What Interns Have to Say About TribalScale?
By Magan Tran
Students in internship or cooperative education programs have the opportunity to work at various companies throughout their time in college or university. Some work terms they enjoyed immensely while others, they hated with a passion. At any point within this spectrum, students will socialize them. Campuses are viral societies: students will talk about their experiences and word will spread about the really amazing and truly horrible employers. How do you create natural ambassadors for your company–one that students rave about?
At TribalScale, around 20 interns are hired every four months. To determine if TribalScale is on the right track in creating an experience that leads to positive word-of-mouth, we conducted anonymous surveys with current co-op students to gather feedback on their experience.
This is a summary of our findings
The initial survey was distributed in June of 2017 to collect insight on how interns perceive their work term at TribalScale. We received a 62% response rate with at least 30% representation from each team.
What is TribalScale doing well?
- There are many opportunities to learn and engage in meaningful work.
- A subject matter expert is always available if there are any questions.
- Tribe members make an effort to include interns in social events.
- Interns identify as a member of the Tribe.
When asked what interns enjoy about working at TribalScale,
- 85% of respondents referenced the culture, specifically praising the openness and comfort they feel at work.
“The culture and workplace attitude [towards] initiative, curiosity, and camaraderie is amazing.”
- 38% of respondents were happy with their role and the “ability to get involved in projects you want to be involved in”.
End of Term Results
Interns were asked to reflect on their internship in terms of their highlights and learnings, and what could be improved.
In terms of how TribalScale’s internship program can improve, there were two common themes among both surveys:
1: A more holistic introduction of TribalScale: During on-boarding, interns were not clear on their understanding of TribalScale’s teams, work culture, story, and processes.
“It would be better if the on-boarding presenters provided a more comprehensive explanation of what TribalScale is and its cultural style”
2: A better feedback process: Throughout the term, interns felt unsure of how their managers perceived their performance and would have preferred more feedback.
“Communication about what the co-op student is doing well, as well as where they can improve could be a bit more transparent and thorough throughout the term”
Overall, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
- 92% of respondents rated their co-op experience at 4 or 5 out of 5
- 100% of respondents would recommend TribalScale to others as a place to work
So, what do us interns have to say about TribalScale? We love it.
“We’re thrilled that our interns are enjoying their experience at TribalScale and we really appreciate the honest feedback they gave. This feedback will help us in creating a better experience for future students and keep this ball rolling. We treat our interns like we treat our full-timers because they are such an integral part of the Tribe and make huge contributions in their four months.” — Sheetal Jaitly, CEO, TribalScale
To answer the question in the beginning, a way of creating natural ambassadors for your company is to always look for ways to improve your employee’s experiences at work. While TribalScale does celebrate their successes, it is always important to find ways to grow. The next steps for the management team are to review all the feedback received and implement new practices to enhance the co-op experience.
Magan Tran is the Business Development Intern on TribalScale’s Marketing team. Magan enjoys spending time with her high energy border collie, and keeping up to date on the latest tech and HR trends.
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