Our Hands-On Approach to Talent Development
While interns might be assigned menial tasks at many companies, the opposite is true at Omnium. Omnium interns are key members of our team and we invest in their training and development.
Our two-pronged internship program consists of:
Structured training in consumer packaged goods (CPG) fundamentals and data science practices.
A “sandbox” for exploring potential new approaches/solutions for real client problems.
At Omnium you are not “thrown into the deep end to sink or swim” but given a small enough pool to learn and grow with the support of the rest of the team. During typical working conditions, that entails an open office and daily team lunches. During shelter in place, it’s working in zoom rooms and an “always on” slack channel where questions are encouraged and can be answered by anyone in the company including our president and partners. The entire company benefits from paths explored and potential new discoveries.
Senior team members help provide structure and guidance on projects and serve as a final set of eyes before anything going to a client. As interns grow in understanding, ability and confidence, their responsibilities and client interactions grow also. Omnium interns work on answers to business decisions that can make millions of dollars of impact on our CPG clients. Our interns have the opportunity to be in the room or on the phone during these important c-suite discussions.
Our philosophy of learning by doing is led by our President and CEO Johnny Valeriote, “We prioritize client interaction with all of our interns, which has led to interns playing significant roles in the development of key learnings for each CPG brand we work with.”
As a small team that promotes from within, interns and junior employees are consistently encouraged to step up and take on new responsibilities when they are ready. This method is successful as employees learn more quickly when they are thrust into a new challenge. They can try their own solution while being supported by mentors who have been through similar experiences.
Interns have always had a big influence on our culture and voice at Omnium. While current conditions do not allow us to socialize in person, our interns have been building relationships virtually via weekly happy hours. We are also conducting a daily company exercise challenge. For each day that an employee completes their exercises, we donate $30 to charity. Every week a different charity is chosen by a different team member. So far we have donated $15,000 to 13 charities in the US and Canada to support COVID-19 Relief and Social Justice.
While a natural career path is to return to Omnium or one of our clients after graduation for a full time role, we also maintain an “Omnium Alumni” Slack channel to continue relationships, share job opportunities, and pose industry questions/challenges that enable continuous learning.
Profiles and testimonials from current and former interns are on our careers page. Four-month terms begin in in September, January and May and applications from undergraduates and graduates from STEM fields are accepted on an ongoing basis.