Crain's Detroit: Ally internship program expands in a big way, aims for real work

Ally has gotten more strategic about college internships in recent years, going from as few as 10 companywide at the beginning of the decade to 128 interns this summer in Detroit, Charlotte, Jacksonville and suburban Dallas, said Kathie Patterson, chief human resources officer for Ally Financial. The expanded internship program has been built out of necessity to attract a highly skilled workforce, Patterson said. Ally company senior leaders developed a learning curriculum that focuses on giving the intern meaningful projects to work on as well as feedback and guidance. And like full-time employees, interns at Ally are expected to do volunteer service work in Detroit and other communities where the bank has a large workforce. Since revamping the internship program, Ally has hired 106 interns for full-time jobs in its nationwide workforce of 8,000. About 70 percent of interns return for a second internship, Patterson said. The expanded internship program has given the auto and home lending bank the ability to forge new relationships with dozens of universities to recruit from, including Wayne State University, which has helped Ally recruit a more diverse workforce, Patterson said.

Full story in Crain's Detroit Business

 

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