example, I worked with an organization known, as you mentioned previous to me joining in.
00:04:48:09 - 00:05:21:12UnknownIt was a very strong union environment and that created a kind of trifecta. Three headed obstacle course because it was the union, it was the business, the factory manufacturing, and it was HR and that's how they viewed it as three different portions, three different aspects of business. And that was a very tall task. So I really had to go in there and work on our collaboration first, partnering with the organization, the plant manager, building that relationship, and then partnering with building that relationship.
00:05:21:14 - 00:05:41:10UnknownAnd I was kind of that liaison that brought it all together, you know, that that organization lacked trust amongst the three. So that was that was very challenging. But just working with them, showing my commitment, my dedication, my, my, my, my processes and my procedures, showing them that, hey, you know this, we're a team. We want the same goal.
00:05:41:14 - 00:06:11:01UnknownWe set different paths to get there. Yeah, I'm sure a lot of our listeners can kind of resonate with that and relate to that story too, and how their organization like that. So that's good advice. But we also know that compliance is also a critical aspect of HR, too. So do you have any insights on how HR can support managers and ensuring their teams adhere to the regulations and policies that always seem to be changing and updating?
00:06:11:03 - 00:06:36:13UnknownYeah. Yeah. So I'm going to kind of get off topic, but get back to topic is going to be. So when I first started in the HR, I tried to assimilate to that that stereotype, that prototype of a human resource manager saying no and yes, and you can't do this and you can't do that. And I wasn't truly myself and I truly started being successful when I started, you know, venturing on and being original.
00:06:36:15 - 00:06:54:04UnknownSo I took the mindset of that. I wasn't going to tell leaders and managers, No, you can't do this Right off the bat. I was going to tell them, Hey, I want to get that goal that you want, but here's how we can do this. Here's how we can get it done versus knowing. Yes. So it's compliance. It's the same kind of issues in that aspect versus telling them no or yes.
00:06:54:06 - 00:07:13:06UnknownI'll give them parameters and say, Hey, I see what you're trying to do. This is the most compliant and best way to get there. So let's get it done together. Yeah. So, so running through kind of the task of all the tasks of HR, another one is to motivate employees, which can be kind of difficult. So how can HR
00:07:13:06 - 00:07:41:05UnknownProfessionals and managers work together to keep their teams engaged and motivated? That's that's a tough one, right? Because, you know, I say this all the time is that we're called individuals for a reason. So we're usually created in the we have individual values and views and perspectives. So to have that motivation, it's going to take really knowing and building a relationship with your organization, your culture and your employees.
00:07:41:07 - 00:08:00:07UnknownSo know your employees. One thing I told a member that I talked to, you know, he asked me, how can I motivate my employees? What's going on? They're not gauging. And I you know, I sat there and I said, Hey, you mind if I watch it for a little bit? Watch for a little bit? No problem. No problem.
00:08:00:09 - 00:08:21:09UnknownSo I sat down and took half the morning and just kind of watch his interactions with the employees. And I literally told him, I said, I saw four separate times where people were trying to talk to you and you didn't talk to people trying to walk. My actually, I didn't even look at and on two separate times we were trying to talk to you and you said, you know, you're busy with tomorrow.
00:08:21:11 - 00:08:42:10UnknownI said, Engagement goes both ways, motivation goes both ways. You have to go and engage with them. Right. As a position of authority. Naturally. I think the way people are going to be timid to engage with you so that you have to said that you're setting a standard. Like I said, the engagement and motivation goes both ways. Show them that you're willing to do what you're asking them to do.
00:08:42:12 - 00:09:02:17UnknownYeah, absolutely. I feel like that's a good point. I know a lot of companies right now just have to kind of reevaluate what they're doing. Like you kind of sat in as a fly on the wall and you were able to see it. The HR department may not be able to see it because they're in it. So sometimes you kind of need an outsider almost to come in and see that.
00:09:02:17 - 00:09:32:14UnknownALL Yeah. So when it comes to achieving results, alignment with an organization is key, obviously. So how can HR create that alignment between different teams and departments? Yeah, so alignment comes out. You know, I talked about inclusion, communication, conversation alignment comes with understanding the goal, right? And creating processes and procedures that align with that, that THRIVE toward that goal.
00:09:32:16 - 00:09:55:11UnknownA lot of companies have processes just because they happen. They said, we always have this or this is what we were always. But your goal changed, the business changed. You know, the world of business is very dynamic. It's always changing for you to keep the same processes. It might not make sense to achieve that goal. So I always tell the people, you know, look at what you're trying to achieve, work backwards and this is what we want it.
00:09:55:14 - 00:10:15:18UnknownThis is what we want to achieve. So let's do this. This, this is to get there versus, well, let's do this and go kind of around it, you know, align toward that goal, direct your process, your behavior and your diet and your actions toward achieving that ultimate goal. And just what you said right there, the world of business is very dynamic.
00:10:15:18 - 00:10:47:18UnknownSo I guess that kind of brings us to our next point of how can our assist managers in adapting their strategies and tactics to meet new challenges when business is always changing? Yeah, it's just constant reassessment, right? So like I said, I've been organizations all different functions and industries, and the thing I hear the most is this is how we've always done it or this is what they told us to do versus, you know, having that critical thinking skills, thinking about, hey, this is what they told us to do.
00:10:47:18 - 00:11:03:20UnknownAnd so I was done it. But it doesn't kind of make sense. We're trying to do so we're going back to think about this is what we're trying to we're trying to achieve organic business. We're trying to grow. We're trying to we're trying to set customers and employee satisfaction. So what can we do to get better? Understanding your culture.
00:11:04:01 - 00:11:26:13UnknownCulture is big, so I don't know if you know that I'm a teacher as well. Professor There's that. There's perio, pedagogy and anthropology. The type of learning that adults when when they learn, they want to learn by seeing what you do and looking what you do versus when you're a kid, you do this because you're told to do because you have to go through this.
00:11:26:13 - 00:11:43:23UnknownYou have to work through school, you have to go to high school as adults. They're there because they only want to be there. So let's make it a department that they want to be there right there. It's going to be changing. Not everyone's going to be the same, just like business is going to be evolving. It's going to be dynamic.
00:11:43:23 - 00:12:12:02UnknownIt's going to be contemporary. Some things may stay traditional, but it's going to move. You have to move with flexibility. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I should have mentioned that you were a teacher in the beginning too. I got so many different perspectives now from, well, we've kind of mentioned this throughout the whole podcast, but it seems like employee engagement is often one of the biggest concerns for managers.
00:12:12:04 - 00:12:44:19UnknownSo and you've touched on this briefly, but how can it really assist in measuring and improving employee engagement then to enhance team performance in an organization? Yeah, and that's that's a tough question, right? Because everyone is going to be different. But the thing it can say is, you know, just like business and sales engagement is building relationships, then understanding where you're talking to, what you're talking about, understanding the optimal goal and just building everybody should go toward it.
00:12:44:19 - 00:13:09:14UnknownAnd earlier, making that effort to engage with their employees, making that effort to be as transparent. That's transparent as possible. And so you can't be completely transparent all the time, but be as open as possible because more people understand them more than want to THRIVE that goal and helping them get those fingerprints and open and get that engagement and touchpoints within that plan.
00:13:09:16 - 00:13:28:24UnknownAnd that also helps, you know, they have a little skin in the game that will help them engage and help them. So, you know, I'm a part of this, right? But it starts and starts with the culture. And how is your culture is an engaging culture. Is it an open door culture? Is it, hey, I know we're business here, but how is your day and how are you doing?
00:13:29:01 - 00:13:45:18UnknownLook at the example I gave previously. When a manager, you know, shoot people off or was too busy to talk to people or, you know, he walked from his office right to where he needs to go at to engage. You have to show them this is what engagement looks like. You have to show that, hey, I'm motivated to do my job.
00:13:45:18 - 00:14:13:12UnknownYou have to think, what do you think about this? Talk to them and increase that communication, increase that inclusion and then kind of full support. HR Is a big portion of that because a lot of people really don't have that perspective or understanding or mindset. And as a human resource manager, we understand that people are our business and people should be everyone's business because that's what business is created on.
00:14:13:14 - 00:14:40:05UnknownEven even technical businesses, even process oriented businesses. They're all about people, right? We understand our people. The more we can utilize to take advantage of how great that asset can be and how much we can get to them, how much they can get does Yeah, absolutely. I love that you emphasized the importance of culture and having a good culture because that honestly THRIVEs your organization.
00:14:40:05 - 00:15:07:23UnknownAnd you can tell on day one and even probably both before you work at the organization what their culture is because she's a very prominent thing in an organization. So it's like, you know, example that I give, which I've seen many times, is when you're interviewing people, show their best in the best of times and say, Hey, we're going over their culture where, you know, we want to hear everything you're saying.
00:15:08:00 - 00:15:40:02UnknownBut when you start, it's absolutely And I walk down the hall, every door was closed, closed door meetings, Everything feels like it's secretive. It feels like you're very being excluded. And that's absolute culture. So part of my research for my my doctorate was how to decrease turnover. The intention was really, truly millennials because I do my research on generation, but in how to decrease turnover intentionally with the number one decrease, there was the culture right?
00:15:40:04 - 00:15:56:16UnknownAre you saying you do or are you being transparent? Are you including is are you hiring and retaining people? You need to cultivate that culture and that's a big thing is if you don't have a culture where you if you don't have what you want now, that's not a big deal. A lot of lot religion are in there.
00:15:56:20 - 00:16:18:03UnknownThey don't have what they want to go. They want to achieve. So but how are you going to get that right? What's your plan and how are you communicate and really in that plan, to your people, to your to your managers, and how are they acting on that? Well, you know, it's one thing to say it, but it's another thing to actually let them go.
00:16:18:03 - 00:16:43:00UnknownI know you've given a ton of best practices and advice and tips throughout this whole podcast, but do you have any best practices for HR Professionals to really identify and leverage the functional strengths with within their organization to THRIVE that success that everybody wants? Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of times i will say this is a very known saying, but get comfortable with being accountable.
00:16:43:04 - 00:17:15:01UnknownRight? So a lot of times when you talk the functions this is my first experience with my career when I taught the different functions and I wasn't prepared to talk to them about their business or their function. And so that decreased their trust and decrease their trust in me. So the more time to understand it and functions, I can have a direct conversation with about what their strengths were and and they can see that I'm taking that action to really understand what their strengths are and what their function is and what their goal is.
00:17:15:01 - 00:17:43:14UnknownAnd the more I understood how they act, how they behave, what their processes were, the more I could create strategy to more insert myself into their function and help them grow. And it helped me grow so much. Understand business financially, understand business through the processes of manufacturing, understand business details and marketing. But I just, you know, like I said, part of the reason why I got my BBA was because I had a master's in science, which is great.
00:17:43:17 - 00:18:11:11UnknownBut I want to understand business as a whole more holistically. And that helped me grow so much, helped me grow immensely understanding different functioning business. And that's what I would give to each age and professional in any, anyone, any function. I try to learn business. Don't try to, you know, obviously, you know, you do. You're your expert at what you do, but be an expert at understanding the business and that will help you grow with your organization.
00:18:11:11 - 00:18:30:01UnknownThere's so much that is great advice. That's something that I'm trying to do too, is just even shadowing an apartment for a day to see what their day in the life is. And that, like you said, will help you understand the business as a whole and will help you do your job better, too, on the long run. Yeah.
00:18:30:01 - 00:18:48:20UnknownYeah. And with that is I know it sounds boring, but you know, what do you what's, what's going on in that meeting. I said in that meeting where. Hey, you mind if I, you know, tag along with you? Like I said, Do you mind if I show you? Do you mind if I hang out and kind of the following a little bit and understand what you're going through so I can better help you, better assist you and better support you.
00:18:49:01 - 00:19:09:00UnknownAnd that's what it's about. You know, selfishly, I was trying to grow the business, not trying to grow myself, so I was trying to be a better project, better employee and a better person and more advanced to business. Absolutely. Well, as we wrap up your last question, can you share any key takeaways for our listeners on how HR
00:19:09:00 - 00:19:38:00UnknownCan really be that strategic partner in helping managers manage effectively and achieve the optimal results in their organizations. Bring it full circle here. We'll circle sort of our circle like i would say, kind of like I said, understand the business more. You understand that business and that function and that environment, the more alignment you can create, right? So again, help them understand processes that they don't know the process of, hey, this is what we're doing.
00:19:38:02 - 00:20:08:20UnknownIs that process, that HR Role. When i don't understand it, then they probably won't rule it out to the best of their ability. They probably won't engage in it to the best of your abilities. So help them understand it, right? Understand their business. They can understand your business. Say that that alignment, that inclusion, you know, still in their meetings, our conversation with them, engage with them, go out of your way, you know, go beyond a little bit to make them feel, you know, that they trust you, that the understanding that they believe in you.
00:20:08:22 - 00:20:30:23UnknownBecause the more trust, more understanding, the more inclusion you have, more transparency, you'll get more engaging, you'll get, the better you be able to help them and support them. And the more the business will be able to grow and that's what it's about, is creating that organic growth and that internal growth as well as that external world. So you can be successful in the business, can be successful decades.
