Apply for Abode's first-ever Early-Career Engagement Awards. Learn More
Akamai is among the top 20 programs in the country to be recognized for excellence in Early-Career Engagement. Their application demonstrated excellence in crafting intentional keep-warm strategies, building community, preventing reneges, fostering mentorship, and successfully converting interns to full-time roles. Below, you’ll find the highlights of their award-winning application including the proudest achievements of their early-career engagement strategies.
Abode is proud to recognize Akamai for their strong approach to early-career engagement.
Read what this organization had to say about their winning strategies.
“Our global team makes an effort to connect with incoming interns across programs to ensure that students are excited, informed, and have any questions answered. Our recruiters are frequently checking in with incoming students to answer questions and to get them introduced to their teams and mentors. Utilizing Abode, Akamai is able to create shared global communication templates to reach students across the world as well as to form a community where interns can meet each other prior to their start dates.”
“Community is an important element of our Akamai internship program, so Akamai utilizes Abode to connect interns with each other prior to their start dates as well as to plan events for interns. In their first week, interns meet each other for icebreakers at Emerging Talent orientation, and then will experience an array of programming covering everything from fireside chats and professional development workshops, to social campaigns and events. It's important to us that interns feel connected to their teams, their peers, and their work, and we feel hosting community events for all global interns helps us to achieve this goal.”
This organization had one of the lowest renege rates among their peers who applied.
In their application, they cited ensuring candidates clearly understand their compensation and benefits before accepting, regular communication with new hires between acceptance and start date, and connecting new hires with mentors or buddies before the start date as the top 3 reasons for their low rate.
“Our buddy program is frequently cited as a highlight of the internship program by Akamai interns. We allow interns to decide what they are looking to get out of their mentorship experience, and find that mentor conversations range from anything to skill building, to networking connections, to conversations about the future (including grad school). Mentors are able to provide a casual environment for interns to connect and learn, and many times, have previously been an Akamai intern themselves!”
This organization had one of the top internship to full-time conversion rates among their peers.
“Interns gain real-world experience during their Akamai internship that sets them up to return in a full-time capacity (if the intern is interested in this path). Interns receive multiple formal performance reviews during their internship, access to LinkedIn Learning and Pluralsight (skill development platforms), and attend weekly touchpoints with their manager and mentor to help them stay informed and on track when it comes to project work. Interns also hear over the summer from company leaders, become a part of employee resource groups, and get to know intern alumni who now work at Akamai full-time. These efforts all contribute to creating a sense of belonging at Akamai, as well as readiness for a full-time career, whether at Akamai or elsewhere.”
