2024 Intern Week: ISG’s Investment in the Intern Experience

Enhancing the internship experience and investing in future employee owners, ISG launches Intern Week to close out the 2024 program.

August 15, 2024—ISG’s internship program has been recognized for its unique approach to professional development and its success for attracting top industry talent. This year, 47 interns from 22 schools explored ISG’s geographies and services and put their skills to the test with real-world experiences.

Led by a team of experts across 16 disciplines, the interns engaged, explored, and contributed to projects. They worked directly with clients, and received specialized, one-on-one training in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment.

To remain a sought-after intern program and sustain enthusiasm for ISG throughout the summer, for future career considerations, and on college campuses, ISG introduced Intern Week—a first-of-its-kind interactive and professional growth initiative.  

Working alongside their peers, interns were challenged to create a capstone presentation to share their experience, as well as showcase inventiveness and collaboration by identifying a recruitment strategy targeted at future employee owners. From August 5 through August 9, each group gave a virtual presentation to pitch their recruitment strategy to employee owners throughout all 14 office locations.  

Why a recruitment strategy? The interns are experiencing the program first-hand and are ISG’s target audience. The recruitment strategy ties into ISG’s 2030 Blueprint for Growth goals and provides more opportunity for creativity in our efforts.

“These presentations allow the entire firm to witness the impact of investing in the intern program,” explains Mariah Burroughs, ISG’s Campus Recruitment and Development Lead. “Our investment demonstrates that interns are not just numbers—the program is mutually beneficial.”

Nearly 200 employee owners tuned in each day to learn more about the intern experiences and provide feedback. Attendees rated the feasibility of each team’s recruitment strategy, how well it represented the ISG culture, and the clarity and enjoyability of the overall presentations. Recruitment strategies ranged from collaborative design competitions with scholarship incentives to increasing engagement with high school students and university departments, such as site visits and student organization lunch and learns.

Receiving the highest votes for identifying a creative, implementable recruitment strategy, the winners of the 2024 inaugural intern week competition were:

Shealynn Wegner
Practice Group: Planning
ISG Location: Green Bay, WI
Recent Graduate of University of Wisconsin, Madison

Emma Dorn
Practice Group: Environmental
ISG Location: St. Louis Park, MN
Senior at the University of St. Thomas 

Emily Dahl
Practice Group: Civil Engineering
ISG Location: Bloomington, MN
Sophomore at Iowa State University 

Blaine Tiedemann
Practice Group: Civil Engineering
ISG Location: Des Moines, IA
Junior at Earlham High School 

Cassandra DeVries
Practice Group: Applied Technology
ISG Location: Mankato, MN
Recent Graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College

“The most impactful part of the intern presentation competition for me was collaborating with interns from other offices and practice groups,” reflected Emma Dorn, “This collaboration allowed us to exchange ideas and insights based on our diverse experiences at ISG, leading to dynamic solutions that addressed different perspectives and needs.”

This group of interns focused on building stronger networks among high school and college students, alumni, and communities. Strategies included hosting job shadow days, showcasing ISG positions in classrooms and webpages, and sponsoring local events to give back to the communities that we support.

“Our talent engagement team is excited to explore the ideas presented,” said Mariah. “We are eager to increase traction and to recruit the best talent in the industry.”

ISG offers unique opportunities to explore your strengths and make a direct impact. Discover how you can make a difference. Visit us at your next campus career fair and check out internship and career opportunities here: Work at ISG | ISG Careers | Life at ISG (isginc.com)