What In The World Is A Winternship?

It’s no secret: Interns drive our business forward. Our interns approach the business with fresh eyes and find unique solutions we may not have considered without their help.

On average, we receive over 31,000 applications for the 1,300 internship roles we open each year. With such a large applicant pool, our internships are becoming more and more competitive. As we continue to find the best of the best, we’re widening our candidate audience by identifying applicants we don’t organically see in our talent pipeline. By doing this, we’re finding new pathways to spread the word about what Rocket Companies^® is doing in Detroit, Cleveland, Phoenix, and Charlotte.

One of our unique pathways of exploring different candidate pools is our Winternship.

The Winternship is a week-long externship in Detroit that brings in students from different universities across the country like Brown University, Howard University, University of Southern California and more.

The Winternship was first held 4 years ago and specifically targeted Ivy League students. Since then, we’ve had a variety of other externships throughout the year to target student athletes and HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) students. Based on feedback from previous sessions, we’ve combined all of our formerly separate week-long externships into one inclusive experience! 

This year, we offered the Winternship during 2 separate weeks, each hosting approximately 30 students across 10 companies at Rocket Companies^®. The first week took place during the week of December 15, 2019 and the second week took place after the new year, starting January 5, 2020.

The goal of the program was to immerse students in the culture of Rocket Companies^®, share new perspectives of Detroit and attract competitive and driven candidates to internships and full-time roles. Throughout the week, students were able to spend time with 1–2 hiring leaders in their areas of interest, tour and explore the city, volunteer with local nonprofits, attend sporting events and network with senior leaders from across Rocket Companies^®.

At the end of the week, students walked away as ambassadors of Detroit and the majority received an offer to join us for a summer 2020 internship or even a full-time role upon leaving us. Throughout Rocket Companies^®, we’ve had several team members who participated in Winternships while in college and they’re now driving their careers forward within our family.

Even though the Winternship targeted 64 students, the reach is much wider. Each student had a story-worthy experience, and every team member they interacted with impacted their vision of not only Rocket Companies^®, but the broader community as well. This will ultimately help spread the message that Detroit never left, and we’re not done rising, either!

Even though 2020’s Winternship season is over, our prime internship season is coming up! If you want to get in on the action and be part of a program that’s changing perspectives and influencing the business, then check out some of our open internship positions!