As Geordy Johnson, President of The Johnson Group, is known to say, “We are not in the real estate, hospitality, or auto finance business; we are in the people business. The talent on our teams is the driver of our companies’ success.” Attracting and retaining the right people for our teams is paramount to our ability to grow and create value. Our companies are fortunate to have team members with many different backgrounds and levels of experience, all of whom contribute in valuable ways to our mission.
One of the many ways The Johnson Group recruits and grows talent on its team is by hiring recent college graduates, some of whom join us through our internship program and others find us following their graduation.
The Johnson Group’s internship program has been a strong source of talent for our companies in recent years, with 41 prior interns joining our team in full-time roles following their summer with us since 2018.
As team members join our companies, we aim to engage them in our culture and our community. Our colleagues at American Credit Acceptance have been intentional in creating pathways for recent college graduates to bridge the gap between being a student and becoming a professional through their “Bridge Program.”
The Bridge Program, launched as a pilot in 2019, has now been launched company-wide at ACA. Since its formation, over 75 associates have gone through the program which aims to connect associates with less than 3 years of corporate work experience to ACA’s culture.
“The program consists of lunches with our executive leaders to learn more about their career paths, social events where associates can hone their networking skills, and educational events that provide resources to grow professionally and learn more about corporate work culture,” said Kelsey Koterba, one of the Bridge Program’s leaders. “Each cohort provides great feedback so we can continue to improve the program and our efforts to engage the talent coming into ACA.”
For team members who do not go through the Bridge Program, The Johnson Group also has a cross-company team called SPARK whose mission it is to plan and execute opportunities for associates to engage with one another and with our community through social and volunteer events. As we reemerge into an environment where we can gather safely with one another, we are excited to announce that SPARK will once again be planning these opportunities.
Please be on the lookout for more information in the coming months!