00:20:31:00 - 00:20:54:01UnknownThis was great. I want to thank you for being on the podcast today and sharing all that great content and all the advice on how HR Can really help managers manage. So to our listeners, i would just encourage you if you liked our chat and topic today, comment something new that you learned today or something that you're going to start implementing or anything else that you'd like to add on to the conversation.
00:20:54:01 - 00:21:18:04UnknownWe want to know your thoughts, what you're thinking. If you have any new ideas on this topic. And don't forget to share out this episode, of course, and consider joining MRA if you aren't a member already. We have all the resources you need in the show notes below. We've also included resources on this topic and DQ's contact info and LinkedIn profile if you want to connect with him.
00:21:18:06 - 00:21:39:18UnknownOtherwise, thank you so much for tuning in today and we will see you next week. And that wraps up our content for this episode. Be sure to reference the show notes where you can sign them to connect for more podcast updates, check out other MRA episodes on your favorite podcast platform. And as always, make sure to follow MRA's 30 minutes THRIVE so you don't miss out.
00:21:39:18 - 00:21:44:11UnknownThanks for tuning in and we'll see you next Wednesday to carry on the conversation.
 

The Internship Blueprint: Strategies for Companies

Whether you are just starting an internship program or you have one already, discover the key qualities that make interns thrive, learn how internship programs can shape future leaders, and explore innovative approaches to foster a culture of continuous learning and development. We'll share tips on creating challenging projects that elevate interns to showcase their leadership potential.
Resources:
MRA Membership 
About MRA 
Intern Program
MRA's 2024 Internship Leadership Program Calendar
Recruiting
 
Let's Connect:
Courtney’s email
Courtney’s LinkedIn profile
 
Transcript
00:00:00:01 - 00:00:05:13Hello everybody and welcome to 30 minute Thrive, your go to podcast for anything
00:00:05:13 - 00:00:09:22and everything HR, powered by MRA, the Management Association.
00:00:09:24 - 00:00:12:24Looking to stay on top of the ever changing world of HR?
00:00:12:24 - 00:00:14:19MRA has got you covered.
00:00:14:19 - 00:00:17:17We'll be the first to tell you what's hot and what's not.
00:00:17:17 - 00:00:21:04I'm your host, Sophie Boler and we are so glad you're here.
00:00:21:05 - 00:00:22:21Now it's time to thrive.
00:00:22:21 - 00:00:26:16Hello, everybody, and welcome to 30 Minute Thrive.
00:00:26:18 - 00:00:29:24Today we're going to be talking about the ins and outs of internships.
00:00:30:03 - 00:00:34:15So if you're looking to start an internship program at your organization,
00:00:34:21 - 00:00:37:17or maybe you have one started already, but you're looking to make it
00:00:37:17 - 00:00:41:13even more successful, it's a good thing you're here today with us
00:00:41:13 - 00:00:46:04because we're joined by Courtney Lamers, MRA, senior manager of member Engagement
00:00:46:10 - 00:00:50:08and MRA's Intern Leadership program organizer.
00:00:50:10 - 00:00:54:10So Courtney's really here to help organizations
00:00:54:10 - 00:00:58:04not only design and implement an internship program,
00:00:58:04 - 00:01:02:17but also help develop existing ones into successful programs.
00:01:02:19 - 00:01:06:06And having been an intern myself at Emory,
00:01:06:08 - 00:01:09:21I love this topic, and I'm really excited to talk about it.
00:01:09:21 - 00:01:12:11So, Courtney, let's start.
00:01:12:11 - 00:01:14:24Start from the top here.
00:01:14:24 - 00:01:18:22Those who have never implemented an internship program before.
00:01:18:24 - 00:01:23:22What are some of the key starting factors that a company would really need?
00:01:23:24 - 00:01:24:13Absolutely.
00:01:24:13 - 00:01:27:05Great question. And thank you for having me today.
00:01:27:05 - 00:01:27:13You know,
00:01:27:13 - 00:01:27:23it really
00:01:27:23 - 00:01:31:16is that time of the year where everyone is reaching out about internships.
00:01:31:16 - 00:01:35:09And it's been exciting to hear from a lot of companies that are just
00:01:35:10 - 00:01:37:05beginning their internship journey.
00:01:37:05 - 00:01:40:14So I think it's going to be a really fun summer and I'm super
00:01:40:14 - 00:01:43:14excited for all of you that have interns.
00:01:43:20 - 00:01:46:08I think those that have had interns have really found it
00:01:46:08 - 00:01:50:02valuable and continue to see that year over year.
00:01:50:04 - 00:01:53:12And so I'm really excited for all of those companies that are starting it.
00:01:53:14 - 00:01:56:04I think that's a great question to start with, just because we do
00:01:56:04 - 00:01:59:21see a lot of companies that are starting internship program.
00:01:59:23 - 00:02:03:21And I would say the key in starting an internship program
00:02:04:02 - 00:02:07:04and there's a lot of things that go into it, but one of the most important
00:02:07:04 - 00:02:10:24things is making sure that you have the correct manager
00:02:11:01 - 00:02:15:18and managers in place to support and intern support their experience
00:02:15:18 - 00:02:17:00as a whole,
00:02:17:00 - 00:02:18:11and be able to have some of those
00:02:18:11 - 00:02:21:16difficult conversation zones where I think we see with companies,
00:02:21:16 - 00:02:27:01a lot of times managers will come and say, I really want an intern,
00:02:27:03 - 00:02:30:23but if that manager may not have the culture in the department,
00:02:30:23 - 00:02:31:20that character may not
00:02:31:20 - 00:02:35:17necessarily be equipped with the tools to be a great manager for an intern.
00:02:35:19 - 00:02:40:02Someone companies are having those conversations, so I think manager buy in
00:02:40:02 - 00:02:43:12and understanding of what it really takes to have an intern is huge.
00:02:43:12 - 00:02:47:22I think like any new employee, I think interns
00:02:47:22 - 00:02:52:23take a little bit of extra time and really supporting that experience
00:02:52:23 - 00:02:57:00from mentorship and coaching and giving them opportunities.
00:02:57:00 - 00:03:00:01There is a little bit of additional work
00:03:00:03 - 00:03:01:14for an intern, so
00:03:01:14 - 00:03:05:15I think we see companies that have super successful intern programs
00:03:05:15 - 00:03:09:22and what you see behind those are managers and companies that have complete buy in.
00:03:09:22 - 00:03:13:07So I think honestly, before you even get to the manager piece,
00:03:13:08 - 00:03:17:16you need to think about and talk with your leadership team and understand
00:03:17:16 - 00:03:22:15that there is a buy in needed and an investment honestly,
00:03:22:15 - 00:03:28:11between both time and money and what goes into a great experience.
00:03:28:12 - 00:03:31:08So I think, you know, really the buy in is the first step
00:03:31:08 - 00:03:35:07and then there are a lot of steps along the way to get to that manager piece.
00:03:35:07 - 00:03:38:04But I think that is so key.
00:03:38:04 - 00:03:40:05Just kind of starting about with the whole experience.
00:03:40:05 - 00:03:42:20So obviously once you have the manager buy in, that's huge.
00:03:42:20 - 00:03:44:22Or leadership by an excuse me.
00:03:44:22 - 00:03:48:06And then I think really think about why you're having an intern.
00:03:48:06 - 00:03:54:04You know, I think in the past interns have historically been added
00:03:54:04 - 00:03:57:12to a team to help with some of those, you know, daily tasks
00:03:57:12 - 00:04:00:12and some of those things that can be taken off of other people's plates.
00:04:00:12 - 00:04:03:20But we see a lot of companies that are looking to hire
00:04:03:20 - 00:04:06:20interns for a long term perspective.
00:04:06:21 - 00:04:11:01So one from a brand awareness standpoint, these interns are going back to
00:04:11:01 - 00:04:14:01and talking to their friends on campus
00:04:14:01 - 00:04:16:23and even on social media about their experience as a whole.
00:04:16:23 - 00:04:21:05So those you know, word of mouth brand, ambassador pieces is a huge part of it.
00:04:21:05 - 00:04:24:20And we also see interns a lot as their town supply chain.
00:04:24:20 - 00:04:26:20So really trying to hang on to those interns.
00:04:26:20 - 00:04:28:19So just really understanding the why.
00:04:28:19 - 00:04:32:07What's the purpose of your program and then putting some of those structural
00:04:32:07 - 00:04:37:11pieces around to support the intern throughout the length of their internship.
00:04:37:13 - 00:04:38:10And then, of course,
00:04:38:10 - 00:04:42:09thinking about what are those elements that make this an experience as a whole?
00:04:42:09 - 00:04:44:18So of course there's the work component of it,
00:04:44:18 - 00:04:48:15but what mentorship opportunities, what networking, professional development,
00:04:48:17 - 00:04:50:24all of that staff to provide this great experience.
00:04:50:24 - 00:04:54:07So the interns really want to either
00:04:54:08 - 00:04:57:09say at your organization or go back and tell their friends all about it.
00:04:57:09 - 00:05:02:01So long winded way of saying like, there's a lot of pieces to get started.
00:05:02:03 - 00:05:05:09But the most important one, just having that manager
00:05:05:11 - 00:05:07:07really be there to support their interns.
00:05:07:07 - 00:05:08:15Sorry that as long you continue to hear.
00:05:08:15 - 00:05:13:14Question So there's a lot that goes into starting an internship program,
00:05:13:14 - 00:05:17:22and like you said before, even thinking about it, it's the whole planning process
00:05:17:22 - 00:05:21:14and evaluating why am I having interns
00:05:21:16 - 00:05:24:15who at the company can manage the interns
00:05:24:15 - 00:05:30:16and has the capacity to do that, and then it's also thinking about like
00:05:30:18 - 00:05:31:21some companies may
00:05:31:21 - 00:05:34:21have one intern, but some may have 30.
00:05:34:21 - 00:05:35:16So it's like,
00:05:35:16 - 00:05:40:14how do you split that up between managers and and roles and stuff like that?
00:05:40:16 - 00:05:43:04But once you have that plan
00:05:43:04 - 00:05:47:01in place, like you were talking about, even then, even if you already
00:05:47:01 - 00:05:51:00have a great internship program developed, how do you find the interns?
00:05:51:00 - 00:05:56:18I think that's a huge question, like recruiting best practices.
00:05:56:20 - 00:06:01:20Do you have any suggestions on where to find interns, when to find interns?
00:06:01:20 - 00:06:05:00I know now is a great time to start talking about it,
00:06:05:00 - 00:06:08:23but just looking for any best practices you might have there.
00:06:09:00 - 00:06:09:21Yeah, absolutely.
00:06:09:21 - 00:06:13:03Shameless plug for companies Recruiting services team.
00:06:13:05 - 00:06:13:23They really do
00:06:13:23 - 00:06:18:17all of their recruiting for interns, so they are a great resource to tap.
00:06:18:17 - 00:06:21:21But I would say we see
00:06:21:21 - 00:06:26:00a lot of interns get hired from networking and schools.
00:06:26:00 - 00:06:30:02We just had a hot topic survey not too long ago
00:06:30:02 - 00:06:33:15and I think like 87% of our respondents have that.
00:06:33:20 - 00:06:38:04They find their interns and they have a lot of great luck by
00:06:38:06 - 00:06:41:04going to job fairs at universities and colleges
00:06:41:04 - 00:06:45:21and just different locations where they're able to network with people.
00:06:45:23 - 00:06:48:14I would also say share it out to your LinkedIn page.
00:06:48:14 - 00:06:49:14You know,
00:06:49:14 - 00:06:54:17I think we see a lot of interns get hired because of connections they have.
00:06:54:17 - 00:06:55:06And I
00:06:55:06 - 00:06:59:00you know, I get we'll find out something about MRA's intern leadership program
00:06:59:00 - 00:07:02:22and I'll get people come back and say like, well, I don't have
00:07:03:02 - 00:07:05:07an intern at my company, but I do have a daughter
00:07:05:07 - 00:07:07:17that's looking for an internship or a niece or a nephew.
00:07:07:17 - 00:07:10:18And I'm always willing to help pair that.
00:07:10:18 - 00:07:12:23So you just never know who is going to see some of that.
00:07:12:23 - 00:07:15:23But like I said, I think for the most part,
00:07:16:02 - 00:07:18:18people have a lot of luck getting in front of the universities,
00:07:18:18 - 00:07:21:23the colleges and being on campus in front of the next generation
00:07:21:23 - 00:07:26:02of talent and just from a brand awareness standpoint, there's always a benefit
00:07:26:02 - 00:07:27:15there, too.
00:07:27:15 - 00:07:31:09As far as timing, you know, I think we've seen it
00:07:31:11 - 00:07:35:20be done successfully at various times throughout the year.
00:07:35:22 - 00:07:36:23You know,
00:07:36:23 - 00:07:40:14we are seeing a lot of companies now that are ramping up for summer internship.
00:07:40:14 - 00:07:44:16So they are starting to just  find their interns.
00:07:44:16 - 00:07:48:06Now, we do recommend a little bit earlier than now at this point of the year.
00:07:48:06 - 00:07:52:23We'll see some of the schools and the organizations
00:07:52:23 - 00:07:57:02that have bigger internship programs are starting right after the summer.
00:07:57:02 - 00:08:01:03So they're starting in September hiring all the way for the next summer.
00:08:01:03 - 00:08:03:15And I mean, it's a lot of work to fill.
