Bell is packed full of superstar recruiters who find and hire hundreds of high potential students every year, including Minami Alguire who is Senior Manager for Talent Acquisition. We had the chance to hear how the recruitment team is passionate about welcoming students to Bell, helping them find their fit, eliminating bias and seeing their potential to contribute meaningfully straight out of school. Finding one’s path after school can be daunting and it makes the company proud to see the way that their recruiters show up for students. Recruiters make connections and share their expertise with students at recruitment events, and work with hiring leaders to make matches between students and teams that are great for business and key post-graduation milestones for the student hires.
Bell is a space where recruitment and development merge. The company recognizes that there is so much opportunity in student hiring to bring fresh ideas and skills into the organization and to invest in future generations. With strong support from its executive team, Bell has both the passion and the commitment to make great things happen in the campus recruitment space!
Keep reading to learn more about how Bell welcomes new grads and students and what opportunities are available to them after joining the company. As well as Bell’s commitment to mental health & what steps are being taken to create an inclusive workplace.
Bell’s main initiative for students and new graduates
At Bell, they welcome students and new graduates into the telecommunications, media, and retail industries via the company’s award-winning internship and new graduate leadership programs. Whether students are looking for their first summer position between semesters at school, or ready to kick-start their career with a full-time role, Bell knows exactly how important the transition from school to work is and has over ten years of experience successfully launching grads into leadership positions.
Commitment to mental health in the workplace
On-campus, Bell Let’s Talk partners with schools across the country to equip post-secondary schools with digital tool kits to engage students in conversation around awareness and self-care. Last year, Bell announced the launch of the $3.1M Bell Let’s Talk Post-Secondary Fund to support Canadian colleges and universities in implementing the National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students
One of the four pillars of the Bell Let’s Talk campaign is workplace leadership, and Bell is proudly committed to leading by example in this space too. Since 2010, more than 18,000 Bell employees and 13,000 Bell leaders, have completed mental health training. Bell’s initiatives to improve mental health awareness, training and benefits have reduced short-term disability claims related to mental health by over 20%, and reduced relapse and recurrence by more than 50%. Earlier this year, we enhanced our psychological care benefit to provide unlimited coverage for mental-health services!
Important aspects of the career path
Bell is a leader in taking care of its employees and it shows through the mentorship and experience provided.
- Executive Mentorship – Exposure to amazing leaders throughout the company that help guide grads throughout their future careers. Minami’s own executive mentor was paired together with her during her time in the graduate leadership program and still meet regularly with each other!
- Real experience – Whether a student joins Bell for the summer, or for a full-time role after graduating, they can expect to work on real projects with real impacts on the way Canadians communicate with each other and the world.
- A sense of community – Bell’s cohorts have lots of opportunities to bond during onboarding and continue to stay connected as they move through their careers. For new hires, this means joining a company with a built-in network of over 1500 alumni that finished the program before them!
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiatives
For Bell, diversity, equity and inclusion is more than a seat at the table. It’s the key to the skills and innovation that make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Everyone benefits from a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment! Sometimes DE&I shows up at work in big ways – like Bell’s 2020 announcement to hire a minimum of 40% BIPOC talent in their new grad and intern programs – sometimes it shows up in the little things, like colleagues eagerly learning how to pronounce someone’s name. At Bell, they don’t just accept difference – they celebrate it!
#TeamBell is also passionately committed to DE&I, they currently have three Employee Resource Groups, which are run entirely by employees to support their members and allies. These include Women at Bell, Pride at Bell, and Black Professionals at Bell.
Taking steps to eliminate bias in the hiring process
Bell has a number of steps in place to reduce and eliminate bias in its hiring process. These include conscious inclusion training to help employees and people leaders to develop a better understanding of unconscious bias and the critical role they have in fostering an inclusive workplace. Alongside the diverse interview process, panels show candidates a realistic glimpse into Bell while also ensuring that hiring decisions are made with diverse thoughts and inputs to make sure Bell continues to be one of the best companies to work for in Canada.
The best way to help students and new graduates get involved with Bell opportunities is for them to speak to recruiters directly! Bell publishes its events calendar on its career site and on the Bell TalentEgg page, throughout the year. The company’s virtual career fair is one of the highlights of the recruitment calendar. Not only will students get to meet some current grads, hiring leaders, and recruiters, but also hear from executives, participate in speed interviews and access exclusive webinars and resources from the recruitment team. In the meantime, you can read more about Bell HERE
