| | JULY 20229CIOReviewAll newly hired engineers go through the program, which includes projects that immerse participants in the standards, tools and infrastructure they'll use when they join their teamstheir peers," Kronberger says. "That helps us get a more diverse group of interviewers and means we can hire faster because the burden is spread among more people."It also leads to candidates with more diverse or nontraditional backgrounds who have a better shot at getting hired."The hiring committees look for generalists that will grow with us," Kronberger explains. "We're looking for people who understand software development broadly and who come in with a more general profile, and then we can train them for specific needs."In just two years, the program has seen results. The number of candidates hired increased 56% from 2020 to 2021, and the organization hopes to make even bigger gains in 2022."We're proactively managing skills and resources that help accelerate every part of the business, including Sprint merger-related activities and agile development practices," Thomas says. "It really is helping a rather classic IT shop move toward being a true digital product shop."Getting buy-inOverhauling the recruiting and hiring process at an organization the size of T-Mobile is no easy task, and not everyone was on board at first."Initially, I was not excited about this process at all," says Eleanor Zoppe, a senior manager of product technology who has more than 20 years of experience in the software industry. "I didn't want to give up total control over hiring my team." Eleanor was one of the first managers to go through the new process in 2020. More than two years and dozens of hires later, she describes herself as one of the program's biggest fans. "It really is transformational," she says. "I don't think I've ever had a more talented team. The tenacity, the drive, the innovation they bring. They challenge me every time I'm in a meeting. I think it shows exactly how great this process is."John Oleinik, senior manager of product technology, says the process introduces more accountability into the hiring lifecycle. Previously, hiring managers sifted through candidates themselves, conducted interviews, and then hired based on specific team needs. Now, current employees vet and interview candidates before they meet with managers, who seek to hire for multiple roles within their teams and elsewhere."As managers, we could sit together after talking to someone and say, `Wow, that person really suits the needs of your team more than mine,'" Zoppe says. "So sometimes I would recommend hiring someone who wasn't going to be on my team, but they would end up on John's team, or somewhere else. You know you're keeping the talent you're bringing in."The process helped in recruiting more diverse candidates, too."As part of Workforce Transformation, hiring committees provide a more diverse pool of interviewers," Oleinik says. "They can offer an additional layer of bias-checking that provides consistency and accountability." A bright future at T-MobilePiya Saetiew started as an entry-level software engineer in November 2021 and joined the Academy in early January. She said the program immediately helped her feel more connected to her fellow employees and T-Mobile's culture overall."Of all the companies I've been with, there was not much focus on the onboarding process," she says. "This program is unique in that it brings all the new hires together to immediately learn about T-Mobile tools, processes and platforms. It would've taken a long time for me to understand all of that without going through the training first."Piya's project in the lab was to improve an existing repository for all capstone projects. Now, in her full-time role, she primarily builds and maintains web applications for inventory management teams. She says the Laboratory experience helped her onboard much faster and envision a bright future with T-Mobile."I really enjoyed my experience. A lot of companies don't prepare you to work with a team at a company this size, and to be so openly well-received and encouraged, it's invaluable," she says. "You don't really see this anywhere else."
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