00:08:03:15 - 00:08:08:1535 internships or however many there are, but a lot of the career
00:08:08:16 - 00:08:12:00offers happen early in the fall and again in the spring.
00:08:12:00 - 00:08:13:15So just kind of thinking,
00:08:13:15 - 00:08:16:21being strategic about that, it doesn't mean you have to start in the fall.
00:08:16:23 - 00:08:19:20People have a lot of great luck in the spring,
00:08:19:20 - 00:08:22:01so definitely an option to.
00:08:22:01 - 00:08:26:04But as far as best practices, I would also say think about your job
00:08:26:04 - 00:08:29:22description and your job ad and you don't have to put
00:08:29:22 - 00:08:33:18every single detail, every single project that they're going to be working on.
00:08:33:18 - 00:08:37:23But some highlight some of those main responsibilities,
00:08:37:23 - 00:08:39:24of course, but then some of those fun things too.
00:08:39:24 - 00:08:41:10So like, for example,
00:08:41:10 - 00:08:45:06we have a company that's participating in the Intern Leadership Program program
00:08:45:06 - 00:08:49:10that I'm a grant offers, and they put that as part of their job description
00:08:49:12 - 00:08:52:23in every single one of their interns
00:08:53:00 - 00:08:55:01that they ended up hiring have said
00:08:55:01 - 00:08:57:15they had to ask the question, like, Why did you apply for this internship?
00:08:57:15 - 00:08:59:24And they also had the intern leadership program.
00:08:59:24 - 00:09:02:24So some of that professional development that's part of that intern
00:09:02:24 - 00:09:06:01program can be part of the the job at that job description.
00:09:06:01 - 00:09:09:19So some of those fun key elements in showcasing the mentorship
00:09:09:19 - 00:09:12:09and networking opportunities that they're going to have.
00:09:12:09 - 00:09:13:19And also I would just say
00:09:13:19 - 00:09:17:04if there's an opportunity for them to learn the business as a whole,
00:09:17:04 - 00:09:21:00put some of that stuff in your job ads as well.
00:09:21:00 - 00:09:25:03I think interns in general are just trying to gain as much experience
00:09:25:03 - 00:09:26:04and knowledge as they can.
00:09:26:04 - 00:09:29:04So if they see that in your job description, in your job ad,
00:09:29:07 - 00:09:32:06I think that's going to be a huge draw for them.
00:09:32:08 - 00:09:32:23Absolutely.
00:09:32:23 - 00:09:37:16I was going to say you're trying to attract these interns like a new employee.
00:09:37:16 - 00:09:43:12So like like you said, be creative and show off what flexible arrangements
00:09:43:12 - 00:09:46:12you may have something that's going to attract
00:09:46:14 - 00:09:49:21an intern to work for your organization.
00:09:49:23 - 00:09:54:16Well, those are the things that we hear about from the interns, is
00:09:54:18 - 00:09:57:09they like I mean, they like the flexibility, of course.
00:09:57:09 - 00:09:59:08But I think some of the struggle is
00:09:59:08 - 00:10:03:06they really want to learn from others and be mentored.
00:10:03:08 - 00:10:07:08And it's really hard to do that if they're coming into the office,
00:10:07:08 - 00:10:09:14which they a lot of them have shown that
00:10:09:14 - 00:10:12:24they want to come into the office for that mentorship opportunity.
00:10:13:01 - 00:10:14:04But if they're coming in
00:10:14:04 - 00:10:17:23and nobody else is in the office, that can be a really challenging thing too.
00:10:17:23 - 00:10:20:17So if you are able to express
00:10:20:17 - 00:10:24:18what those mentorship opportunities and those learning opportunities are, that
00:10:24:19 - 00:10:30:23I think is a great way for them to like, really understand how that could happen.
00:10:31:00 - 00:10:33:03And the other thing just kind of going back to,
00:10:33:03 - 00:10:36:00you know, the timing of hiring interns,
00:10:36:00 - 00:10:38:17we've seen a lot more in the last year
00:10:38:17 - 00:10:42:17to of companies that are hiring interns and then
00:10:42:19 - 00:10:45:22they're struggling to retain them, even to start their internship.
00:10:45:22 - 00:10:48:22So, you know, you have to find that balance of
00:10:49:01 - 00:10:51:21hiring them early enough, but then also keeping them engaged.
00:10:51:21 - 00:10:54:06So if you do hire them in January,
00:10:54:06 - 00:10:57:22that's still another five or six months until they start their internship.
00:10:57:24 - 00:11:00:10So just think about how you're going to keep them engaged
00:11:00:10 - 00:11:02:19and excited about your internship experience.
00:11:02:19 - 00:11:05:18You know, we typically we've seen some data
00:11:05:18 - 00:11:09:01and we recommend, you know, every three weeks that you're reaching out
00:11:09:03 - 00:11:13:09or three to every three weeks, you're reaching out to those interns,
00:11:13:11 - 00:11:16:05you know, with some type of communication, whether it's
00:11:16:05 - 00:11:19:23their managers are reaching out, whether it's different people on the team,
00:11:19:23 - 00:11:23:16HR Sharing company newsletters, all of that stuff to keep them engaged
00:11:23:22 - 00:11:26:04so they're not like i still have this internship.
00:11:26:04 - 00:11:28:18I haven't heard from them in a couple of months. Like, what's going on here?
00:11:28:18 - 00:11:32:17So just keeping them excited and engaged is important too.
00:11:32:19 - 00:11:35:23Yeah, absolutely. Those are all great points.
00:11:36:00 - 00:11:36:15Let's say you have
00:11:36:15 - 00:11:39:15your group of hired interns. Now.
00:11:39:17 - 00:11:44:14What steps are really taken then to integrate them into the company's work
00:11:44:14 - 00:11:47:23environment and to kind of
00:11:48:00 - 00:11:51:15what does the onboarding process look like for them?
00:11:51:17 - 00:11:53:23Yeah, I think, you know, that's a great question.
00:11:53:23 - 00:11:57:00And I would say I would just start
00:11:57:00 - 00:12:00:09by looking at what your current onboarding process is for any new hire.
00:12:00:09 - 00:12:03:19I mean, a lot of that will pertain to them as well.
00:12:03:21 - 00:12:07:08But then looking at what additional pieces are you going to add?
00:12:07:10 - 00:12:10:15Again, I think less the internship experience really is
00:12:10:20 - 00:12:12:09what I just had an experience.
00:12:12:09 - 00:12:15:17So what are you doing for them on day one
00:12:15:17 - 00:12:18:21to really provide that impact and get them excited for the summer?
00:12:18:21 - 00:12:20:19Obviously there are some major
00:12:20:19 - 00:12:21:13things that you just have
00:12:21:13 - 00:12:24:17to take care of on day one, but what swag are you giving them?
00:12:24:17 - 00:12:28:08Are you buying them lunch or are they getting to meet with a lot of people?
00:12:28:10 - 00:12:31:20You know, I think day one really should be about building some of that excitement.
00:12:32:01 - 00:12:37:02But then how are they learning and growing throughout their entire summer?
00:12:37:02 - 00:12:40:11And what is that learning plan and onboarding look like beyond day
00:12:40:11 - 00:12:43:14one and how to integrate them within the organization?
00:12:43:14 - 00:12:45:11And of course, every company is different.
00:12:45:11 - 00:12:47:06And what they need to know.
00:12:47:06 - 00:12:51:03But I would just really recommend that you look at your own current
00:12:51:03 - 00:12:54:22onboarding process, how to even enhance that even a little bit further,
00:12:54:22 - 00:12:58:14like knowing that this a lot of them this might be their first real
00:12:58:19 - 00:13:00:03job in the workplace
00:13:00:03 - 00:13:03:17and how do you help them feel comfortable and navigate some of those,
00:13:03:19 - 00:13:08:04you know, nuances or things that people you assume people just know
00:13:08:04 - 00:13:12:00by being in the workplace and even just like dress code.
00:13:12:00 - 00:13:14:17I know that's not the most exciting thing, but like,
00:13:14:17 - 00:13:17:05you know, we've had a lot of companies say
00:13:17:07 - 00:13:19:00our interns don't even know what our dress code is.
00:13:19:00 - 00:13:22:20And, you know, you forget that sometimes this is their first real job.
00:13:22:20 - 00:13:24:05So having to help them out.
00:13:24:05 - 00:13:26:13And honestly, the earlier, the better.
00:13:26:13 - 00:13:29:23That can be something you can communicate even before they start.
00:13:29:23 - 00:13:31:04So I think really just
00:13:31:04 - 00:13:33:07how do you assimilate them with your organization
00:13:33:07 - 00:13:36:19and your best practices within your company and how they can,
00:13:36:24 - 00:13:40:11you know, feel comfortable and be set up for success from the beginning?
00:13:40:13 - 00:13:41:19You know, I look at it.
00:13:41:19 - 00:13:45:04So if you when you were an intern, which was, you know, a while ago now, but,
00:13:45:06 - 00:13:48:06you know, you texted me and your manager at
00:13:48:06 - 00:13:51:18the time was like, hey, like we're about a week and a half out.
00:13:51:18 - 00:13:52:15Like what?
00:13:52:15 - 00:13:54:00You know, what is the dress code?
00:13:54:00 - 00:13:55:02And we're like, my gosh.
00:13:55:02 - 00:13:58:00Like, how did we not even tell her about? Like, that's a great question.
00:13:58:00 - 00:14:00:21You know, like, you're just trying to be set up for success.
00:14:00:21 - 00:14:05:08So any of those things that might be on their minds just let those know upfront.
00:14:05:08 - 00:14:08:08And I think also just a side note of that, it's like
00:14:08:09 - 00:14:10:11make sure they have your phone number so they can text you
00:14:10:11 - 00:14:12:09those questions and encourage them to do that.
00:14:12:09 - 00:14:14:12Because like when you text us, we were like,
00:14:14:12 - 00:14:16:20my gosh, like, of course, how do we not even think about that?
00:14:16:20 - 00:14:20:08And obviously it was on your mind because you sent us a message.
00:14:20:10 - 00:14:24:19Yeah, that's funny because I was going to bring that up as an example here.
00:14:24:21 - 00:14:28:06Just showing the importance of onboarding in the interim
00:14:28:06 - 00:14:32:24because like you said, a lot of the time an internship is
00:14:33:00 - 00:14:36:19maybe somebody's first real life kind of job experience.
00:14:36:19 - 00:14:42:00So the onboarding process is just as important, as important,
00:14:42:00 - 00:14:44:08if not the most important stuff, in my opinion.
00:14:44:08 - 00:14:46:08Just because you want to
00:14:46:08 - 00:14:50:05make that group first impression and get them excited on day one.
00:14:50:07 - 00:14:54:15And yeah, I think for my experience
00:14:54:17 - 00:14:59:04I felt comfortable to text you guys and say, Hey, like
00:14:59:06 - 00:15:03:02we're a couple days away from first day, what's the dress code?
00:15:03:04 - 00:15:04:14But then I also remember
00:15:04:14 - 00:15:07:00feeling very comfortable when I first walked in
00:15:07:00 - 00:15:09:09because I got to meet everyone at the company.
00:15:09:09 - 00:15:12:19There is a swag like gift
00:15:12:19 - 00:15:15:19bag or laid all over my desk.
00:15:15:19 - 00:15:19:00Just the process of day one one. Awesome.
00:15:19:00 - 00:15:23:06And I remember also being in the car because
00:15:23:08 - 00:15:28:11you and my manager took me out to lunch and I remember like taking a picture,
00:15:28:11 - 00:15:33:00a selfie in the backseat, and I'm like, Mom would be taking me out to lunch.
00:15:33:00 - 00:15:34:23And I had my name tag.
00:15:34:23 - 00:15:38:02But it is the little things that make the day
00:15:38:02 - 00:15:41:04one experience and it gets I don't know, it made me excited.
00:15:41:04 - 00:15:44:10Hey, to come back day two and like, what's day two going to look like?
00:15:44:10 - 00:15:46:06What stage three gonna look like?
00:15:46:06 - 00:15:49:20So kind of like continuously sparking
00:15:49:20 - 00:15:53:15that excitement to make make the experience great.
00:15:53:17 - 00:15:58:09And it was also I mean, I think that's so true.
00:15:58:09 - 00:16:02:03And you know, I think you start to take some of those things for granted
00:16:02:04 - 00:16:03:09like a business card,
00:16:03:09 - 00:16:07:11a name tag, like, you know, you've been in in the business world for a while.
00:16:07:11 - 00:16:08:06And, you know,
00:16:08:06 - 00:16:10:03I think business cards were such a big deal
00:16:10:03 - 00:16:12:18when I got them for the first time was like, my gosh, she's an intern.
00:16:12:18 - 00:16:13:22I have business cards.
00:16:13:22 - 00:16:16:06And it was like giving them to my family members.
00:16:16:06 - 00:16:19:08And it's like, you know, it's such a little thing, but it really does.
00:16:19:08 - 00:16:22:08You're like, my gosh, like I'm an adult now, you know?
00:16:22:09 - 00:16:25:19So I think, like you said, it's all about those little experiences.
00:16:26:00 - 00:16:26:11Yeah.
