Inside Iron Mountain’s Internship Experience

On this episode of the Internship Show, we speak with Danielle Arandin from Iron Mountain. Danielle talks about Iron Mountain's internship program, shares all of the investment that senior leadership is given to grow the Iron Mountain early career programs and so much more. Stay tuned in the show coming up next. Danielle, thanks so much for taking the time and joining the show. Thank you so much Parker and I really appreciate you creating this space and also for the Internship Show, I've actually followed it for such a long time and I love that in charge of students get access to these kinds of conversations. So such a huge fan of the podcast show. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Yes, and we're here to talk about all things Iron Mountain and your internship program, but before we dive into that, do you mind introducing yourself to the audience and talking a bit about your role at Iron Mountain? Absolutely. So I'll go ahead and introduce myself and give you a little bit about my background. So my name is Danielle Runden and I lead our early careers here at Iron Mountain as our global program at the University Recruiting Managers. I do sit within talent acquisition. I'm responsible for both our campus recruiting strategy and programs in which I lead the design, the operations and the execution of our early careers. So I do oversee both recruiting and programs I work very closely with basically our leaders, our managers, HR, business teams all across the organization. I am very hands on from the moment candidates to apply. They're interviewing through the process to the program and ultimately, you know, everything that goes well through the conversion process. When it comes to my team and my structure, my team is very small. We are a mighty team right now. I'm supported by an incredible HR rotational associate. She is absolutely bright and an early career professional. She's actually in our rotational program currently rotating in early careers. She has been absolutely instrumental when it comes to partnering with me through our campus recruiting season. What's really special about her HR rotation is that it does include early careers. So we are building her recruiter skills or strategic mindset and her stakeholder management experience in real time. And we couldn't have been so successful this year without our HR rotational program in our team, providing that white love service within campus recruiting and our candidates and people leaders. We also walked the talk when it comes to development and my team. So we also have a future summer intern joining us in our Boston office this year and that our team is growing and it's reflected on the talent that we are building. And perfect just to give you a little bit about, you know, my background before I remounted in. I did spend about 10 years on the corporate side of early careers building leading basically all types of programs, internship programs, rotational programs, new rep programs, strategic partnership programs, apprenticeship programs, just all across the different regions. So you name it. My next question is like what's the next program in early careers because I truly do love managing all these types of early career programs. Additionally, before that, I spent around 10 years in higher education. I worked in admissions career centers, program management. And I even thought I actually wanted to become a professor at one point. That's how much I truly enjoy mentoring students. So being on both sides of higher education and the corporate side has actually shaped who I am today, right? Because I am able to understand both sides are actually crucial to early career. So when you added all up, please don't count my age. I've spent around nearly 20 years supporting early talent and it still feels just right. I'm still passionate about it today just as equal as a day when I started. So I'm truly lucky to do what I love in the field of early careers. That is amazing. And for listeners who don't know the company well, what is Iron Mountain and what do you all do? Yes, Iron Mountain is honestly one of those companies that people recognize by name. They see the logo everywhere, but they don't always realize how impactful the work is here at a core. We're in the business of information protection and storage. We work with some of the largest companies in the world, including the majority of the Fortune 1000. We are in the business of helping protect and manage the most important information. That means physical records, digital data, historical archives, IT assets, even data centers that keep our digital world running. So a lot of what we do happens actually behind the scenes, but it's very essential. Companies basically trust us with what they cannot afford to lose right. And that level of trust says everything about who we are as an organization from protection, security, reliability is the heart of our work. We quietly help businesses, industries and even preserve history to keep and move forward at every single day at the mountain. I love that framework there. And thanks for sharing. I am always curious when we bring guests on. Danielle, what do you love about working in Ireland? That's a good question. So what do you love most about working at Iron Mountain is truly the sense of community and trust. You're going to hear trust being said a couple of times in my conversation. But from the very beginning, I always felt supported by my leadership team and by the broader organization. That trust does show up immediately for me. Internally, we do have a strong and collaborative culture. We call ourselves the mountaineers. It's really cute. But everything is honestly centered around the mountaineer theme, which makes it fun. And it's that feeling like we are climbing together through the mountain. I honestly didn't expect it to feel so welcoming so quickly. Every day I wake up excited to come to work. I feel like I'm making an impact. And my team does trust me. They believe in the vision. They support the future focus work that