Apply for Abode's first-ever Early-Career Engagement Awards. Learn More
Grant Thornton 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 Grant Thornton for their strong approach to early-career engagement.
Read what this organization had to say about their winning strategies.
“Our team built a standardized, research-backed touchpoint strategy spanning three seasons — Spring, Summer, and Fall — from offer acceptance through Day 1. Each season includes national email campaigns, upskilling webinars (including a Generative AI workshop), swag deliveries, and at least two required local in-person or virtual touchpoints. This approach was grounded in data: 80% of students told us a lack of connectivity to their future employer could cause them to decline or renege.”
“We want interns to feel like they belong at our firm before they ever walk through the door. Our strategy starts pre-arrival with welcome social events where interns meet their buddies, mentors, and local leadership. Once onboard, interns are connected through Intern HQ on Microsoft Teams — a centralized digital hub for real-time communication across the national cohort. Throughout the program, we host required Welcome, Mid-Point, and End-of-Program socials, plus a National Intern Day celebration. Interns also participate in "Building Community" orientation panels, Business Resource Group programming, and even local intramural sports teams — creating authentic connections that extend well beyond the internship.”
This organization had one of the lowest renege rates among their peers who applied.
In their application, they cited regular communication with new hires between acceptance and start date, connecting new hires with mentors or buddies before the start date, and hosting pre-start programming or events as the top 3 reasons for their low rate.
“We are proud of our three-tier mentorship framework, designed to provide each intern with meaningful, multi-level support. Interns are paired with a Buddy for day-to-day guidance, a Career Coach for performance feedback and development, and a PPMD Advisor for long-term career conversations. University Recruiters also maintain regular touchpoints throughout the program. This intentional, layered approach ensures interns always have a trusted resource when navigating daily responsibilities or exploring future career goals—and it reinforces that they have a full team invested in their success.”
This organization had one of the top internship to full-time conversion rates among their peers.
“Our internship program is intentionally designed to mirror the full-time associate experience. Over an immersive 8+ week program, interns work on real client engagements and receive structured feedback through self-assessments and colleague evaluations at the midpoint and end of the program. These evaluations directly inform talent review conversations and offer decisions, giving interns full transparency into their performance and path forward. We also integrate community service projects, social events, and culture touchpoints that build genuine belonging. Historical results validate the approach: approximately 90% of interns receive full-time offers based on performance, and ~92% of our most recent associate class were former interns.”