00:16:26:11 - 00:16:31:17And just to add on to that, to I know we talked about going out to lunch
00:16:31:17 - 00:16:36:01or doing something special, but even if you have virtual interns
00:16:36:01 - 00:16:39:06or remote interns, which I think is kind of
00:16:39:08 - 00:16:41:21becoming the new normal, almost,
00:16:41:21 - 00:16:44:21you can still do those special things.
00:16:44:21 - 00:16:46:13Maybe you send them a gift card on day
00:16:46:13 - 00:16:51:05one to go grab something for lunch or maybe do a virtual lunch with them.
00:16:51:05 - 00:16:54:10So we were talking about our experience in person,
00:16:54:10 - 00:16:58:18but this can definitely apply virtually to Absolutely for sure.
00:16:58:21 - 00:17:02:13I mean, I think gift cards, just DoorDash and something to their door,
00:17:02:15 - 00:17:03:18There's a lot of there's
00:17:03:18 - 00:17:07:14a lot of creative things out there that companies are doing, for sure.
00:17:07:16 - 00:17:08:07Yeah.
00:17:08:07 - 00:17:09:22So next step here now
00:17:09:22 - 00:17:13:15we talk about recruiting interns, kind of whole planning process.
00:17:13:17 - 00:17:17:11So let's say your internship program is established.
00:17:17:13 - 00:17:21:21How would you really ensure its sustainability and what strategies
00:17:21:24 - 00:17:25:01would you employ for the continuous improvement
00:17:25:01 - 00:17:29:09based on feedback and just industry trends?
00:17:29:11 - 00:17:31:04Yeah, I mean, I always saw companies
00:17:31:04 - 00:17:33:15like don't be afraid to just ask your interns
00:17:33:15 - 00:17:35:14what they're thinking and ask for feedback.
00:17:35:14 - 00:17:36:23You know,
00:17:36:23 - 00:17:41:16I think some interns are more comfortable than others about giving their feedback,
00:17:41:16 - 00:17:45:17but I think, you know, even just a full survey every week
00:17:45:17 - 00:17:49:14or every other week, whether it comes from HR Or the hiring manager,
00:17:49:16 - 00:17:51:19just giving them an opportunity to share
00:17:51:19 - 00:17:54:19what's on their mind and what recommendations they have.
00:17:54:20 - 00:17:58:24We see a lot of companies that typically do you know what is known
00:17:58:24 - 00:18:01:19as an exit interview where they're just asking for feedback
00:18:01:19 - 00:18:05:13and the amount of times companies say like, wow, that was such a simple thing.
00:18:05:13 - 00:18:07:22We could have implemented that if we knew.
00:18:07:22 - 00:18:12:08So we're even seeing companies that are doing poll surveys like I
00:18:12:08 - 00:18:17:04mentioned, or a couple of weeks in, like how was your first month on the job?
00:18:17:04 - 00:18:21:08Is there anything else we can do to support you in For the most part, and
00:18:21:08 - 00:18:25:03HR Has reported, at least from the groups that i've talked with,
00:18:25:05 - 00:18:27:12they're getting really good feedback from their interns,
00:18:27:12 - 00:18:29:19and they're like some of the things are so small
00:18:29:19 - 00:18:32:15that we can just implement right away, and some of them are bigger picture
00:18:32:15 - 00:18:35:15that we can take, you know, in a white company. Why?
00:18:35:15 - 00:18:39:03And so I got to just talk to them, see how they're doing, and give them
00:18:39:09 - 00:18:43:12an opportunity in a safe space to have those conversations.
00:18:43:14 - 00:18:45:15I would also just say,
00:18:45:15 - 00:18:48:15talking to other companies and reading more on best practices
00:18:48:15 - 00:18:50:15about what other companies are doing,
00:18:50:15 - 00:18:52:10there's a lot of great information out there.
00:18:52:10 - 00:18:57:11You know, of course, we have our roundtables and internships
00:18:57:11 - 00:19:00:21typically come up in a lot of the different roundtables.
00:19:00:21 - 00:19:02:09So just being able to hear
00:19:02:09 - 00:19:06:02what cool things other companies are doing are a great way to benchmark,
00:19:06:04 - 00:19:09:03you know, what your program looks like and what you're providing to your interns
00:19:09:03 - 00:19:10:00and even just spark
00:19:10:00 - 00:19:14:16some additional ideas and, you know, help bounce ideas off of each other as well.
00:19:14:18 - 00:19:16:00Yeah, for sure.
00:19:16:00 - 00:19:19:15So we've talked about the importance of continuous
00:19:19:15 - 00:19:22:22learning and skill development with interns.
00:19:22:24 - 00:19:25:14So how do you really foster a culture
00:19:25:14 - 00:19:30:19of that continuous learning with your internship programs?
00:19:30:21 - 00:19:34:08And I guess how do you kind of encourage interns
00:19:34:08 - 00:19:41:21to stay updated on industry trends and kind of want to acquire new skills?
00:19:41:23 - 00:19:45:24Yeah, You know, when you sent this to me in advance, I was looking through this
00:19:45:24 - 00:19:51:19and I was thinking a lot of  a lot of the term culture of continuous
00:19:51:22 - 00:19:56:09learning and continuous professional development mindset.
00:19:56:11 - 00:19:59:19And at first when I started reading the question, I was like,
00:19:59:21 - 00:20:04:07I was thinking about it from a manager and culture standpoint beyond the intern.
00:20:04:07 - 00:20:08:07And I think, well, we hear from companies and managers is they learn so much
00:20:08:07 - 00:20:11:12and get a whole different perspective by bringing in the interns.
00:20:11:14 - 00:20:12:18So part of that is like when you're
00:20:12:18 - 00:20:15:04building the intern program from the beginning,
00:20:15:04 - 00:20:18:10you're setting expectations of your company and your culture of we're
00:20:18:10 - 00:20:22:15bringing these interns in to do real work, make a real impact,
00:20:22:17 - 00:20:25:09and kind of setting that up from the beginning and be open minded.
00:20:25:09 - 00:20:26:13So they're not just here to do
00:20:26:13 - 00:20:30:21some of the dirty work, if you will, and they're really here to make an impact.
00:20:30:21 - 00:20:34:02So I think, you know, the continuous learning goes from both sides.
00:20:34:02 - 00:20:37:15From the intern perspective, I think
00:20:37:17 - 00:20:41:05we see so many interns, almost all of them that we see
00:20:41:05 - 00:20:45:11already come in with just a hunger to learn and absorb so much.
00:20:45:11 - 00:20:49:20I think you're you're lucky with that demographic of people and interns
00:20:49:20 - 00:20:53:08because they just naturally are here to learn as much as they can.
00:20:53:13 - 00:20:54:24They're excited to learn and they're excited
00:20:54:24 - 00:20:57:14to grow in their career and they want to do whatever they can.
00:20:57:14 - 00:20:59:23You know, again, I think part of it
00:20:59:23 - 00:21:03:14even can go back to their job description or job expectations of
00:21:03:18 - 00:21:06:14what is your professional development, How are you going to learn this?
00:21:06:14 - 00:21:08:07And even having maybe
00:21:08:07 - 00:21:13:24an individual development plan for them and learn it, you know, part of it being a
00:21:14:01 - 00:21:17:08an opportunity for them to learn industry standards, maybe some job shadow,
00:21:17:08 - 00:21:18:09some of that type of stuff.
00:21:18:09 - 00:21:21:16But then also some of those are skills that they can take no matter what role
00:21:21:16 - 00:21:23:21they have in their career
00:21:23:23 - 00:21:24:22communication.
00:21:24:22 - 00:21:28:06You know, all those leadership skills change management, all of that is all
00:21:28:08 - 00:21:32:02good and things that they can put on their resume.
00:21:32:04 - 00:21:36:14I also recommend talking about it in your one on one conversations with managers.
00:21:36:14 - 00:21:39:14And it doesn't have to be every single day.
00:21:39:14 - 00:21:42:16But I think, you know, when I was an intern again, this is a while ago,
00:21:42:21 - 00:21:46:19but I think you're doing projects that might feel mundane to you
00:21:46:21 - 00:21:50:16and you don't necessarily even realize the impact that you're having.
00:21:50:18 - 00:21:55:12And like I remember when I was talking to one of my managers in
00:21:55:14 - 00:22:00:10a previous internship and they were like, my gosh, like you did a great job
00:22:00:12 - 00:22:04:08with this project management, like project management to your skill set
00:22:04:08 - 00:22:07:02and add that to your resume. And I was like, Project management.
00:22:07:02 - 00:22:10:14Like, all I did was schedule some meetings and take some notes or whatever,
00:22:10:16 - 00:22:12:07and they were like, No, you did way more than that.
00:22:12:07 - 00:22:16:10But even just being able to explain the impact that the interns are having,
00:22:16:10 - 00:22:19:05and I feel like I don't know if you can speak on experience,
00:22:19:05 - 00:22:22:23but I feel like interns don't always realize, like they just feel like
00:22:22:23 - 00:22:24:24they're doing a small project and then it's like,
00:22:24:24 - 00:22:28:10No, this was actually huge and this is what I did and X, Y and Z,
00:22:28:10 - 00:22:30:13and these are the skills that you learn from it.
00:22:30:13 - 00:22:33:00So we can talk about feedback in a minute.
00:22:33:00 - 00:22:36:12But as far as you know, having those conversations and helping
00:22:36:12 - 00:22:40:08them understand what they've done and the skills they have is huge.
00:22:40:10 - 00:22:42:09Yeah, I going off of that.
00:22:42:09 - 00:22:48:15I was recently reading an article, a LinkedIn article on 2024
00:22:48:17 - 00:22:52:21internship trends, and one of them was
00:22:52:23 - 00:22:58:03something like Prioritize skill development over traditional work.
00:22:58:05 - 00:23:02:18And I think we've emphasized that a lot here on the skill development.
00:23:02:18 - 00:23:05:24And it doesn't mean interns can't do traditional work
00:23:05:24 - 00:23:11:00like the hands on kind of mundane stuff like you were saying.
00:23:11:02 - 00:23:14:13But it's really like talking about what skills they're developing
00:23:14:13 - 00:23:19:17and what skills you as an employer want them to develop so that they succeed
00:23:19:17 - 00:23:23:07in an internship and kind of growing into their career path.
00:23:23:07 - 00:23:26:20So just kind of goes to show the importance.
00:23:26:20 - 00:23:29:01It's on 2024 internship trends.
00:23:29:01 - 00:23:32:13So yeah, if I were to ask skill development
00:23:32:13 - 00:23:35:23in your interns, for sure.
00:23:36:00 - 00:23:38:10So kind of going off,
00:23:38:10 - 00:23:43:05I know you said that interns are usually they have that hunger
00:23:43:05 - 00:23:47:05to develop new skills and to do great work.
00:23:47:07 - 00:23:49:22What other qualities and skills
00:23:49:22 - 00:23:53:11should leaders really help develop in their interns?
00:23:53:13 - 00:23:57:22Yeah, you know, I think now that this is necessarily a skill,
00:23:57:22 - 00:24:03:07but helping them understand, even just like workplace one on one and
00:24:03:09 - 00:24:05:20terminology and just like
00:24:05:20 - 00:24:09:02business lines, I just, I think sometimes we all are like,
00:24:09:06 - 00:24:10:11yeah, we all know what this means,
00:24:10:11 - 00:24:14:05like end of day and the business day, even just things like that.
00:24:14:07 - 00:24:19:08But as far as skills, we've seen a lot of emphasis
00:24:19:08 - 00:24:23:13on communication and I think that goes just beyond interns as well.
00:24:23:13 - 00:24:27:21In a hybrid remote workplace where people are working in different time
00:24:27:21 - 00:24:30:21zones and all of that, I think communicate and even just different generations.
00:24:30:21 - 00:24:35:04We've seen a lot of conversation about what does good communication look like.
00:24:35:04 - 00:24:37:19And so I think that's a big one.
00:24:37:19 - 00:24:42:03I think bringing ideas to management is a big one.
00:24:42:05 - 00:24:45:08I think interns have a lot of great ideas,
00:24:45:08 - 00:24:49:19and I think what we've seen over the years as interns
00:24:49:21 - 00:24:52:22are finding the balance of I'm trying to make an impact
00:24:52:22 - 00:24:56:06and a name for myself and showing the great ideas I have.
00:24:56:08 - 00:24:59:18But also I don't want to overstep and talk in meetings,
00:24:59:23 - 00:25:03:02you know, that I was invited to to listen and learn
00:25:03:02 - 00:25:06:06and like, where am I allowed to speak up and where am I not?
00:25:06:06 - 00:25:09:18Or and whether they call it imposter syndrome, where you're like,
00:25:09:18 - 00:25:12:02I don't know if my idea is good enough and am I really willing
00:25:12:02 - 00:25:13:24to speak up in front of a whole group of people?
00:25:13:24 - 00:25:17:21And so I think kind of helping balance and navigate some of that stuff
00:25:17:21 - 00:25:22:08and helping build some of that confidence is huge for them.
00:25:22:14 - 00:25:27:01We've seen an emphasis on problem solving project management.
00:25:27:01 - 00:25:29:20Some of that
00:25:29:22 - 00:25:30:24is really big too.
00:25:30:24 - 00:25:36:20So I think all of the skills that you're developing in your employees and
00:25:36:22 - 00:25:40:22your leaders, I think that really they're just trying to learn and grow.
