Tech Badasses Wanted

Universum recently announced that Scotiabank has dramatically climbed the ranks as an ideal employer for students in Canada. Not only did we move up several spots in overall attractiveness to business students, we are now also the top bank in Canada for tech students. Scotiabank has also been ranked fifth on Hired’s Top 10 Toronto Employer Brands in technical talent. That’s powerful stuff, but there’s still so much opportunity to grow and we’re not going to rest until we’re at the top.

What makes Universum’s news so important is that the data behind the ranking is solely based on thousands of student surveys. Students love our commitment to them, our relationships with them, the opportunities we’re creating to develop them, and the experiences they encounter at the Bank and on campus.

Students are hired into large companies like ours by the thousands each year; they are the future leaders. But outstanding young people don’t just line up to join your company because it’s big and global — more than ever, they want to know what’s in it for them.

“A student-development culture is one that sees students as change agents and as future leaders, where student jobs are coveted launching pads for amazing careers and bright futures.”

So how do we “get” students to change and influence our culture in a positive way? Well, that takes a culture change in itself — super confusing! You need your leadership team to embrace the idea of a student-development culture. One where a student isn’t “just an intern” or where the mindset of, “don’t interview them, just give them a job, I know their dad” is not alright. A student-development culture is one that sees students as change agents and as future leaders, where student jobs are coveted launching pads for amazing careers and bright futures.

It takes Recruitment, Learning & Development, Total Rewards, all of HR, and then it takes every People Manager, Director, VP and Group Head, it even takes the CEO to make it work; to make great development programs, to get rid of unpaid internships, to set standards for assessment and selection, to invest money and resources into the student experiences, and to change the mindset of thousands from “just a student” to “let’s push them, they’re really hungry, ambitious and capable.”

We also have three new student development program streams in technology — Velocity, which is for interns and co-op students, and both Ignition and the Associate Product Owner program for new grads. Launching these programs required creativity and a team to drive them forward to fruition and investment. In all cases, the programs were championed by our leaders.

To the future tech badasses reading this article: if you haven’t yet discovered how winning big at Scotiabank is career-gold, then make sure to check out our Velocity, Ignition, and Associate Product Owner programs! Make sure to also join our community to chat with our campus team, share insights, and find out when we’ll be at your campus next at scotiabank.com/sayhellotocampus and find out more about us online at scotiabank.com/campus.

Bottom line is we invested more than $3B (that’s a B for billion) in technology this year, and yes, students should see that as an incredible opportunity, but I’m proud that our culture sees the importance of investing directly in the students who will be maximizing our return on that investment for years to come.

I meet students for a living and I love it. I love how bringing in outstanding young people can change and influence an organization’s culture. Doing it for a team of over 96,000 employees means that when you do it right, you win big and spark impactful change, not only for thousands of teammates, but also millions of customers and shareholders around the world.