2020 Strong actionable ideas

Jul 27, 2020 | Development

Content provided by: Cappfinity

Nicky Garcea, Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer at Cappfinity offers advice for employers navigating the changing employment landscape.

In May we worked with workplace expert, Lindsey Pollak, to launch 2020Strong, a global initiative exploring the impact of the pandemic on the graduating class of 2020 and the future of graduate hiring.

As part of the project, talent leaders in the UK, US and APAC regions shared how they are changing their approach in response to the pandemic. Here are ten of the key actions that came out of the research along with quotes from interviewees:

  1. Create a virtual manager toolkit to support managers in providing an informal introduction to expectations and workplace culture

“We are creating a virtual manager toolkit – how many touchpoints, how to advise an intern to ask questions, etc. We are level-setting how to build virtual relationships.” ​

  1. Create daily connections and a weekly rhythm for communication

“All managers of summer interns are having a daily virtual morning huddle. We want to train the interns to work normal hours and level-set expectations of the work. We also want them to have face-time with someone from our company every morning.”

  1. Arrange mentor conversations with people at different levels within the organisation to provide a broader perspective

“For the remote internship, we have assigned every intern four mentors at different levels, including partners.”

  1. Provide the opportunity to learn through live examples – with face-to-face meetings replaced with calls, there are more opportunities for interns to join client meetings

“There are phone and video calls taking place with clients because of the crisis. Partners are placing added focus on making sure associates are on those calls.” ​

  1. Provide flexible access to content and activities

“Everything we’re doing for our intern programme virtually will be recorded for playback, so they can participate at any time over four weeks to make it work for their situation.”

  1. Dial-up communication to boost engagement

“We are doing company-wide town halls more frequently. We would normally do them once or twice a year and now we are doing them every two weeks. It’s good for the employees to hear directly from leadership.”  ​

  1. Check in confidentially 

“We created a confidential survey to ask every employee ‘How do you feel from a well-being perspective about possibly returning to the office and what would make you feel more comfortable?’ We want to have a sense of how people feel.” ​

  1. Open doors to senior leadership

“As a global head of recruiting, I would normally go to a couple of live events to meet 20-50 pre-intern students. But next week we’re going to deliver a new virtual experience to a much larger audience to get our message out more broadly.”

  1. Make learning funand engaging

“We have a working prototype of a virtual board game. Candidates said it gave them a better understanding of our industry and was more fun than case studies.”

  1. Collaborate & support

“I want to team up with other companies in my industry or local area to make the virtual experience positive for students. Let’s come together as companies, so a student can talk to three or four companies or industries at once.

Cappfinity will be sharing more research highlights over coming weeks, including further details about VEE (Virtual Experience and Evaluation), a new platform designed to provide students with access to strengths-based development and evaluation aligned to career readiness skills. For more information visit 2020strong.global.

 

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