Resources for Employers During COVID-19

Job & Internship Postings

  • Students are still looking for opportunities! And there may be students who start looking for alternative options right now because their original plans were changed or canceled. Post your positions in Handshake and then conduct phone/video interviews. Re-evaluate your posted positions for any potential changes that should be reflected.
  • Before posting new positions, you may need to consider potential short-term changes to the roles and/or your new employee orientation and reflect them as appropriate in the description(s). (See "Summer Internships & New Hires" below.)
  • To generate additional interest, re-engage with students who did not accept earlier offers from your organization or were “close” and are still on your list as potential talent. Reach out to any students who have connected with your organization over the last year.
  • Employers can consider offering remote internships for students who are authorized to work in the U.S. and for international students. For international students who hold an internship and do the work remotely, this would require verification from the employer and the student about the change in circumstances. Employers should ask their international candidates to seek advice and approval from the U-M International Center, just as international students do for all their career-related activity.

 

Interviews

  • Remember that not all students have access to a private location for phone or other virtual interviews. Some students may not have access to a personal computer and will prefer a telephone option or will borrow someone else's computer. This means background noise or other disruptions may not be the fault of the candidate.

 

Summer Internships and New Hires

  • We recognize that organizations are working hard to determine the impact of COVID-19 on their operations. We strongly encourage you to explore all available options for your interns/new hires and consider carefully any changes you may need to make. Remember, your brand and culture will be reflected to students by how your organization tries to creatively address this situation while also providing a career experience for students and building your talent pipeline.
  • Options you might consider for restructuring your internship & new-hire programs if absolutely needed include:
    • Convert the on-site internship to fully remote if this is feasible for your organization and your interns' role. Check with departments in your organization that already do some remote work for best practices. And check out these tips for remote work from an equity and inclusion lens and these other tips for remote work. 
    • Defer the start date to later in the spring or summer. Depending on the situation in your location, you may be able to move a May start to a June start and if required then move it again to July. Even if your internship turns into a two-month position from early July to end of August, your organization can still gain value from the students' work and contributions, while also offering an incredibly important and valuable opportunity for students.
    • Offer remote work for some period of time at the start, say the first 1/2 of the internship, and then have interns start work at your physical location(s) later. 
    • Unbundle the work expected of your interns and convert it into as many short-term projects as possible so you can offer some limited, remote project work to interns. You could then segment your interns into teams who work together virtually on a project for a short period of time and then present their results via video conference to hiring managers or executive leadership. (Similar to our Employer Challenges.) And/or convert an individual project into a competition/game for virtual intern teams such as a "hackathon," "design studio," "consulting case," or "skunk works" if applicable to select roles.
    • If the student is earlier in their academic career, offer to defer their internship at your organization until the following summer or next available opportunity.
    • Offer your interns first chance at interviews for internships or full-time hires in your next recruiting cycle.
    • Consider contacting any business partners and alliances of your organization to determine if there is something your interns could do for them (i.e., "lend" your interns to another organization that can use them).
  • If you need ideas for short-term projects:
    • Review your on-boarding programs and/or function-specific in-house training programs to determine opportunities or projects you might provide and/or provide funds for other online training in functional area(s) where students were assigned.
    • Think about any student visits you've hosted at your office in the past and what information and experiences you provided to those students. If you've hosted one of our Immersion visits, you may have some content/experiences already avialable.
    • Ask hiring managers and other teams across functions/departments for projects/tasks that need to get done.
    • Think about research-related activities or university-related activities that can be conducted online and where students might add extra value, e.g., conducting market/competitor research, conducting phone surveys, drafting content or plans for university recruiting, interviewing alumni, etc.
    • Unbundle the work expected of your interns and convert it into as many short-term projects as possible so you can offer some limited, remote project work to interns. You could then segment your interns into teams who work together virtually on a project for a short period of time and then present their results via video conference to hiring managers or executive leadership. (Similar to our Employer Challenges.) And/or convert an individual project into a competition/game for virtual intern teams such as a "hackathon," "design studio," "consulting case," or "skunk works" if applicable to select roles.
    • Develop a competition/game such as a "hackathon," "design studio," "consulting case," or "skunk works" if applicable to select roles/functions.
    • Consider individual projects you typically assign to interns or new hires as projects that might be appropriate for remote work.
    • Think about what students hope to get out of an internship and help them achieve that even if offered and delivered differently.
  • Get creative with compensation packages as appropriate. Perhaps offer to reimburse students for any out-of-pocket expenses to-date, e.g., summer housing deposit. If you need to completely cancel your program, consider offering a stipend to those students who no longer have a position for the summer.
  • Consider offering other perks and/or assistance (e.g., 1:1 session with one of your recruiters to discuss how they might present their changed summer internship on their resume and/or guarantee these students first choice at interviews for next year's positions).
  • PLEASE REMEMBER:
    • Significant changes to your compensation commitment (e.g., converting to a full-length, paid summer internship into one short-term, unpaid project) may not be possible for all of the students you hired, so it may be worthwhile to look back at your hiring goals to ensure that there are no unintended consequences of your final decisions.
    • Your brand and culture will be reflected to students by how your organization tries to creatively address this situation while also providing a career experience for students and building your talent pipeline.
  • Having interns work remotely is a great way to test those interns’ resourcefulness, initiative, communication and problem-solving skills, and their ability to work with distributed teams. It’s also a great way for employers to learn from younger, tech-facile students about best practices and new ways of working.
  • Employers can consider offering remote internships for students who are authorized to work in the U.S. and for international students. For international students who hold an internship and do the work remotely, this would require verification from the employer and the student about the change in circumstances. Employers should ask their international candidates to seek approval from the U-M International Center, just as students do for all their career-related activity.

 

2020-2021 Campus Recruiting Season

  • All University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Fall 2020 recruiting activities will be virtual and the University Career Center is here to help you connect with students in advance of your remote interviews. 

    • Attract candidates to your opportunities by posting and scheduling interview appointments through Handshake; the process you are accustomed to (resume drop, candidate selection, and time slot sign up), followed by meeting students online instead of on campus.
    • If you prefer to use your own appointment scheduling system, then simply advertise your interview date, job postings and application period to students on Handshake.
    • Within Handshake you will be able to provide links for students to connect to the platform you're using for the remote interviews.
  • You may find complete interview season information on our On-campus Interviews webpage. 
  • The format for Winter interviews, in-person or remote, has yet to be determined.
  • For questions about on-campus interviewing, please contact Kathleen Beardmore at [email protected]. 

 

Communications

  • These are nerve-wracking times for everyone, including students, so we encourage you to communicate, communicate, communicate! When we receive inquiries from students, we encourage them to contact their employer directly to ask specific questions and/or learn status updates.

 

Events & Other Engagement

  • Change the format of your on-campus events to virtual (either phone or webinar, based on your content).

    • Create an event listing on Handshake or update an existing one. Choose the event type “Virtual” and enter the URL in the designated space. Or if you prefer to provide the URL to only those students who RSVP, type “Virtual” as your event location, then send the information to the list of registered students. 
    • We can help you promote your opportunities. Send promotion requests to Andree Joyaux at [email protected].
  • Offer virtual 1:1 coffee chats (e.g., by Skype, Google Hangout, BlueJeans, Zoom, etc.)
  • Consider asking U-M alums at your organization to join UCAN so they can offer career advice to current U-M students via informational interviews (and in this way, build your brand recognition on campus and help students understand your organization’s culture). 

 

Additional Information