Two weeks, 120 interns and TARGETconnect for employers

‘The platform was just a dream… you were a pleasure to work with’: this was the verdict of EY Ireland after being one of the first to run virtual programmes using TC4E.

EY Ireland sought a platform that would run a two-week virtual internship for 120 students across seven different business areas, with customised activities and events for each area. The firm was determined to continue to build a talent pipeline and provide students with an excellent experience, even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

A conversation with their Group GTI account manager later and the student recruitment team was booked in for some demos to explore our new TC4E virtual offering, in order to ensure that they felt fully confident that our platform was right for them.

How EY’s virtual internship worked

The internship essentially comprised a mixture of training/insight sessions for the entire group and smaller group meetings, talks and tasks held within the specific business areas. Each intern was assigned to one of TARGETconnect’s pathways (customised workflows) that correlated to their specific business area, so that they were only able to see the stream of events, tasks and information that was relevant to them. This provided the interns with a bespoke, directed learning experience and prevented them from being overwhelmed by information.

TARGETfeedback, the survey tool built into the TARGETconnect platform, allowed interns to take surveys and quizzes to demonstrate and consolidate their learning as part of the system, as well as capturing feedback for the firm and self-reflection from the interns.

The progression of interns through pathways within TC4E also allowed EY to easily track attendance and see which activities or events had been completed.

How we worked with EY

Initially, our team performed a demo and mapped EY’s requirements to the TC4E functionality, before rolling out training for the student recruitment team on how they could best use the system. We split the training sessions into two slots so that the information we provided was digestible and the student recruitment team had time to practise using the platform between sessions.

The EY team appreciated the training, saying that: ‘Dan [one of GTI’s customer success managers] was amazing with training us and was so good at explaining things to us non-techy people!’

The student recruitment team then decided on the activities and sessions to be included in each of the business areas’ pathways and added them as events/activities, while the GTI team added the 120 users (interns) onto the platform. We were on hand to answer any questions and troubleshoot where necessary; again, the personal touch of our team was appreciated. ‘You were always just a click away when we needed you and can I just give a massive shout out to Charlotte [one of GTI’s Client Delivery Leads]. She helped me out no matter what kind of queries I threw at her, and she always replied at the speed of light.’

The results: happy interns, happy EY

All 120 interns were able to successfully complete the programme. In fact, the student recruitment team has observed that using our all-in-one platform rather than sending out a bunch of MS Teams links added a touch more professionalism and so was in keeping with the EY brand.

The success of TARGETconnect for employers is summed up by this feedback from our client: ‘We just want to say thanks so much for all your help; you were all a pleasure to work with. The platform was just a dream and the interns never had any issues with it. You’re all a wonderful bunch, which made every training session and phone call easier. Thanks again, guys, from all the student recruitment team.’

For more details on TC4E contact Simon Katchay, Commercial Product Manager at simon.katchay@groupgti.com