College graduation season is almost upon us, heralding a crop of educated—but typically inexperienced—job seekers that some credit unions are actively trying to recruit.
One reason new grads can be attractive prospects is that they bring a youthful demographic to the credit union, which can be invaluable as CUs seek to lure more millennial members.
Michelle Dearholt, chief performance officer at Nusenda CU in Albuquerque, said her CU maintains strong relationships with local colleges and seeks to attend all their job fairs and group events. “We often speak to classes and conduct mock interviews,” Dearholt said. “These efforts showcase us as an employment option as well as demonstrating our community support, a strong value of ours.”
The $1.6 billion CU has two different programs that support an incoming pipeline of students. “We partner with two local programs—Running Start for Careers, a city initiative, and the Career Enrichment Center, a public schools program that allows for high school students to take a financial capabilities course, earn dual high school and college credit and upon completion of the course, apply for an internship with us,” she noted. “We provide guest speakers and, in some cases, course facilitation. Students apply and interview for internships for the next semester in various roles across the organization. They are trained, paid and treated as regular employees.”
On the whole, Nusenda typically supports about 10 to 15 interns each semester, many of whom subsequently obtain permanent employment with the CU.
The second offering at Nusenda is a Management Trainee Program, which mentors new graduates into a branch leadership role. “Our program targets new grads who are willing to learn the industry, roles and leadership required of our organization,” Dearholt said. “This is a fast-track program conducted over 18 months filled with role rotations, department shadows, technical training, leadership training and they are mentored by two senior managers throughout the duration.”
Dearholt said the program is “very challenging” but has had “some great successes” with these individuals.
Sarah McGovern, manager of learning and development, at $2.6 billion Veridian CU in Waterloo, Iowa, said her CU has built valuable relationships with many area universities and community colleges. “Our recruiters visit business classes, attend job fairs and speak to students about the spectrum of positions and opportunities available at Veridian,” she said. “In many cases, the recruiter is able to share their own stories as an example of the potential for advancement. We also offer internships in many of the credit union’s departments, and partnering with local colleges and universities helps us promote those opportunities.”
For the past two years, the $3.8 billion Kinecta Federal Credit Union of Manhattan Beach, Calif., has offered a summer internship program for college students.
Sylvia LeNoir, director of human resources of Kinecta FCU, said the three-month paid internship seeks five applicants each year and offers “stimulating and challenging” opportunities in the following career fields: IT/Application Development; Marketing/Social Media; Accounting & Finance; Marketing Product Research & Analysis; and, Member Services.
Successful candidates, she noted, must be current college juniors or seniors with a minimum GPA of 3.5, able to manage multiple projects and show strong enthusiasm and commitment to the program.
“Each intern is assigned a mentor and a senior manager in their given field, where they work together in developing a project that the intern presents to the Executive Team at the end of the program,” LeNoir explained. “Each year, Kinecta has recruited an intern to join the team full-time in such areas as a member service representative and a telephone service representative. Both students were attending college at the time of hire.”
Hanscom FCU also employs interns, according to David Ossam, SVP-human resources and general counsel at the $1.1 billion CU. “We have employed summer interns in the past and plan to do so again in 2016,” Ossam said. “I don’t believe though that we will employ more than two.”
But he cautioned that job fairs are “time intensive” and “sometimes expensive.” Even though Hanscom has frequently employed interns, recruiting new college grads is not a primary HR strategy for the CU.