00:25:40:24 - 00:25:45:21So however you can help them in that way and really understand what they're good at
00:25:45:21 - 00:25:46:15and what other skills
00:25:46:15 - 00:25:50:20they need to continue to develop is just a conversation worth having.
00:25:50:20 - 00:25:53:04And the ones that interns are really open to.
00:25:53:04 - 00:25:57:24And they I mean, I think we see this in all shapes of business, of people.
00:25:57:24 - 00:26:01:01People like to learn about themselves and talk about their experiences
00:26:01:01 - 00:26:05:19and whatever you can do to help them learn and grow is a big piece of it.
00:26:05:21 - 00:26:07:05Absolutely.
00:26:07:05 - 00:26:12:16And for interns, I would always go back to that quote,
00:26:12:18 - 00:26:16:03higher character train skill.
00:26:16:05 - 00:26:20:05Just I don't know, I think it's a good reminder that
00:26:20:07 - 00:26:25:17when you're hiring an intern, they might not have all of the skills that
00:26:25:19 - 00:26:28:12you may want them to have at the end of the internship, or
00:26:28:12 - 00:26:34:18they might not have all of the knowledge coming into it because it probably is
00:26:34:20 - 00:26:38:05one of their first really
00:26:38:07 - 00:26:39:18first jobs.
00:26:39:18 - 00:26:42:23So I think that code, your character
00:26:43:00 - 00:26:47:04train for Skill, is just always a good reminder too,
00:26:47:06 - 00:26:51:12because you can train for skill and so like that.
00:26:51:14 - 00:26:54:14So going on here, in what ways does
00:26:54:15 - 00:26:58:12your organization support interns in building professional networks
00:26:58:12 - 00:27:03:15and how does really networking contribute to development as emerging leaders?
00:27:03:17 - 00:27:05:12Networking is huge.
00:27:05:12 - 00:27:05:24Yeah.
00:27:05:24 - 00:27:07:11I mean, I think there's a lot of ways
00:27:07:11 - 00:27:11:19that organizations can support  professional development for interns.
00:27:11:19 - 00:27:12:00You know,
00:27:12:00 - 00:27:15:22I think there is the traditional trainings in the classroom that can be done.
00:27:15:22 - 00:27:21:08There's a lot of great modules online that companies can use, you know,
00:27:21:09 - 00:27:23:01LinkedIn, Learning's, all of that great stuff.
00:27:23:01 - 00:27:24:16Of course, memory has training as well.
00:27:24:16 - 00:27:28:14But I also think, you know, when I look back
00:27:28:14 - 00:27:31:14at my professional development and my growth over my career,
00:27:31:20 - 00:27:35:17I think a lot of the most influential pieces that have helped me grow
00:27:35:19 - 00:27:40:06are being part of organizational projects, working with cross-functional teams,
00:27:40:06 - 00:27:44:00working with people that are different than myself and think differently.
00:27:44:00 - 00:27:47:20And then eventually growing into leading some of those projects.
00:27:47:20 - 00:27:52:06So what what projects can interns lead that maybe, maybe they
00:27:52:06 - 00:27:54:24not on your to do list for a while and you just haven't gotten to it.
00:27:54:24 - 00:28:00:01So any start with anything that they do is better than not doing it at all.
00:28:00:03 - 00:28:05:05So I think some of that project work, job shadowing,
00:28:05:07 - 00:28:09:18being able to just network and learn from other professionals is huge.
00:28:09:18 - 00:28:14:19We offer an intern leadership program at Emory for our members
00:28:14:19 - 00:28:20:02and we really focus on that professional development and networking because it
00:28:20:04 - 00:28:23:17it really helps them learn from other people,
00:28:23:17 - 00:28:27:12learn about different industries, learn about business as a whole, and learn
00:28:27:12 - 00:28:32:01with other learn from other leaders around the entire country.
00:28:32:01 - 00:28:35:07And just I think for the interns, some of their biggest takeaways
00:28:35:07 - 00:28:40:08is just hearing the journey that leaders have gone on to get to where they are.
00:28:40:08 - 00:28:48:01And I think by the end of the summer, they truly realized that most leadership,
00:28:48:03 - 00:28:50:17I guess, journeys are not linear.
00:28:50:17 - 00:28:53:10It's not it's not a ladder. You don't just go straight up.
00:28:53:10 - 00:28:56:10But there's a lot of you know, I think it's so funny
00:28:56:10 - 00:28:59:10when we do the CEO panels, it's like half of them
00:28:59:16 - 00:29:04:07started in a completely different field or industry than where they got to today.
00:29:04:07 - 00:29:06:10And I think that's really promising for interns.
00:29:06:10 - 00:29:09:10And I think it just really helps them relate and see
00:29:09:15 - 00:29:11:24almost inspire them as well.
00:29:11:24 - 00:29:14:24Yeah, I think just going off the networking pieces,
00:29:15:03 - 00:29:17:02when people network correctly,
00:29:17:02 - 00:29:20:22they really get further in their career.
00:29:20:24 - 00:29:22:20And again, it's that inspiration.
00:29:22:20 - 00:29:24:17But then what are you doing to make that impression
00:29:24:17 - 00:29:29:24after and connect with them and our burgeoning team earlier today?
00:29:29:24 - 00:29:34:00And they always say they're like most people, after your first job,
00:29:34:00 - 00:29:35:24you're going to get most of your jobs after that.
00:29:35:24 - 00:29:38:16By who you know and who you've networked with.
00:29:38:16 - 00:29:39:24And, you know,
00:29:39:24 - 00:29:43:05we do stuff during our internship program to help them, you know,
00:29:43:05 - 00:29:46:17just even build up their LinkedIn resume, their LinkedIn profile, I'm sorry.
00:29:46:20 - 00:29:50:13And just so they can connect with people that they meet throughout the summer.
00:29:50:13 - 00:29:53:15And, you know, and ten years from now, it might be like, my gosh.
00:29:53:15 - 00:29:58:11So if you bowlers connect into this person, like, how can I reach out?
00:29:58:11 - 00:30:02:01So it's just it's just crazy how how small of a world it is.
00:30:02:01 - 00:30:06:21So I think the professional development and networking is huge for interns
00:30:06:21 - 00:30:10:14and I think any audience that HR And the hiring managers
00:30:10:14 - 00:30:14:23can do to help them with that is is super appreciated by the interns,
00:30:14:23 - 00:30:18:00especially with the mentorship more
00:30:18:00 - 00:30:21:08so than ever, especially in a hybrid world.
00:30:21:10 - 00:30:24:21We hear from interns asking how do i find a mentor
00:30:24:23 - 00:30:29:13that can help me grow and, you know, say my name in a room full of opportunities.
00:30:29:13 - 00:30:33:06And I always love that quote about mentors, but that's not necessarily
00:30:33:06 - 00:30:34:09always your manager.
00:30:34:09 - 00:30:38:05And in such a short period of time, how do I get an actual mentor
00:30:38:05 - 00:30:40:16that can see my skill set and help me grow in my career?
00:30:40:16 - 00:30:44:09And I think just networking is a piece of it.
00:30:44:11 - 00:30:45:05Absolutely.
00:30:45:05 - 00:30:49:04And you talked about our MRA's intern leadership program
00:30:49:04 - 00:30:53:04and being able to network with leaders and ceos.
00:30:53:04 - 00:30:57:09HR Professionals and young professionals too.
00:30:57:11 - 00:31:00:16But also coming from an intern perspective,
00:31:00:18 - 00:31:03:17that program is so beneficial in the way
00:31:03:17 - 00:31:06:17that you're also networking with
00:31:06:18 - 00:31:13:0080 to over 100 other interns who are practically in the same boat as you.
00:31:13:00 - 00:31:18:06So that just that's a whole other benefit that we could talk about
00:31:18:06 - 00:31:22:23for an hour having 82
00:31:22:23 - 00:31:26:13over 100 people that you can talk to every day,
00:31:26:13 - 00:31:31:16kind of see what they're going through, ask them questions
00:31:31:18 - 00:31:32:18and they can.
00:31:32:18 - 00:31:35:13I know I'm so connected with interns
00:31:35:13 - 00:31:38:21from a couple of years ago, and I don't know.
00:31:38:21 - 00:31:43:01I've really appreciated that from the intern program.
00:31:43:03 - 00:31:43:21Yeah, because
00:31:43:21 - 00:31:47:00networking connections, even for my internships too.
00:31:47:00 - 00:31:52:04It's yeah, I still talk to some of them, the friendships and future,
00:31:52:06 - 00:31:54:22maybe even colleagues again, and networking connections.
00:31:54:22 - 00:32:00:03Yeah, Well, and it's just interesting to see what they're up to because
00:32:00:05 - 00:32:03:13you might have two completely different roles at different organizations.
00:32:03:13 - 00:32:05:19But it's interesting to be like, Hey, what are you doing this week?
00:32:05:19 - 00:32:07:12What are you working on this week?
00:32:07:12 - 00:32:09:00that's cool. I'm working on that.
00:32:09:00 - 00:32:11:20So you can kind of connect that way too, which is awesome.
00:32:11:20 - 00:32:14:02Even just brand awareness from company to company.
00:32:14:02 - 00:32:16:21Yeah, definitely.
00:32:16:21 - 00:32:19:13And we talked a little bit about mentorships,
00:32:19:13 - 00:32:24:13but is there any other mentor kind of pieces of advice that you want
00:32:24:13 - 00:32:31:00to give in how that kind of ropes into the success of an internship program?
00:32:31:02 - 00:32:34:04Yeah, I think just really highlighting
00:32:34:06 - 00:32:38:11that mentorship, that question about how you can find a mentor
00:32:38:11 - 00:32:40:05that's right for you and how to find a mentor
00:32:40:05 - 00:32:44:09that's not your manager at your company during an internship came up so many times
00:32:44:09 - 00:32:45:05last year.
00:32:45:05 - 00:32:50:24So if you can go in to an internship program, say to the intern or interns,
00:32:51:01 - 00:32:53:23we have a dedicated mentor to you.
00:32:53:23 - 00:32:55:23I think that will be huge.
00:32:55:23 - 00:32:59:21And I think even part of it again goes up with the manager,
00:32:59:23 - 00:33:03:03you know, having the tools to be successful until you this intern,
00:33:03:09 - 00:33:04:18I think same with the mentors.
00:33:04:18 - 00:33:06:12If you can provide them with
00:33:06:12 - 00:33:10:10maybe some training and some guidance and maybe even like a coaching certificate
00:33:10:10 - 00:33:14:20or what their expectations are and how they can help interns.
00:33:14:20 - 00:33:16:06I think
00:33:16:08 - 00:33:19:08having that common
00:33:19:08 - 00:33:22:06playing ground, I guess for mentors would be huge
00:33:22:06 - 00:33:24:23and they can really help the interns be successful.
00:33:24:23 - 00:33:27:24And I think that's just another really close networking connection
00:33:27:24 - 00:33:31:08that the interns will walk away with throughout the summer.
00:33:31:08 - 00:33:36:15So but I would also be strategic and you know who you choose as a mentor.
00:33:36:17 - 00:33:39:18But we have seen some companies that have used some emerging leaders
00:33:39:18 - 00:33:43:12and some young professionals that are looking to grow their leadership skills
00:33:43:14 - 00:33:46:10who maybe aren't quite ready to be a supervisor or manager yet.
00:33:46:10 - 00:33:51:12But this is a great way to kind of mentor and coach and grow your own skills.
00:33:51:12 - 00:33:55:24So just think about that with your own emerging leaders within your organization
00:33:56:01 - 00:33:57:04for sure.
00:33:57:04 - 00:34:00:12Well, do you have any examples of talking
00:34:00:12 - 00:34:04:21about more projects and more hands on work now?
00:34:04:23 - 00:34:07:13any examples of projects or initiatives
00:34:07:13 - 00:34:11:10that are designed to kind of challenge interns
00:34:11:10 - 00:34:15:05or any of those like structured projects that you would recommend
00:34:15:07 - 00:34:20:01giving to interns to let them showcase their leadership potential?
00:34:20:03 - 00:34:22:23Yeah, I honestly, I'd have to look at a list
00:34:22:23 - 00:34:25:18because I, I always every summer I'm like, Wow,
00:34:25:18 - 00:34:29:17that is such a great search project for interns and
00:34:29:19 - 00:34:31:20but I'll just share a couple off the top of my head.
00:34:31:20 - 00:34:36:23I think directly from the HR Perspective, those that have had HR Interns
00:34:36:23 - 00:34:42:11will do like exit interviews and they'll do
00:34:42:13 - 00:34:46:07like they'll develop a whole structured program about an intern program.
00:34:46:07 - 00:34:49:17They can even build out the mentorship program.
00:34:49:19 - 00:34:53:12And just generally speaking, I think look at your own to do list
00:34:53:12 - 00:34:56:12and see, like, what projects are like strategic initiatives.
00:34:56:15 - 00:34:59:12Have you been thinking about a know your team needs to get to
00:34:59:12 - 00:35:02:13that you really haven't had time for and let them run with it?
00:35:02:13 - 00:35:06:12Like I said, it's if it's just sitting on your desk, it's not going anywhere.
