At Zoom, our Global Emerging Talent (GET) program spans the globe with internships and new graduate placement initiatives that bring some of the best and brightest minds to Zoom. Each year we invite our new graduates to attend networking and orientation events, hear from our executive leadership, including Zoom CEO and founder Eric S. Yuan, and participate in training as part of our GET new graduate induction.
Led by GET Program Leader Nicole Perzigian, the weeklong induction is composed of technical and professional education sessions, networking, mentorship, and social events that help our new Zoomies feel connected as they transition to full-time work. When given the opportunity to use Zoom’s new virtual event management platform, Zoom Events, Nicole’s team jumped at the chance to try something new as they prepared to host more than 200 recent graduates from the U.S. and India.
Zoom Events simplifies virtual event management
In previous years, the Global Emerging Talent team leveraged Zoom Meetings and Zoom Webinars to host the training and social events, while depending on a digital calendar to create the sessions, distribute meeting invites, and manage participants’ schedules. This process was not only manual and time-consuming, but generated hundreds of disruptive calendar notifications. In addition to streamlining their administrative tasks, the team aimed to establish a greater sense of community between the graduates that would reflect Zoom’s internal culture of caring.
Rather than manually create multiple websites, hundreds of calendar invites, and communicate via email, GET program manager Daniela Rendon built the onboarding program right in Zoom Events, eliminating many of the manual tasks while consolidating information in one place. Daniela used Zoom Events to:
Create a registration landing page with event details where graduates could register onlineTag event sessions based on various criteriaNotify all speakers and participants at onceSet up and distribute tickets for sessions specific to India or U.S.-based attendees Organize and display speaker biographies on each event listingDesign education tracks based on a participant’s role or job dutiesHost networking and social activities
Daniela and team estimated they saved more than 40+ hours on back-end administrative tasks, giving them more time to focus on new opportunities for graduates to build relationships with one another.
“With Zoom Events, I no longer had to go create individual calendar invites or go back and forth to coordinate everything,“ Daniela said. “Due to the self-registration feature, we were able to remove data entry tasks from the team and increase our productivity to focus on the event itself.”
The Zoom Events lobby chat provided a place where participants could get to know one another and surface any challenges or questions. Rather than field all of the questions herself, Daniela began to see an organic shift toward better networking and camaraderie as her new colleagues heavily used Zoom Team Chat to help one another. Not only did Zoom Events facilitate and encourage more conversation, but it provided an immersive experience for the graduates to navigate the week ahead with ease.
“New grads could enter the lobby, choose the sessions that interested them most, and bookmark them for easy access later. They could also visually see their itinerary and any pertinent information rather than repeatedly have to check a calendar,“ Daniela said.
As the week drew to a close, Daniela used the Zoom Events analytics and reporting tools to gain insight into the program’s success, with data reflecting the number of registrants and attendees, bookmarked sessions, and total chat conversations within each session.
“The intuitiveness of the Zoom Events platform for both the speakers and graduates made this the most engaged group we’ve ever had. The analytics reflected 200+ comments in one session alone, so we could actually see the engagement,” Daniela said.
Zoom’s products changed the Global Emerging Talent team’s approach and game by leveraging the platform’s tools to connect, network, and onboard new grads. To further engage with GET graduates, Zoom’s CEO Eric S. Yuan leveraged Zoom Team Chat for additional conversation and collaboration.
Building better communities today and tomorrow
In speaking with Nicole Perzigian around her plans for the program in the future, she shared that she won’t wait until next year’s new grad induction to use the Zoom Events platform again. Nicole plans to use Zoom Events for upcoming recruitment initiatives, internship programs, and apprenticeship programs to more efficiently run their events as well.
“The ability to use Zoom Team Chat and Zoom Events to connect, communicate, and build a community across this program has changed how we can seek and attract talent in the market. This pilot was a huge success, and we are excited to provide even more innovative and cutting-edge ways to develop the future leaders of Zoom,” Nicole said.
Our new graduates agree, saying this about their experience:
It is amazing to feel like a part of the Zoom family this much this early on. Different teams across the company, from our Zoom Support Team to our own team, have also been warm and welcoming with whatever questions and issues we may have. 💙 #ZoomieLife! The program also allows us to get started with our respective role as new #ZoomGrads as soon as the first week!
Shein P, Software Engineer
This was the best onboarding experience ever! Despite being virtual, the team did a wonderful job of being friendly, available, relatable, and understanding, and helping New Grads create a community within the first week. The activities and events were seamless and so much fun!
Nivetha Narayanan, Software Engineer
Want to join our Global Emerging Talent program or know someone who is? Apply here.
Discover what Zoom Events can do for your employee onboarding programs or next virtual event. Contact us today!
By: Jennifer Clark
Title: Zoom’s New Grads Hit the Ground Running with Enhanced Orientation Experience
Sourced From: blog.zoom.us/zooms-new-grads-hit-the-ground-running/
Published Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2022 20:50:35 +0000