Sabre Bengaluru GCC, the software and technology company, invited students from different institutions to join the Company as interns through the programme, ‘Intern Boot Camp 2021’ in the month of February. Its flagship university recruits programme, an annual feature for about four years now, is aimed at grooming interns, from leading technology institutes, into Sabre engineers.
Sabre makes use of the bootcamp to welcome and engage prospective employees from various campuses. This initiative helps them learn about the brand and be active ambassadors right from the beginning. Only after this step are these interns assigned projects within the Company. This initiative aims to facilitate a smooth ‘campus-to-corporate’ transitioning of the interns.
Surinder Bhagat, India people leader, Sabre Bengaluru GCC, says, “Most companies imagine having the best students on board and evolve leaders for tomorrow. This is a common trend, but to bring out a leader from amongst the students, it is essential to look at how they are made to enter the stream.”
“Most companies imagine having the best students on board and evolve leaders for tomorrow. This is a common trend, but to bring out a leader from amongst the students, it is essential to look at how they are made to enter the stream.”
Surinder Bhagat, India people leader, Sabre Bengaluru GCC
A total of 59 students have been hired, who all have been offered a six-month internship. Last year, Sabre absorbed 100 per cent of the interns into the Company for permanent positions, and is pursuing a similar goal this year too.
Bhagat adds, “When candidates join an organisation directly from the campus, several thoughts occupy their mind, out of which one is definitely the doubt whether their skills are enough to fit into the corporate culture. Other than this, they also worry about their behavioural skills. So, we have received testimonials on how these interns feel and how they wish to see themselves. This helps us decide on ways to deal with and retain the right talents in the company.”
After recruitment, the interns were divided in groups for a hackathon, which gave them the opportunity to give shape to their innovative ideas.
Bhagat says, “We motivate the interns to communicate about how they are feeling within the Company and their communication attitude should represent the culture of the Company. That makes them ambassadors.”
As per a post-event, survey 72 per cent of the participants were satisfied, while 91 per cent showed willingness to recommend the Company to others. The Sabre management finds this to be an interesting way to allow new recruits to indulge in extensive learning with proper guidance from their mentors. For the first time, Sabre held the event virtually this year.
