The Charles Aris Recruiting Internship: Developing our talent pipeline

Charles Aris senior associate Andrew Reynolds sat down with senior marketing associate Sydney Olszewski and marketing intern Cameron Warren to discuss the executive search firm’s recruiting internship program and how it can lead to full-time roles.

What attracted you to the Charles Aris recruiting internship program?

Andrew: I was originally attracted to Charles Aris because of its marketing internship. I was a marketing major in college and wanted to further that interest by getting some hands-on experience. While part of the marketing team, I gained exposure to the recruiti­ng side of the business – including our associate recruiters and practice leaders. I was attracted to their daily interactions with people and how they managed the entire three-month process, all the way from initial conversations with candidates to the day one of them accepts our client’s new opportunity. Seeing this firsthand intrigued me to learn more about the recruiting internship program and that’s how I got started.

What about your internship experience made you want to pursue the associate recruiter role full time?

Andrew: For me, the biggest thing that stuck out was the mentorship and the buy-in. Even as an intern, I noticed that a lot of people spent time helping me develop both professionally and personally. I always wanted to be part of an organization that didn’t just see me for what my role was today, but also for what I could potentially evolve into, and Charles Aris is that organization. There are so many examples, throughout the levels of our firm, of people who started as an associate and have moved up within the organization. Having the option to achieve something like that, paired with the mentorship and buy-in, was something that I wanted for my first job after college. It’s also financially rewarding. The associate recruiter role really allows for unlimited earnings potential, and the firms is transparent about that from day one. We also pay our interns, which was a plus for me as I went through college. The final piece was just getting embedded into the culture. The culture at Charles Aris is great. It’s collaborative, it’s team-driven; it feels collegial and I wanted to be a part of it full time.

How did the recruiting internship program prepare you to join our executive search team full time?

Andrew: By the time I joined the team as a recruiter, I had interned for a year and a half and completed three internships across our three largest recruiting practices: Strategy & Corporate Development, Engineering & Operations and Finance & Accounting. I learned a lot in all of those – especially during my last one with practice leader TJ Deal, with whom I got the chance to run searches solo, source candidates, complete pink sheets, and even place a few individuals. By the time that I started full time, I was by no means an executive recruiting guru, but I had a good understanding of what I was getting myself into and could hit the ground running.

What is the benefit of going through the internship program on a path to the full-time role versus coming into it straight off campus?

Andrew: Anyone whom Charles Aris hires as an associate probably wasn’t a recruiter prior to working here. So as former interns here, we’re typically the only ones with recruiting experience at Charles Aris. As an intern going into the full-time role, you have a better idea whether it’s something you want to do full time and if it’s even something you’re going to be good at. You get to start building a network within Charles Aris as well. You’ve already built relationships with the people you work with every day and that really helps when you come in on day one. You’re not going to be the best recruiter in the building right after an internship, but you will know how to do the job a lot better than someone who is just starting.

What advice would you give a student who is interested in our recruiting internship program?

Andrew: First, it never hurts to learn about an opportunity. Jump on the phone and get some color from our internal recruiting team. Then just jump in headfirst. Charles Aris is a firm that wants you to come in and try as hard as you can and learn from your mistakes.