Congratulations Clare to the team on the new Global brand “Enterprise Mobility” – can you give us some insight into what was behind the rebrand?

As a global business we have a purpose as a world leading mobility provider to advance the world, one journey at a time. Our rebrand gives us a great platform to showcase this; that we offer so much more than car rental. We have multiple business lines and not many know, for example, that we own 2 large tech companies.  In fact, only 11% of people surveyed know we have more business lines than Rent-A-Car.  As an organisation hiring over 2,500 new employees annually, this is an exciting time of transition to our new brand as it allows us to re-introduce our story. In the Early Careers space, bringing our story to life to someone looking for their first graduate job can sometimes be a challenge as we are not commonly known to a student, who may not have experienced our services. Having a broad consumer brand allows us to offer a range of fantastic opportunities.

 

What practical things have you been doing to help students better understood your new brand?

We started collaborating with key stakeholders who are the Careers and Employability teams in universities. We needed to re-introduce our new brand to universities which was an opportunity to demonstrate who we are, what we do and our commitment to mobility. We have connected with many of our University Partners to bring students into our networking events to support this re-education and show how our industry is an exciting one to be in! Our Regional Directors and HR Managers have been working hard to provide partners and students with business updates, insights into our diverse businesses, and all the great work we do in our local communities.

 

I remember back at the beginning of the pandemic when we started talking about how Enterprise was going to pivot away from your tried and tested campus fairs to reaching out to students and giving them that “tap on the shoulder” and simply starting a conversation. Working together we developed the “Say Hello!” Campaign which was a great tool to create that intrigue and that virtual equivalent of a tap on the shoulder. Now that we are out of the other side of Covid what is your take on the student pulse on-campus?

Yes, Covid forced us to work virtually; it would never have been our choice as we take a lot of pride in our face-to-face connection with students as it’s a great way to show our amazing culture and to tell our story. We saw students take a big hit in their confidence levels due to Covid and now there is even more uncertainty due to the cost-of-living crisis. Their financial support presents challenges in covering rent and day-today  and we are seeing many students not enjoying their university experience. Many  are having to work one or two jobs to get through which in turn impacts on their academic performance. The majority are feeling the pressure and its concerning because many students don’t have the luxury of time or money to attend the Careers fairs.

To help alleviate these pressures, we have responded by “Saying Hello” to students through more accessible channels: Continuing to educate and support; We launched a 12-part University Life Podcast series on topics such as ‘Budgeting’, ‘How to Survive University Living’ and ‘How to do well in exams’.

• In- curriculum partnerships are increasingly important; we now work with over 60 Universities to deliver a combination of guest lectures, business games and employability skills sessions.
• Investing more heavily in Campus Brand Managers; we now have 90 in the team who are our returning interns.

 

What role do competitions, student awards and rankings play in your Employer Brand strategy?

We run a combination of our own student competitions such as Intern of the Year as well as supporting industry wide awards. Our Intern of the Year Award is a great way of immersing interns to solve real life business challenges, many of which the ideas have been implemented. Whilst doing so, it also helps us build a great pipeline of talent. Supporting students to enter and win awards shows that we are committed to developing our people and that we truly value their contributions; it’s a really authentic way of promoting our employer brand. The value of rankings such as the Times Top 100 is significant.. We want to be recognised as a top employer not just because we hire big numbers but because we have a great brand and culture for graduates starting out on their careers.

 

Clare you are a great role model for E,D&I in the Early Careers space and you currently co-chair the ISE E,D&I Task Group. Tell us more about what you see as being key in this space?

Our industry in Early Careers, through the ISE is all about collaboration between suppliers, universities and employers under one common voice. Together, we strive to remove the barriers to those coming in and out of the education system to reach their full potential.

At Enterprise Mobility, diversity is the fabric of our culture. We focus on equity versus equality and our UK and Ireland Diversity Council, that I sit on, is focussed on supporting employees to bring the best version of themselves to work every day.

A great example of our focus is brought to light through our Say Hello weekly virtual drop-in sessions. Here, diversity role models at varying seniority levels support candidates in breaking down barriers of engaging with employers like us and to help build student confidence. We see this as putting our arms around candidates, coaching them on how be as successful as they possibly can in our hiring process. It’s a simple concept with great attendance rates (typically 50-100 candidates on each session) and lots of interesting questions. It’s been a real game changer for us!

We have also reignited our campus interview strategy where students have the opportunity to fast-track to the final selection stage without needing to complete a formal application at the beginning. This is another great way of supporting candidates to apply and help build their confidence.

 

Thank you to Clare for her time and energy and I am very much looking forward to seeing the new Enterprise Mobility brand go from strength to strength.