Currently, around 100 college students are spending their summers working in different areas throughout Regions Bank.
But it’s not a traditional internship program for everyone. Some departments took a different approach, creating robust programs that provide practical work experience for candidates – while creating a strong hiring pool for Regions.
The Finance department was a pioneer in this effort, launching their program about a decade ago. They’ve continued to refine and evolve the program and now have 12 student interns for the summer, as well as 10 full-time analysts that rotate for two years. Participants are recruited from all over the country and because of the competitive nature of the program, the selected students are high caliber.
According to program manager Tyler Zinder, “These interns come in with a great deal of potential. They have the skills to excel, but we challenge them to go beyond the assigned tasks and actively add value to the team.”
The interns are encouraged to network, ask questions, seek advice, and participate in a thoughtful and meaningful way. This helps guide the students to a richer experience, and with the practical experience they gain, become ideal candidates for the full-time development program.
These interns come in with a great deal of potential. They have the skills to excel, but we challenge them to go beyond the assigned tasks and actively add value to the team.
Tyler Zinder, program manager
Around five recent college graduates are hired into the Finance Development Program every year, and they rotate through four different areas of Finance, which could include experience in Corporate Finance, Investor Relations, Mergers & Acquisitions, Treasury or Accounting.
This rotation approach provides many benefits. It gives participants broad but deep experience in four key areas. They get a big picture understanding of the business and an opportunity to see which specific areas interest them and suit their skills. Working in various departments with different managers and teams with varied pace and personality helps develop agility skills and makes them more adaptable — a valuable trait in new hires.
Risk Management developed their Risk Development Program in 2019 and its structure aligns closely with the Finance program. Similar to Finance, Risk made a change this year by adding a Leadership Development component. This enables full-time, high-performing individual contributors the opportunity to enhance their management skills by serving in a leadership position for the summer interns or rotational analysts.
Risk Development Program manager Mollie Moeck likes what she’s seen.
“We’re excited about this addition to the Risk program,” Moeck said. “Besides hands-on leadership experience, these associates receive training and development opportunities to help prepare them for future management positions.”
Human Resources also has an Emerging Talent Program (ETP), which includes a rotational analyst segment very similar to those in Finance and Risk. Katie Fogg manages the HR program and also provides enterprise-wide oversight for all the other ETPs. She organizes activities and events that allow participants to experience the Regions culture, build skills, and get exposure to leaders in different areas of the company.
“Our talent programs provide participants with opportunities to network, learn about many areas of the business and build their skills,” Zinder said. “They also learn to be better problem-solvers and team players, which are qualities we look for when hiring full-time employees.”
In fact, many ETP participants are hired for permanent positions after they complete their rotations.
ETPs work very well for some areas of the company, but others are experimenting with arrangements that fit their unique needs. The Legal department recently worked with Birmingham, Alabama, law firms that have formal clerkship programs to offer a two-week crash course in corporate law at Regions. Diversity is an important component for career development programs throughout the bank, but the Legal team gave it special focus — all the Legal program participants were diverse.
The career development programs are valuable tools to help us grow and nurture a diverse, highly skilled and prepared workforce that will ultimately become the next generation of leaders.
Katie Fogg, HR program manager
Katie Loggins and Toby Vinson managed the program and placed the interns within various areas of Legal. Even though their time was brief, the participants were able to not only see how the in-house attorneys at Regions operate, but also to dig in and make a real contribution to ongoing projects.
The students were grateful to add in-house corporate law to their summer clerkship experience and appreciated the variety of projects. Aaliyah Locke, a second-year student at The University of Alabama School of Law, said she enjoyed learning how the role of the Chief Legal Officer and other in-house attorneys is broader than she expected. “The work they do is really interesting and expansive,” she said. “Being exposed to that helps me see what I can do with my law degree.”
“This high-performing, enthusiastic entry-level talent is so inspiring and it’s exciting to watch the participants grow in these programs,” said Katie Fogg. “The career development programs are valuable tools to help us grow and nurture a diverse, highly skilled and prepared workforce that will ultimately become the next generation of leaders.”
Learn more about Regions’ emerging talent and internship programs.
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