00:35:06:12 - 00:35:09:22So you at least have some momentum to keep it moving forward
00:35:09:22 - 00:35:14:14and having someone bring fresh ideas and perspectives to it.
00:35:14:16 - 00:35:15:00I saw
00:35:15:00 - 00:35:18:21one company that knew they needed to implement
00:35:18:21 - 00:35:22:22a strategy within their organization and there they were.
00:35:22:22 - 00:35:24:21They had a smaller internship program.
00:35:24:21 - 00:35:26:15I think they had four or five interns.
00:35:26:15 - 00:35:30:03I don't recall off the top of my head, but they had that group of interns work
00:35:30:03 - 00:35:34:05together to build a new strategy internally at their organization,
00:35:34:07 - 00:35:38:18including which included obviously some research, but also understanding
00:35:38:18 - 00:35:42:03like what an employee resource group looks like, how we get one started,
00:35:42:03 - 00:35:45:03who is going to lead that, what is the communication look like?
00:35:45:05 - 00:35:48:23And they built out a whole new program for their organization
00:35:49:00 - 00:35:52:01and then they presented it to their executive team.
00:35:52:01 - 00:35:55:04So all of their CEO and all their senior leadership
00:35:55:04 - 00:35:58:10and they were able to go forward and start to implement this.
00:35:58:10 - 00:36:01:06So just a huge
00:36:01:08 - 00:36:03:21kudos to them for doing that and running with that.
00:36:03:21 - 00:36:05:06That's not an easy task.
00:36:05:06 - 00:36:06:11And obviously they had guidance
00:36:06:11 - 00:36:10:07along the way, but I think that's a great project to show.
00:36:10:09 - 00:36:15:06And then actually had  there was one I'm picturing
00:36:15:06 - 00:36:19:06that they documented all of their standard operating procedures
00:36:19:08 - 00:36:23:14and then along the way they were asked to one, you have to document it,
00:36:23:14 - 00:36:27:09but then to come back with recommendations for efficiencies in the process
00:36:27:09 - 00:36:32:10and a lot of times even documenting it, that's really curious.
00:36:32:10 - 00:36:35:16Wanting to learn interns is asking why, like why do we do it this way
00:36:35:16 - 00:36:39:11and not in a negative way, but just like they were curious and then,
00:36:39:13 - 00:36:44:17you know, if you as a manager or whoever is doing the teaching,
00:36:44:19 - 00:36:48:20isn't able to answer that, why I think it's a good, you know, sign.
00:36:48:20 - 00:36:51:12Maybe we need to look at our process and think of some other way.
00:36:51:12 - 00:36:54:02And so I think even just being able to showcase
00:36:54:02 - 00:36:57:21the efficiencies that have been put on because of someone just documenting
00:36:57:21 - 00:37:01:07standard operating procedures is another really cool project.
00:37:01:07 - 00:37:03:02So those are a few off the top of my head.
00:37:03:02 - 00:37:07:02But again, I would take a look at your own task lesson and see
00:37:07:08 - 00:37:12:10what what you're hoping to get done and let them run with it.
00:37:12:12 - 00:37:15:00Yeah, and I think another
00:37:15:00 - 00:37:18:08great big project or kind of stretch project
00:37:18:08 - 00:37:23:01that any company can do at any internship too, would just be looking
00:37:23:01 - 00:37:26:06at your own company from an audit perspective,
00:37:26:07 - 00:37:29:07like auditing the website or doing an
00:37:29:07 - 00:37:32:13in the analysis of the website or for example,
00:37:32:13 - 00:37:35:19I know I did a competitive analysis when I was an intern,
00:37:35:19 - 00:37:40:02which was a big project, but it was, I think, a great opportunity
00:37:40:02 - 00:37:44:12and a good big project to work on throughout the summer too.
00:37:44:14 - 00:37:47:09Also gave me a chance to work with some great leaders
00:37:47:09 - 00:37:51:13and kind of show it off to our executive team to.
00:37:51:15 - 00:37:56:00So yeah, I would, I would say that that's an easy project,
00:37:56:00 - 00:37:59:19but it's something that all companies can do and something
00:37:59:19 - 00:38:05:07that can improve your website, improve your organization as a whole.
00:38:05:09 - 00:38:07:02So we talked
00:38:07:02 - 00:38:11:00about kind of performance management a little bit, but
00:38:11:02 - 00:38:15:06how do you what are some ways to assess the performance of interns
00:38:15:06 - 00:38:19:10during and at the end of the program
00:38:19:12 - 00:38:23:01and what mechanisms do you have in place for providing
00:38:23:01 - 00:38:27:09that constructive feedback to help them grow?
00:38:27:11 - 00:38:29:20Yeah, I think feedback is so important
00:38:29:20 - 00:38:33:13and that's something that we really hear from interns of.
00:38:33:15 - 00:38:39:00I think again, this goes to does your manager know how to manage interns?
00:38:39:00 - 00:38:43:14But feedback is something we hear and managers typically are like, well,
00:38:43:19 - 00:38:45:21if they're not hearing from me, they're doing a good job.
00:38:45:21 - 00:38:49:02And we have weekly check ins and, you know, we just kind of talk
00:38:49:02 - 00:38:51:18through their projects and any challenges they have.
00:38:51:18 - 00:38:57:06But I think interns want to know honestly, daily and speak to this
00:38:57:06 - 00:39:00:04from your own experience, what like are they on the right track?
00:39:00:04 - 00:39:03:20Are they doing a good job, really doing a bad job and tell them right away?
00:39:03:20 - 00:39:05:05I think,
00:39:05:07 - 00:39:07:19you know, people don't want to hear this, but I would honestly
00:39:07:19 - 00:39:10:19check in with your interns at least once a day, if not more than that.
00:39:10:24 - 00:39:14:13I think, you know, a week, a lot of things happen in a week.
00:39:14:13 - 00:39:15:21And especially,
00:39:15:21 - 00:39:19:11you know, if you look at like a ten week internship program that's like ten times
00:39:19:11 - 00:39:20:11you're meeting with your intern
00:39:20:11 - 00:39:22:13and think about how much they're doing in a day,
00:39:22:13 - 00:39:24:13how many people they're trying to interact with.
00:39:24:13 - 00:39:27:06We hear interns are
00:39:27:06 - 00:39:29:22not always, but sometimes they don't like to be bored.
00:39:29:22 - 00:39:35:03So if you're only meeting with them once a week, how are they feeling?
00:39:35:03 - 00:39:36:2340 hours of their work week?
00:39:36:23 - 00:39:41:24Are they truly busy and gaining knowledge and skills?
00:39:41:24 - 00:39:47:05Every all of the all of the week and having those great experiences. So
00:39:47:07 - 00:39:49:20I know managers sometimes are like,
00:39:49:20 - 00:39:52:20I don't want to tell them they're doing a good job for just doing their job,
00:39:53:01 - 00:39:55:14but I think if they're not hearing anything,
00:39:55:14 - 00:39:57:22they really just don't know where they stand.
00:39:57:22 - 00:40:00:18So I recommend talking to them every day.
00:40:00:18 - 00:40:01:17And I know.
00:40:01:17 - 00:40:05:21So my favorite example from you was like, Well, give me something negative.
00:40:05:21 - 00:40:09:07It's always so positive and it's like, Wow, you're doing a great job.
00:40:09:07 - 00:40:12:05And it's like, there's got to be something I can improve on.
00:40:12:05 - 00:40:14:03And you're not the only intern that has said that.
00:40:14:03 - 00:40:17:23And I completely agree that even though you are doing
00:40:17:23 - 00:40:22:18a great job, are there even skills that maybe like
00:40:22:20 - 00:40:25:18that aren't being shown in this project, but maybe in other projects
00:40:25:18 - 00:40:26:15that I could develop?
00:40:26:15 - 00:40:28:07So I think being very specific
00:40:28:07 - 00:40:31:14in that feedback and very intentional is very important.
00:40:31:16 - 00:40:32:10Absolutely.
00:40:32:10 - 00:40:35:18And to piggyback off that, I would say something
00:40:35:18 - 00:40:39:13that I love that you did when I was an intern.
00:40:39:15 - 00:40:43:05You mentioned interns don't like being bored and that's very true
00:40:43:05 - 00:40:45:15because that can make or break an internship.
00:40:45:15 - 00:40:48:21I think in what you did that really helped
00:40:48:21 - 00:40:53:07was checking in each day, like how was your workload going?
00:40:53:07 - 00:40:55:02Do you need some more projects?
00:40:55:02 - 00:40:57:03Do you want to sit in on this meeting?
00:40:57:03 - 00:41:01:05So it's like always giving me an opportunity to be doing something
00:41:01:05 - 00:41:02:19new each and every day.
00:41:02:19 - 00:41:06:12So I think, like you said, that communication with an intern
00:41:06:12 - 00:41:11:08is vital for an internship program to really succeed
00:41:11:10 - 00:41:18:10and to make sure that your intern is enjoying the work that they're doing
00:41:18:12 - 00:41:20:02and that they have an opportunity to,
00:41:20:02 - 00:41:23:21like, openly communicate, communicate that with their manager.
00:41:23:21 - 00:41:29:01If they aren't filling their 40 hours a week or have finished a project
00:41:29:01 - 00:41:33:12and don't know what to do after that, well, it also helps just reprioritize.
00:41:33:12 - 00:41:36:18I think I chuckle and this is not the best way to do it,
00:41:36:24 - 00:41:38:21but we gave you like five pages of projects
00:41:38:21 - 00:41:42:18that we want you to work on throughout the summer and I don't.
00:41:42:20 - 00:41:45:21And in the best way possible, I don't think I think you go through
00:41:45:21 - 00:41:48:21one page or whatever, because so many other things came up
00:41:48:22 - 00:41:53:03throughout the summer that it was kind of like if we came to you in the morning
00:41:53:03 - 00:41:56:20and we were like, Hey, we have this cool project, and you were like,
00:41:56:22 - 00:41:58:09but I'm working on X, Y and Z.
00:41:58:09 - 00:41:59:07We could be like,
00:41:59:07 - 00:42:03:12yeah, I finish, I X, don't worry about Y, and then Z can wait till next week.
00:42:03:14 - 00:42:04:22But it was able to have us
00:42:04:22 - 00:42:09:03give us a chance to really learn what you like if you new opportunities,
00:42:09:03 - 00:42:14:14but also just to prioritize who you aren't just taking on things without
00:42:14:16 - 00:42:15:00feeling
00:42:15:00 - 00:42:18:00like you had the bandwidth to do it all and be successful.
00:42:18:00 - 00:42:20:02Yeah, I'm definitely not.
00:42:20:02 - 00:42:22:20That will just give you another project management skill.
00:42:22:20 - 00:42:24:12All right, There you go.
00:42:24:12 - 00:42:29:19But just as we wrap up your career, any any lasting thoughts
00:42:29:19 - 00:42:30:15that you want to share?
00:42:30:15 - 00:42:33:10Actually, I'm going to turn it back to you.
00:42:33:10 - 00:42:35:09Just you know, you've been involved with the intern
00:42:35:09 - 00:42:39:03leadership program for a couple of years and you obviously were an intern and.
00:42:39:03 - 00:42:42:21You still talk with, you know, a couple of interns from previous years.
00:42:42:22 - 00:42:45:22So just anything anytime to you is here to employers
00:42:45:22 - 00:42:53:02or maybe even hiring managers about creating a great memorable experience?
00:42:53:04 - 00:42:58:15I would just say the big takeaway, I think just from today to
00:42:58:16 - 00:43:01:16is that an effective internship
00:43:01:20 - 00:43:05:09benefits both the intern and the organization.
00:43:05:10 - 00:43:08:19I think that's always something to just keep in the back of your head
00:43:08:19 - 00:43:12:11that don't just have an intern to have an intern.
00:43:12:11 - 00:43:16:12Like like bring us back to the first question there.
00:43:16:12 - 00:43:19:18The planning process and the planning stage.
00:43:19:20 - 00:43:23:02And of course, you can add on to this because you were part of that
00:43:23:02 - 00:43:23:24planning stage.
00:43:23:24 - 00:43:27:07But I think that is the most vital
00:43:27:09 - 00:43:32:22step in an internship program is making sure
00:43:32:24 - 00:43:35:23you kind of have your priorities and your goals
00:43:35:23 - 00:43:41:08and just the value of having an intern that you have that confidently set.
00:43:41:10 - 00:43:44:24Well, for an intern comes in and you're not trying to figure out
00:43:45:01 - 00:43:48:06an intern role while they're there.
00:43:48:08 - 00:43:52:09No, I think that's that is absolutely crucial.
00:43:52:09 - 00:43:55:09And I think now that this is like the most important takeaway, but
00:43:55:09 - 00:43:58:15something that hasn't been mentioned yet is really make sure
00:43:58:15 - 00:44:03:03that the interns and all of the candidates that you're interviewing
00:44:03:05 - 00:44:08:01feel like you matter and that you're part of the organization from the beginning.
00:44:08:01 - 00:44:11:24And I think I just remember when we were interviewing candidates
00:44:11:24 - 00:44:13:13from the beginning,
00:44:13:13 - 00:44:13:23you know,
00:44:13:23 - 00:44:17:05I think we always wanted to keep them in the loop of where they were
00:44:17:05 - 00:44:18:12in the hiring process.
