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StepStone Group 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 StepStone Group for their strong approach to early-career engagement.
Read what this organization had to say about their winning strategies.
“Our team built a highly structured pre-start engagement strategy to ensure interns and analyst hires felt informed, confident, and connected before day one. We combined consistent communication touchpoints (sneak peek emails, detailed onboarding guidance) with interactive engagement, including pre-orientation content, intern panels, and dedicated group messaging channels. A key differentiator was our emphasis on clarity—demystifying expectations around professional norms, performance, and career progression. Incoming hires consistently shared that they felt significantly more prepared and less anxious prior to starting, allowing them to contribute more meaningfully from day one. We also held Accepted Intern Days across different teams!”
“We intentionally created early peer connections through structured and informal engagement before interns arrived. Using GroupMe and cohort-based introductions, incoming interns were connected by location and function, making it easy to build relationships early. We supplemented this with optional virtual touchpoints, including intern panels and informal meet-and-greets. Our approach balanced organic peer interaction with light program facilitation, ensuring engagement felt authentic rather than forced. As a result, many interns started the program already knowing peers across offices, which accelerated collaboration, increased confidence, and strengthened the overall cohort experience from day one.”
This organization had one of the lowest renege rates among their peers who applied.
In their application, they cited offering attractive incentives tied to the start date, 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 mentorship model is designed to support interns and early-career hires from onboarding through the full program experience. Each participant is paired with both a manager and a mentor, ensuring they receive both performance guidance and informal support. We also provide structured guidance to mentors and managers to ensure consistency across teams. What we’re most proud of is how the program has evolved into a development pipeline—former interns often return as mentors, creating a strong sense of continuity and community. This structure has significantly enhanced engagement, confidence, and overall program satisfaction.”
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 expectations and experience of full-time roles. Interns are embedded in real teams, contributing to meaningful projects that align with business needs. We’ve implemented structured performance checkpoints, including midpoints and final evaluations, to provide clear, actionable feedback. Additionally, interns are exposed to senior leadership and cross-functional teams, helping them understand long-term career paths. By combining real responsibility, transparency in evaluation, and strong relationship-building, interns leave the program confident in both their performance and their future at the firm—driving strong conversion outcomes.”