we are building. And that's absolutely incredibly motivating, right? One of my favorite parts also is our former intern community. So many of our interns are actually, they have grown into full-time employees and we have a lot of new grads. So I'm still very close with them, even though we're a global company, the community feels very personal. I know our cohorts. I know their stories. It just feels intimate in the best way. And a fun fact is I actually joined our mountain last year. By my third day former interns were already reaching out to me on LinkedIn asking how they could help, how they could connect, how they can support our future program. And that's just how mountaineers are. We are supportive, we're generous, we're invested in each other. And because they do oversee both the recruiting and the programs, I've actually built a really strong community of managers and leaders as well. Our hiring managers genuinely care about our interns and early talent. And that's a big reason for our campus recruiting strategy and why it's so strong. We're really intentional about our candidate care. So during our recruiting process, our people leaders and our teams, they're consistently connecting with us. Huge spring flag, right? It's when our people leaders are engaged and they love to be part of our early careers community. We do move very quickly. We communicate clearly. We try to deliver offers within about three weeks whenever possible. Our interns are hearing back quickly because our leaders part are very closely with us and they understand how competitive early talent is. By the end of the day, what I loved the most about being here and I was very surprised as the people, they really do care. Our students, care about our students, their development and about doing the things the right way. That's truly what makes Iron Mountain such a special place at the end of the day and why I love working here. Anything unexpected that you've learned since joining Iron Mountain? Yeah. So one of the most unexpected things I learned after joining Iron Mountain was just how strong and connected the early community is, right? We have actually an early careers employee resource group, which is called the ERGs. It's actually led by former interns who are now full time mountain years. Many of them have been at the company for years. They're still deeply invested in supporting the next generation. I'm also part of our steering community for the ERGs. So we're actually really intentional about building a space where alumni feel supported. They feel developed and connected, not just during the internship, but long after they join us this month for our session because it's February. We are actually leading a session on the basics of networking on how to not make networking awkward early in your career, which is a super cool session. It's actually led by our executive speaker, who is my incredible leader of VP. And during the event, we are connecting all of our ERGs with each other so they can meet somebody new in the business, which is really, really cool. When I joined, I didn't realize how incredible our alumni and our network was, right? How much tenure and loyalty there is within this company? So seeing our former interest growth stay thrive here has been really inspiring. And then another unexpected factor that I saw with Aaron Mountain was what, how huge the support comes from our leaders, right? One example is my vice president serves as the executive sponsor for our early career CRG. And he's been absolutely incredible and supported for our vision and our growth. So that kind of sponsorship really matters, especially within the early career space. The show's set early talent isn't just a program here. We are making a priority. We are making it a space to watch out for. And you know, that altogether from the alumni, the ERGs, the community, the leadership support has really enforced me that we are building something very special. It's a community that truly believes in developing people for the long term. So I'm really, really grateful to be here at Aaron Mountain. I'm super curious when you and the team are hiring interns. Are there specific skills or traits that you're really looking for? Yes, one of my favorite quotes, Parker is from Albert Einstein. He once said, I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. And honestly, that's one of the things that we do look for interns. It's curiosity, right? We're looking for students who are eager to learn who ask questions and who genuinely want to understand how things work. So another big trait that we look for is being a self-starter, right? If you have a LinkedIn profile portfolio, a personal project. share that, be visible, tell your story. We really do take the time to review your story, especially for any intern who is interested for into our creative tech and marketing roles, portfolios and personal work can really make you stand out. Also, I would say adaptability is also really huge here. So we are a global company, so interests do need a feel comfortable working across time zones, joining virtual meetings. If you're in an on-site, be flexible to be in an on-site collaborating with teams around the world, right? Having that global mindset early is such an important scale. So, and then we also look for strong communication and engagement. Are you present in interviews? Are you thoughtful in your responses? Are you curious about the company and the role? We don't expect obviously interest to know everything, right? That's why you're here. That's why you're applying. But we do look for people who take responsibility for their work and care about doing it well and engaging with us. So I like to say that we take a very holistic approach. We look at your resume, your length and your portfolio, and how you show up in conversations and interviews. So we are extremely hands on from the moment that you apply through the sourcing process to the offer process. Truly, we are not just hiring for a skill. We're hiring for that potential that mindset, that initiative, because we are looking for the