00:44:18:12 - 00:44:21:05And I mean, I think we made a decision very quickly.
00:44:21:05 - 00:44:25:11And as soon as we made a decision, we we let everybody know.
00:44:25:11 - 00:44:30:08And, you know, I think even for those that we didn't end up hiring,
00:44:30:10 - 00:44:32:19we still wanted to have a great relationship with them
00:44:32:19 - 00:44:35:07because you never know with opportunities in the future.
00:44:35:07 - 00:44:37:20And we didn't want them to feel like, it's just an intern.
00:44:37:20 - 00:44:39:09We'll get back to them in a couple of weeks.
00:44:39:09 - 00:44:41:22And I think the
00:44:41:24 - 00:44:44:04for us, it was important that everyone knew
00:44:44:04 - 00:44:46:17that this is a critical role in our organization
00:44:46:17 - 00:44:49:05and they are going to make an impact and they're part of our team.
00:44:49:05 - 00:44:52:03So not necessarily that they're just an intern.
00:44:52:03 - 00:44:56:01And I think we tried to treat you like you were part of the team
00:44:56:05 - 00:44:59:04throughout the entire summer and beyond, and obviously you're part of our team now.
00:44:59:04 - 00:45:01:23So it all worked out definitely.
00:45:01:23 - 00:45:05:20And that was actually another 2024 internship
00:45:05:22 - 00:45:08:22trend that I read about was
00:45:09:00 - 00:45:12:21the importance of meaningful work in an internship
00:45:12:21 - 00:45:16:12and just ensuring that your interns
00:45:16:12 - 00:45:21:08can connect to your organization and to the work that they're doing.
00:45:21:08 - 00:45:24:10And it's not just you're doing work to do work.
00:45:24:10 - 00:45:29:19It's like you, your interns need to care about your organization's
00:45:29:19 - 00:45:36:10mission and values and their work's mission and values too. So
00:45:36:12 - 00:45:39:06to get my drop moment there,
00:45:39:06 - 00:45:40:24I love it all.
00:45:40:24 - 00:45:45:01Courtney, thank you again for sharing your expertise with us today.
00:45:45:03 - 00:45:46:13And to our listeners,
00:45:46:13 - 00:45:51:07I would just encourage you to head to Emory net dot org to check out
00:45:51:09 - 00:45:55:17our Emory can help you recruit retain as well
00:45:55:17 - 00:45:59:17as enhance your internship programs if you have an existing one.
00:45:59:17 - 00:46:03:00And then also feel free to reach out to Courtney
00:46:03:00 - 00:46:07:11to choose our manager of our internship leadership program.
00:46:07:11 - 00:46:10:13So we'll include her
00:46:10:13 - 00:46:13:22email down below in her LinkedIn profile if you want to connect with her.
00:46:13:23 - 00:46:17:08But otherwise, I appreciate the chat.
00:46:17:08 - 00:46:17:23Courtney.
00:46:17:23 - 00:46:22:14Thanks again to our listeners and we'll see you next week.
00:46:22:16 - 00:46:23:13Thanks for having me.
00:46:23:13 - 00:46:26:04And that wraps up our content for this episode.
00:46:26:04 - 00:46:27:22Be sure to reference the show notes
00:46:27:22 - 00:46:30:23where you can sign in to connect for more podcast updates,
00:46:30:24 - 00:46:34:17check out other MRA episodes on your favorite podcast platform.
00:46:34:17 - 00:46:38:10And as always, make sure to follow MRA's 30 minutes THRIVE
00:46:38:14 - 00:46:40:20so you don't miss out. Thanks for tuning in
00:46:40:20 - 00:46:44:06and we'll see you next Wednesday to carry on the conversation.
 

Career Paths Unveiled: Past Trends and Modern Realities

Description: Embark on a journey of self-discovery and professional growth, where we unravel the intricacies of modern-day career development and its pivotal role in personal and organizational success. 
Resources:
Developing Career Paths Resource 
Learning & Development 
MRA Membership 
About MRA 
Let's Connect:
Guest Bio - Amanda Mosteller 
Guest LinkedIn Profile - Amanda Mosteller 
Host Bio - Sophie Boler 
Host LinkedIn Profile - Sophie Boler 
Transcript:
Transcripts are computer generated -- not 100% accurate word-for-word.
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:21:04UnknownHello everybody and welcome to 30 minute Thrive, your go to podcast for anything and everything HR, powered by MRA, the Management Association. Looking to stay on top of the ever changing world of HR? MRA has got you covered. We'll be the first to tell you what's hot and what's not. I'm your host, Sophie Boler and we are so glad you're here.
00:00:21:05 - 00:00:44:01UnknownNow it's time to thrive. All right, Well, hi, everybody, and thanks for joining us today. And today's podcast, we're going to be talking about career pathing. And I'm joined by Amanda Mosteller, who is MRA's director of talent development and organizational development. So we really have a true career expert with us today. So I welcome you back, Amanda. You always do such a great job.
00:00:44:01 - 00:01:12:21UnknownSo I'm excited for this topic. Thanks for having me back and I love this topic as well. So, absolutely. And I know I talked a little bit about this before, but I know crew passing is not just for younger emerging leaders who have just started out in the workforce. It's really for everybody. So I guess kind of diving in then what is career path and exactly in why would you say it's important for an organization?
00:01:12:23 - 00:01:54:17UnknownYeah. So career pathing is typically quite what you would think. It would sound like taking a role or a career from entry into the organization and mapping out the path within that career within your organization. Why it's important is because it gives people a roadmap to see where they can go. Whether I'm coming in new to my career, as you were mentioning, or just newer to the organization, I might be popping in mid-level, but just seeing what is the opportunity for me in this role, in this space, in this organization?
00:01:54:17 - 00:02:22:21UnknownWhat does that pathway look like? Is it mapped out? Is it defined? And can somebody walk me through it? Helps initially engage folks in not only their current space, but seeing the potential. I was just talking with my mother the other day about how I had 27 and a half years left before retirement. All right. Almost there. So close.
00:02:22:23 - 00:02:47:03UnknownAnd I said to her, gosh, 27 and a half years, that feels like a long time. And if I thought in our organization, those 27 and a half years are in this role I'm in right now and there's nowhere else to go, no other way to grow my skills or move eventually into other spaces and roles within the organization.
00:02:47:04 - 00:03:19:16UnknownThat really becomes a defeating lot regardless of how much you love an organization. And I love being a part of me very much. But 27 and a half years in one role feels like a long time right? So that's why it's so important, that opportunity to look forward in your future and see evolution for yourself happening within an organization creates that that engagement and that increased retention and that connection to the company.
00:03:19:18 - 00:03:51:10UnknownYeah, for sure. This is something I think Jim Morgan talks about in some of his talent reports. I feel like speaking speaking for like a younger generation employee, surely, like when you're getting a job, like you talk about your current role, but it's like the career path is just as important as like this job that you're getting. So, I don't know, just talking to friends, I know some of them are like, Hey, if they don't kind of map out where I'm going to be in the next couple of years, I'm not interested.
00:03:51:11 - 00:04:24:10UnknownSo I know how important it is now. And I know you'll get to kind of like the evolution of it, how it's changed. But I just I've seen like a very big emphasis on career passing and making sure that employers talk about it right away in the interview process even. That's such a good point. In doing interviews in the past six months, I have noticed an increase in people asking me instead of my saying, Where do you see yourself in the next 3 to 5 years?
00:04:24:10 - 00:04:52:04UnknownThat standard question and most people, if they're any type of practice to interview viewers, they are with your organization. But if I have them turning around asking me what's the growth opportunity for this type of role within your organization and to get to where you're mentioning where we'll go during our conversation today, questions changing around what's the growth opportunity in your department?
00:04:52:06 - 00:05:20:16UnknownThat's not the question as much anymore as what's my growth opportunity in your organization? Meaning your company. So within the company you work for, not just your department. And that's that's telling that people are asking an interviewer is they're asking the hiring manager and they're changing their wording. And that's on purpose again, too. So then can you kind of talk about how career passing has evolved throughout the years?
00:05:20:18 - 00:05:51:21UnknownAnd then why is that evolution really crucial for both employers and employees? Well, get to it like now. So. So traditionally, a career path. As an example for a sales professional, you come into an organization and you might be working foot in the door. Well, at lead generation and lead uncovering and then handing those leads off to a salesperson.
00:05:52:02 - 00:06:14:09UnknownAnd that salesperson might have sales engineers come in depending on what they're selling. Eventually you become a sales manager. There might be an account executive in there where the size of territory or the size of client gets bigger and bigger. So you're getting bigger deals, eventually become a sales manager, then you become the sales director, then you become the sales VP, right?
00:06:14:14 - 00:06:56:06UnknownVery linear career path and that is a defined career path. All within one type of job, role building on one another. That's the traditional career path. How it has evolved is people no longer think of a career path as a linear within this same type of job role. I mentioned that question changing the wording of the question changing, and that's because people are starting to say what skills and abilities can your organization provide me for myself that I can apply as I grow in my career?
00:06:56:08 - 00:07:25:06UnknownPeople we know individuals coming to an organization and staying for 15, 20, 30 years is less and less common. Regardless of how amazing your culture is, regardless of how engaging and supportive and development focused your organization might be. And that's because if I'm sitting and waiting to become that leader or that manager or that next role, that means I'm waiting for somebody else to choose to leave in.
00:07:25:06 - 00:07:55:20UnknownThat can take a very long time, especially the higher up in an organization you go. So people are looking more for what knowledge, skills and abilities can you give me? Not necessarily just in one space, but cross-functionally in your organization? What that means is, as people are asking that question and that question is changing, instead of what is the growth opportunity in your department to what is the growth opportunity in your organization?
00:07:55:22 - 00:08:40:16UnknownI might come in the door as a sales individual and skills that I'm looking for around maintaining multiple projects, time management skills, influencing for others, maybe owning a big opportunity within my organization and getting buy in across all groups. Those are all skills that can translate to any job role. So what I might find as I come in as a lead generation expert in a sales space and within two years I'm moving over to the marketing department because I'm starting to hone what does the buyer look for and how do I communicate that to the buyer effectively?
00:08:40:16 - 00:09:06:18UnknownAnd marketing does a lot of that stuff also. So as I'm honing those skills, an opportunity in marketing is opened up and I might look over there to start building that skill. Now I have uncovering needs and I have really translating to what the buyer is looking for through my marketing expertise and then an opportunity in our bigger project management group opens up some of the skills I've been looking for.
00:09:06:18 - 00:09:49:11UnknownIf I want to become a leader someday does include managing multiple irons in the fire. I need to be able to do that. So I'll move over to that role because now I'm continuing to develop these knowledge, skills and abilities that eventually will get me into leadership positions. Now look at all these different spaces. I've been within one company, so when we talk about creating this modern evolved way of looking at career pathing, talk about engagement and retention, people aren't waiting till the next account executive leaves so that an account manager can become an account executive so that a lead generator could become an account manager.
00:09:49:13 - 00:10:18:18UnknownYou're doing a lot of waiting. That's what you're relying on your organization to do. And so looking at this evolution of career passing instead on where do you want to be in five years? Where do you want to be in ten years? Do you want to move into leadership? What types of skills do you want to grow in an eye as your organization can help identify opportunities for you that leverage those skills and will develop those skills in you?
00:10:18:20 - 00:10:49:14UnknownYou've created a different kind of career path that will really build your bench. I mean, now you have folks really learning all these different areas of your business, creating lots of effective, impactful needed skills as they move up and a well-rounded employee base, of course, THRIVEs a really effective and impactful organization. So what is modern day career path thing?
00:10:49:15 - 00:11:22:04UnknownWhat is it evolve to? Not linear is what you really spiderweb it in a way. And yeah, focusing on transferable skills. Why is it crucial? For the same reasons. Everything else that we talk about in terms of development and culture and building your bench and growth is crucial. It's it's engagement for your employees, which creates high, effective, high, impactful workforces to THRIVE your business's success.
00:11:22:06 - 00:11:47:17UnknownYeah, that's a great point. And I feel like they've even started started the whole career passing thing, even on like when you're an intern, I know some intern programs. It's now not just focused on the type of internship you have. Maybe you're marketing intern, but they're putting you through all different departments so that you can start to see what the organization is as a whole.
00:11:47:17 - 00:12:21:06UnknownAnd then you're also gaining skills from each of those departments. But your focus is a marketing term, but later on, maybe when you're applying for jobs, that's when you can apply what you've learned in the other departments. Kind of like what you said, the universal, universal transferable skills. So that leads me to another question on can you give any examples of how individuals can really assess those skills and interests and even identify them?
00:12:21:06 - 00:12:44:20UnknownHow do they know that? Yeah, So first it takes some self-reflection when you get asked that question of where do you want to be in five years, you better know the answer. Where do you want to be? If the answer is not a people leader, that's important to know because that's a different set of skills that we could develop in somebody that you might not be interested in.
00:12:44:22 - 00:13:14:16UnknownIf it is becoming just the best of the best and in your space, then let's identify what the best of the best looks like when we talk about how can you identify it, how do you know what to work on? There are I think it's a common misnomer that a 360 tool is something that only a leader in a high level leader should go through.
