Grow your career: employers that hire college students and new grads for entry-level roles
Landing a full-time job isn’t easy. It can be especially challenging if you’re looking for your first job because of the “chicken and egg” problem where you need relevant experience to get relevant experience—and few employers are willing to give a chance to someone who is unproven.
To get you started, I’ve compiled a list of companies that hire at the entry-level, whether through internships, rotational programs, or university recruitment initiatives. Before we dive in, here are a few quick tips on how to navigate this page, how to make your own list of organizations that meet your criteria, how to interpret the various terminology you might come across during your job search process, and more.
FAQ
How do I decide which jobs to apply for?
Step #1: Ask yourself: What am I interested in?
- If you immediately think, finance! awesome! Use the table of contents on the left-hand side of this page, click “financial services,” and open the links listed.
- If you’re interested in everything—and nothing—at the same time: scroll down this page slowly, open as many links as possible, learn about what each organization does, and then make a list of organizations that seem interesting.
Step #2: Ask yourself: Am I graduating from college / university this year?
- If so, when you go onto each organization’s website, look for the words “full time” (or “rotational program,” “early career,” “leadership development program,” or “apprenticeship”).
- If not, then look for the word “internship” or “co-op” (Internships are like jobs, but only for a set period of time—and typically over the summer. Co-ops are programs—often linked with your academic program—that allow you to work for the company part-time while in school or for several months between semesters.)
Step #3: Ask yourself: Do I know what I’m interested in doing inside of a company?
- If so (e.g., you know you want to work in marketing), then look for applications for marketing jobs specifically.
- If not (e.g., you aren’t sure if you’re interested in marketing, sales, human resources, or something else), then look for “rotational programs” or “leadership development programs.” These programs are often 2 to 3 years long and allow you to try—or “rotate” through-—a number of different teams. After meeting people across the organization like a two-year-long speed dating spree, you’ll either get matched with or be asked to select a specific team to join permanently.
- If you’re not sure (e.g., you think you’re interested in marketing but you’re not sure), then pick a rotational program or leadership development program. Why? Because (1) it’s always easier to experiment when you’re early in your career (it only gets harder!) and (2) companies often have an unspoken rule where graduates of leadership development programs receive more investment from the company than the typical employee.
How do I find organizations that hire at the entry-level?
Start with companies that have a history of hiring new grads. Often, these are organizations that…
- Are large (e.g., are in the Fortune 500)... which means that they likely have enough jobs that they need to hire at every level of seniority.
- Have a subsection on their “Careers” page that contains terms like “graduate program,” “rotational program,” “leadership development program,” or “internship program”... which means that they have a “cohort” they need to fill each hiring cycle.
Have someone with a job title like “university” / “early career” / “campus” + “recruiting” / “talent acquisition”... which means that they have someone on their recruiting team dedicated to hiring for entry-level roles.
Interested in an organization—but don’t see its name on this list? Look them up yourself by searching for the following terms on Google:
[Company of interest] +...
- early career
- early career hiring
- student program
- students and graduates
- early talent
- emerging talent
- campus recruiting
- campus relations
- campus hiring
- rotational programs
- internship
- apprenticeship
- co-op
What does “rotational program” mean?
Confused about what terms like “rotational program” mean? I made this hiring terminology dictionary to demystify what all of the various terms mean.
What jobs are available to me as a [X] major?
You may have heard someone tell you that you can do whatever you want with your major. As frustratingly ambiguous as this advice may sound, it’s generally true! With the exception of some jobs like nursing that require certain specific academic training, you’ll likely find people of all backgrounds doing just about any job. Did you know, for example, that Susan Wojcicki, the former CEO of YouTube, studied history and literature in college and that Richard Plepler, the former CEO of HBO, studied government?
How should I navigate this list?
Employer names have been grouped via broad categories. However, you may find a role or position which meets your specific criteria outside of your desired category. For the sake of an example, let’s use HanesBrands. At first glance, Hanesbrands is an apparel company. If you’re on a finance track in school, you may not think an apparel company is the right fit for your needs!
But wait–if we click into Hanesbrands, we can actually see that several categories are listed, with sub-categories branching out from each item. For example, Retail becomes Merchandising, Retail Ops / Store Management, and Retail Stores. Operations becomes Global Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Distribution. And Corporate turns into Customer Service, Digital Transformation, Finance (ah-hah!) and over 5 more sub-categorizations.
Hopefully this example showcases how categories can be deceiving, and how your perfect internship or early-career role may be hidden, in plain sight.
What determines whether or not an employer is listed on this page?
To be included in this list, an employer had to meet the following criteria:
- Hosts a dedicated page or section of a page on their website for early career hires, whether this include internships, entry-level hires, or specific programs
Why? To maintain the most up-to-date list. Links to specific job postings or internships are more likely to lead to a dead-end after a certain amount of time, which just wouldn’t be helpful!
I noticed you’re missing [a certain employer]. Can I send you suggestions?
Absolutely! My goal is for this guide to be a continuously growing resource for students and early career seekers alike. If you find a program, organization, or employer that has entry-level hiring programs but isn’t listed here, please use this Google Form to submit your suggestion!
I hope this brief Q&A was beneficial as you begin your internship and early career job search. Best of luck–I know you’ll do great! Now, let’s dive in.
