We connected with Maddie Whibbs, a Talent Acquisition Manager, Universities and Colleges, at BlackBerry. She shared some valuable insights about how her company creates opportunities for co-op students to do work that’s relevant to them.
Maddie recounted how BlackBerry fulfills the building blocks of relevance to ensure young talent is doing relevant work (and are therefore more likely to be happy in their job and may perform better).
Find creative ways to provide young talent with social opportunities
BlackBerry knows that beyond the skills co-op students learn during their work term, the people that they meet at the company impact their work experience. This includes fellow co-op students, employees and leadership at the company.
“One program to feature is our BlackBerry Student Social Committee – known as the BSSC,” says Whibbs. “We’re fortunate to have over 160 students join us each term. The BSSC plans and facilitates a wide variety of social events for our co-op students to enjoy time away from their desks. It's often a highlight for many students.”
The BSSC plans social events strictly for fun like virtual games, coffee chats, bingo and trivia. The committee also organizes events geared towards professional development like professional headshots and one-on-one resume critiques.
Challenge young talent appropriately
Much like social integration, an open line of communication between a manager and their co-op student is an essential part of a successful work term.
Whibbs notes, “At BlackBerry, we encourage frequent and scheduled one-on-one sessions between both parties where they touch on items such as the co-op student’s personal goals, corporate goals, learning objectives and workload.”
These conversations maintain alignment between the co-op student and their manager. They also provide a time and space to talk about skills development and finding work that offers optimal challenge.
Create work for young talent that aligns with their professional interest
The conversation about career interests starts during the interview and evaluation phase. At BlackBerry, the interview team goes over projects and objectives for the upcoming work term to ensure they align with the co-op student’s interests.
These conversations continue throughout the work term as part of scheduled one-on-one meetings, where co-op students discuss and build upon their interests with their managers. By setting expectations and having these conversations early in the work term, the team can steer projects and assign them in a way that aligns closely with each co-op student’s interests.
“BlackBerry also has an online skills inventory where employees share their skills and career interests through our human capital management system,” Whibbs highlights. “These interests are viewed by the employee’s leaders and recruiters within the company. This allows employees to receive recommended career moves and match to current job openings based on their skill set.”
Help young talent learn new skills
Whibbs notes, “At BlackBerry, we’re proud to provide a variety of training and development opportunities that are designed to align business objectives with personal growth opportunities for our co-op students.”
These programs include:
Onboarding buddy program
This program matches each new hire with a colleague who helps them learn their role and understand the business.
Power Bar Skills Development Training Programs
BlackBerry offers informal, on-demand learning through their Learning Management System. These open enrollment courses consist of one-hour soft skills development sessions covering topics such as Working from Home 101, Effective Communication, College to Career, Establishing Trust, Presentation Skills, Giving and Receiving Feedback and Resolving Conflict with your Peers. Employees are highly satisfied with the program and return for more opportunities to learn.
Udemy for Business
BlackBerry offers supplementary learning opportunities for employees through Udemy for business. In 2020, more than 1,500 BlackBerry employees spent a cumulative 14,680 hours learning on the Udemy site. Common course topics included programming languages, IT certifications, web development, cross cultural communication, machine learning and business writing skills.
BlackBerry invests heavily in the four building blocks of relevance because the company recognizes the importance of these fundamentals.When young talent feels their work is relevant,they're more likely to be satisfied in their job and perform well. While the ongoing battle to retain top young talent rages, the ability to provide job satisfaction is more important than ever.
Consider how your organization can use these four building blocks to create relevant work for young talent.