00:13:14:18 - 00:13:40:18UnknownThree sixteens or just one eighties even, but are excellent sources of identifying your hidden strengths, your blind spots and things like that. And then identifying does that apply in the job? Well, I want the job well, I have. I might have a blind spot in an area that I don't need to use right now anyway. And so I'm not going to focus my energy on developing it.
00:13:40:20 - 00:14:09:20UnknownBut to that question of where am I trying to go with my career, I might need it when I try to get to that level. So what do I start developing now? So knowing the answer to the question is number one, knowing that there are tools out there that give you a well-rounded view of just universal competencies. Two, they don't have to be related to a certain type of leadership.
00:14:09:20 - 00:14:42:13UnknownThere are tools out three, six tools out there that that we utilize that could apply just just to an individual. Then the third one is start looking around at your organization, at what roles pique your interest, have conversations with your manager and with your peers around. What about those roles? Pique your interest so that you can start to get a view of what types of skills and activities are enticing to you and engaging to you that you want to learn how to try out.
00:14:42:15 - 00:15:09:03UnknownSo what? What levels and a career do I want to achieve? That's an answer you have to figure out for yourself. It might take some self-reflection and chatting with folks within your organization to see whether that's something of interest, chatting with your folks in your network outside of your current organization to see if that's something of interest. Using some tools that aren't just self reflection.
00:15:09:03 - 00:15:30:10UnknownBecause I love to THRIVE self awareness. Very few of us are just fully self aware in all of our strengths and the way we get self-awareness is by having somebody else give us some feedback. So looking at some tools that are out there for that and then starting to chat about what job roles are interesting to you and why do shadowing.
00:15:30:12 - 00:15:56:24UnknownGo spend a day watching that job role to see if it is interesting it c It might sound cool. We can create some really cool job titles. That doesn't mean the role is as exciting as someone might think. So figuring out what's going on in your organization role wise, asking for opportunities to shadow, and then sitting down with with your manager to say, Here's what really did interest me about that role.
00:15:56:24 - 00:16:21:04UnknownAnd then that can create we can you can start to get an idea of what types of jobs interest you and therefore what skills might be transferable to those jobs within your organization or any organization. And to your point, sometimes it's hard to identify your own skills and maybe you only have a couple that you write down or couple that you're definitely self aware of.
00:16:21:06 - 00:16:41:13UnknownBut or it's like personally help me as to like just taking a step back and asking maybe it's your manager or just a peer at work. Like in some their opinion. I know I've done that before and they're like, Well, you know, you did this project and I think you did a really good job on these things during that project.
00:16:41:13 - 00:17:01:02UnknownMaybe you should start looking at that. So I think just trying to be outside sometimes and getting their perspective helps too, when you're doing some of that stuff. Yeah, it has to be somebody that you would define as like. And I talk to folks about this a lot and I say, Don't let the phrasing throw you off, but a safe person.
00:17:01:02 - 00:17:22:01UnknownAnd what I mean by that is somebody that I think I've talked about this before, but somebody that you're open to their feedback, they will be honest with you, not in a hurtful way. So they're safe from that perspective. They'll be honest with you, but they're also somebody that you value and trust their opinion so you'll be less resistant if you hear something you don't like.
00:17:22:03 - 00:17:43:05UnknownSo who are those people that you could ask how that project went and you'd be open to hearing if they didn't basically just sing your praises and tell you how amazing you are, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, kind of moving on here. We've talked about this on the podcast, but we also hear it a lot about work life balance.
00:17:43:09 - 00:18:14:01UnknownSo I'm kind of thinking about that. What advice do you have for individuals who are trying to balance their personal life and their professional goals while they're planning their career path? You know, I've I've mentioned up until now about competencies and what are the elements of that role you like and what are things that they're doing. But there are also, depending on where you want your career to go, education requirements, certification requirements.
00:18:14:01 - 00:18:44:18UnknownI mean, if you want to be the best of the best and managing large projects, you probably want to go get your PMP certifications. So what does that look like? So connect your HR Department and and i know we're in HR Organization. And so, of course, amanda's going to say go talk to HR But for real, your HR department as all of these, you know, job descriptions which which they can look at trending lee And they also know, you know, trending.
00:18:44:18 - 00:19:15:16UnknownLee Okay, you're talking about being a people leader one day. Most of the time, people leaders tend to require a certain level of education requirement, not always, but most of the time they'll certainly know in their own organization what's required to see whether you have that. Are there certain certifications that are required? Because if if that's an opportunity for you that you want to this balance, they'll also know what resources are out there to help you start going down that path and how much is too much right away.
00:19:15:18 - 00:19:48:16UnknownSo we have team members that move into the learning and development space. And if you want to be the best of the best in certain things, there are certifications we would encourage you to get. Some of them are quick and easy to do certificates. Some of them are larger, you know, six month to a year and several tests certifications depending on your goals and your aspirations for your career, we might say you should go the certification route.
00:19:48:18 - 00:20:24:10UnknownIt takes a bit longer. Here are several different ways to do that, and we can talk through what makes the most sense and when starting makes the most sense for somebody. So the balance becomes what things outside of shadowing in my organization and talking to mentors and doing some development within my daily work hours, what else is out there and what else might I need to invest my time and energy into to get to the level of what I'm aspiring to get to?
00:20:24:12 - 00:21:00:24UnknownThis to the same word Moore claims in one sentence. But because some of the stuff you just can't do it work, there's just going to be some things that that would be more impactful. A pimp certification, for example, whether you want to be a project manager or not, that teaches you a lot of great organizational and executional structure and how to keep people and a large group on track and how to communicate effectively and what metrics you can utilize to not only measure success but identify budgets.
00:21:00:24 - 00:21:21:17UnknownAnd there's a lot of things that would be transferable to other roles that that certification would teach you. And then going and trying it at an organization. But you can't get that through many of your own internal companies. You have to go somewhere to prep for that and take the test. So there's going to be outside work put into it.
00:21:21:17 - 00:22:18:15UnknownSo it's talk with your HR Department. They know those kinds of things. They have that knowledge. Yeah, absolutely. What we're talking about building your career path. How can individuals really align their personal values with their career choices? And why is that alignment really important for long term satisfaction? This is where i always encourage folks, excuse me, to really lean on their network, whether it is an internal network or their network outside of their organization, because values of time, values of family, values of excitement in travel, the values around what you just are comfortable and not comfortable doing, whether you will ever be the person that does that or not.
00:22:18:17 - 00:22:46:21UnknownThose are things that you really need to understand. Does this industry require that? Does this level of career growth require that? There was for myself, for example, there was a long time where I had a vision of sea level at a high international company that was my I will be that someday I will be a chief learning officer.
00:22:46:23 - 00:23:15:21UnknownI was very adamant that was going to be the end. That's my where I'm trying to get to. And then things in my life changed and I continue to evolve and I said as I started to connect with mentors in the space and those that are at that level, it's a very exciting level. But I started to say, Gosh, you're you're, you're always on an international level that includes travel.
00:23:15:24 - 00:23:34:00UnknownDo I really want to travel? I got to work at an international company and started to recognize I want to be home at my values. You know, I want to be at home at night to help my kids do their schoolwork. I want that on my own. No one's telling me to do that. It's just something I want.
00:23:34:02 - 00:24:03:21UnknownAnd so it really it really made me pause and think. So I think before you start to go down the path of investing your time and your energy and your plans and your excitement into something, really understand the whole of what that role looks like to see if it's what you want and also continue to reassess what I wanted at 25 and what I want now.
00:24:03:23 - 00:24:29:07UnknownMy birthday is tomorrow. So what I want as I turn a milestone birthday tomorrow are vastly different. And I think that's something we need to remember too, in this whole conversation is it is okay for your career path to change? Yeah, that's a great point. That's you need to. I thought that in the show notes, it's okay. That is change.
00:24:29:09 - 00:24:48:23UnknownSo I feel like a lot of people want things kind of set in stone. Like, like you said, like I want to be here and that's where I'm going. But it is okay if it's if things change. So I told my husband we were having one of those big, you know, rarely in our lives conversations that we one tends to have.
00:24:48:23 - 00:25:21:12UnknownAnd I said, gosh, if we could pull it off, I would totally be happy to just, you know, retire and well, who wouldn't be happy to in the next five years? So, you know, he'd always gone on this. You want to be a C-suite. I mean, we talked about this for a very long time. So my move to say, I think I just like to write, I think I would be very happy, you know, stepping back and writing and just write books and write articles and just do that.
00:25:21:14 - 00:25:41:05UnknownAnd he was like, okay, well, I don't think one a different one doesn't just do that. Five years ago, I invested some time. I thought, maybe I want to be there, see, like I don't want to be a C-suite leader in a giant international company. I've learned I don't want that. That didn't align with my values. I want to run my own business.
00:25:41:10 - 00:26:08:02UnknownThat's what I want to do. So I went through the process to get my LLC and I went and got individually certified in several things so that I was a certified seller of those things to THRIVE my business. And then I started building my network of of others in this space with their own LLC. And for some reason in my head, I'd be less busy if I ran my own business.
00:26:08:02 - 00:26:34:10UnknownI'm not sure what I was thinking. Newsflash, everyone, you're not less busy. You're having. It's fun. So. So then I thought, Well, I'm home with my kids, so I'm not traveling internationally, but I'm working at night and in the morning and on weekends and always. And I was like, That doesn't really align with my values either. So it's okay to to have your career path change up.
00:26:34:12 - 00:27:09:07UnknownAnd I think the big value to an organization is recognizing people do that too. They can invest your time in somebody that, you know, came in and they were really excited and then they all of a sudden sit down with you ten years later. And they're like, So I've been thinking for a while, wrapping up here today. I know we've given a lot of great practical, practical steps, but do you have any last steps or pieces of advice that employees and employers can really take to create their own personalized career path and plan?
00:27:09:09 - 00:27:42:16UnknownAnd if you have any resources that you kind of want to draw up here today, I think that would be a good ending to that. So, yeah, so a great step for organizations is to create that kind of open door conversation process where employees can come and chat with HR About what are job roles and what are kind of some universal expectations at different levels within the organization or different job roles.
00:27:42:16 - 00:28:24:08UnknownAre there certain certifications that i'm completely unaware of and and for the organization to have an understanding of resources you can connect team members to. It's excellent to have tuition reimbursement, it's excellent to have certification. You know, spotlight staffs or bonuses if you go get the certification or will pay you back for it. But to also have that resource bank of where people can go to get those certifications and especially, you know, price preferred means for you as an organization, build that resource bank so that when folks do ask their managers or do come to your company's HR
00:28:24:08 - 00:28:51:15UnknownDepartment, you have an answer for them from an individual perspective, it is one of the answer to that question. So do some self-reflection and prepare that kind of stuff, but also take some stock. And it doesn't have to be a full 360 assessment tool or anything. But to the resources, what what would I consider my strengths to be?
00:28:51:15 - 00:29:12:19UnknownLook at the job description you applied for. What about it made you apply for it? If you can look back at different roles, you've had within your career, what are those skills you've built up over time? Create your own skill bank so that you can reflect back on that skill bank and say, Here's all the things I've learned, here's what I have, here's how I know I'm strong in it.
00:29:12:21 - 00:29:53:05UnknownWhat gaps am I seeing? Because only you know your career better than anybody else. So when you know what things you've done better than anybody else. So really take your own self-assessment, make your own list of what you've created and what your strengths are, so that when you go have that conversation, folks can try to help you say, this type of job role utilizes that this type of job or utilizes that to help you get a sense for those things, you can go to it from a resource perspective, depending on the industry space that you do think you want your career to grow in.
00:29:53:05 - 00:30:20:10UnknownAgain, it might not be a specific job role, but it might be an industry specific. There can be lots of industry competency models out there that you can do your own. Do I think I need to grow? I'm I'm strong in this or have mastered it. ATD has one for learning and development professionals. They have one for sales professionals.
00:30:20:12 - 00:30:59:04UnknownSherm has them for HR Professionals and hrc has them for HR Professionals. P i don't even know who does the vp the project manager certifications, but it really depends on industry space, where or what assessment tools are out there to find out where you are within that space. But there's tons of them out there. Just give it a google and you will find find lots of resource is depending on what industry peaks your interest and why.
00:30:59:06 - 00:31:23:23UnknownYeah, for sure you can put some resources that we use in the show notes below as well. But that was, that was great advice. And with Amanda and I think everyone, whomever where they are in their career can relate to this somehow, which is, which is really great. So thank you for coming on today and being today's guest and really sharing your expertise in this area.
00:31:24:00 - 00:31:45:09UnknownI always love your examples and the tools that you share to our listeners. If you liked our chat and topic today, don't forget to share our episode and consider joining MRA. If you aren't a member already. Like I said, we have all the resources you need in the show notes below, including resources on this topic. Career paths and the course.
00:31:45:09 - 00:32:06:24UnknownWe'd love to hear from you, so feel free to chime in and share any great success stories that you've had of your own career path or career path planning otherwise. Thank you so much again for tuning in today and we will see you all next week. That wraps up our content for this episode. Be sure to reference the show notes where you can sign in to connect.
00:32:06:24 - 00:32:22:07UnknownFor more podcast updates, check out other MRA episodes on your favorite podcast platform. And as always, make sure to follow MRA's 30 minutes THRIVE so you don't miss out. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next Wednesday to carry on the conversation.