Apply for Abode's first-ever Early-Career Engagement Awards. Learn More
Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) 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 Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) for their strong approach to early-career engagement.
Read what this organization had to say about their winning strategies.
“We are proud of the personal touches incorporated into our pre-start engagement strategy. Our goal is to make incoming interns feel welcomed, valued, and excited before day one. We do this through personalized outreach, including handwritten congratulatory notes and newsletters tailored to the internship experience and what they can look forward to throughout the summer. We also celebrate milestones like National Intern Day by sending gift cards along with messages sharing how excited we are to host them. These small but meaningful efforts help us build strong connections early and create a sense of community before the internship program begins.”
“Our team focused on building a strong sense of community early on with our new hires. To support this, we hosted a virtual meet-and-greet session where incoming interns could meet one another and hear from past interns about their experiences. We also created an intern yearbook featuring fun “get to know you” questions, along with an email contact list for interns who wanted to connect before the summer began. For students from our core schools, we made an effort to connect with them on campus prior to the start of the internship experience.”
This organization had one of the lowest renege rates among their peers who applied.
In their application, they cited hosting pre-start programming or events, connecting new hires with peers before the start date, and regular communication with new hires between acceptance and start date as the top 3 reasons for their low rate.
“At BGL, mentorship is a core part of the internship experience and reflects the apprenticeship-style nature of investment banking. Each intern is paired with a junior and senior mentor from day one. Junior mentors provide relatable guidance, answer questions, and check in weekly, while senior mentors act as managers by supporting project work, providing feedback, and helping interns build connections across the firm. Beyond the formal program, BGL fosters a strong culture of informal mentorship through collaboration, open-door communication, and team support. We believe investing in our interns ultimately strengthens both individual growth and the firm as a whole.”
This organization had one of the top internship to full-time conversion rates among their peers.
“One aspect of our internship program designed to encourage full-time return offers is our focus on providing interns with a true analyst experience. Interns receive meaningful, hands-on work, real responsibility, and strong mentorship and support throughout the program. We intentionally structure the internship to closely reflect the life of a full-time analyst so interns can fully understand BGL’s culture, opportunities, and day-to-day experience. By combining impactful work with a collaborative and supportive environment, interns gain both the skills and confidence to pursue investment banking long term.”
