We spoke to some of the graduates who have come through Mastercard to hear about the things that made a big difference to their experience.
Your first role out of college tends to be really formative. It’ll be where you first develop into the kind of person you are in the professional sphere. You’ll have your first triumphs and your first failures.
It’s an important time and, as such, it’s important for employers to make sure they are creating the best experience for graduates that they possibly can.
Shauna Naughton, a software engineer at Mastercard, began her career with the firm as an intern in 2014, but quickly realised that this was where she wanted to stay.
“I particularly enjoyed the extra activities that the intern committee provided for us so that we could see the different areas that Mastercard could grow our careers into.” She later got involved in the intern committee herself, having been so blown away by its benefits.
She is also a great advocate for mentoring graduates and interns, and believes that companies could help their greener employees grow faster if they provide the kind of hands-on instruction she benefited from. “If you have a particular problem, it’s really good to hear someone else’s perspective so that you can change how you may approach the problem.”
Kingsley Chimezie, an associate software engineer for enterprise architecture, began with Mastercard as a software engineering intern. He had presumed, rather fairly, that much of his work would revolve around technical skills. “What surprised me the most is that Mastercard values everything about you. When you come in as a graduate, you can showcase all your skills. So for me, I do a bit of videography and YouTube. So I was able to bring that into the company and I even did a presentation on film and video.”
These are just a few of the measures that ultimately aren’t very resource-intensive or complex, but can have a huge impact. When people feel valued, appreciated and that their development is a priority, they will flourish – as Naughton and Chimezie have.
Check out the video above to see their interviews in full.