next potential leaders at our mountain. I love that. And I think that gives such good clarity to potential future mountaineers who are looking to apply for an internship at Iron Mountain. And I'm curious, Daniela, would you mind giving us an overview of Iron Mountain's internship program? Absolutely. So I'm honestly so excited to talk about this part. Our internship program at Iron Mountain runs about 10 to 12 weeks. Our typical start dates are from end of May through August. And we usually host around 40 to 60 interns each summer. So we are focused on hiring actually undergraduate rising seniors and juniors. We are trying not to just scale for high volume. We are trying to scale for quality and long-term investment for our companies. So we want every in turn to feel seen, supported, and actually meaningful develop. Everything in our program is mountaineer themed. This reflects who we are as Iron Mountain. It always makes me smile when we are creating this mountaineer themed parts of our journey. So we think about your internship as a journey, right? Interest start at, you know, what we call is base camp. That's our orientation. And then they move through their trail all the way by the end of the summer. So along the way, they are earning badges or building their skills. Essentially, what we say, they're climbing the mountain together. Each week of the program, we are focused on a specific competency. So we are extremely intentional about building your business acumen, your communication, and your professional confidence, right? Early on, we focus very heavily on business communication and professional writing because that foundation is so critical in any role now and in the future. So that's where most of our focus has been in earning their internship program. Throughout the summer, we do host a variety of immersive experiences. So one of my favorite is actually campfire chats where former interns gather around an invisible fire. It's basically our former interns who are now full-time mountaineers. They share their journey, their lessons learned, their career stories. This event is meant to be very intimate and a comfortable space for our interns to meet our former interns and get to know them and get to know who's gone through the program. We also host ERG career panels where our employer resource groups talk about navigating early in our career building community and then showing up a little bit more authentically at work. We also have executive speaker series where we bring in EVP leaders to share our candidate stories also to share about their own early career journey. And then this is new to the program this year and actually one of my favorite sessions this year. It's more focused on the development side. So we are actually offering a series called Trail Training Talks. So these are Ted Style sessions led by leaders across the business on basically topics like business acumen, communication, resume branding, and how to utilize our AI tools. We also host the in the live sessions where interns showcase their work. They are sharing tips and tools that benefit other interns and learn from other roles across the company. This is actually a consistent feedback that we're always hearing from interns. They want to meet other interns, right? They want to learn about the other side of the business. So we really wanted to create that space for them without the lift. And then we also celebrate national intern days. We are giving them a little bit of deeper exposure to our culture and our legacy during that day. And we do invite our interns to participate in our early careers podcast. There is a podcast internally in our company. That way we can showcase visibility and confidence through our summer internship program. So every week interns are receiving newsletters. They're outlining their program events, development themes and competencies. But what's really important for us is not just the intern experience, but it's also the development journey, right? We also shift gears and we have focused this year on the manager experience. So at the same time managers receive a dedicated communication with tips, tools and guidance on how to support early talent. We host manager office hours. We provide centralized resources, performance reviews, guidance, even recommended readings. One of my favorite books to recommend for our intern managers is Gen Z at work. It is such a great book. It's helped me when it comes to building my team. So ultimately leaders do want to make sure that they feel equipped to develop their interns effectively. And at the end of the day, we're building a community. So our interns, managers, leaders, we want to make sure that they feel connected to the program. And so that's kind of like the meet and potatoes of the program. We do keep it fun. We have socials. We have little marshmallow gatherings, mountain metaphors and all. But we want to make sure that the learning throughout their program is engaging, meaningful and memorable. So that's pretty much a very detailed overview of our amazing program. It sounds amazing. And I love the intentionality that you all take behind training your managers to understand the generation that's coming in to be these mountain years in Iron Mountain's internship program. What functions are teams with an Iron Mountain typically are hosting interns? Yeah. So we typically hire interns across a wide range of teams that Iron Mountain. That includes finance, operations, technology, marketing, human resources, sales and creative writing roles. But what's most important is that interns are actually embedded in real teams with actual ownership of their project. We want to make sure that you are contributing whoever joins us in our teams. They're getting that exposure to our leaders or projects and that corporate exposure as well. What types of projects do interns usually take on at Iron Mountain? Yes, that's a really good question Parker. So it all depends on the business and unit and the title, right? Interns are assigned at least one or two projects during their 10 to 12-week internship. This fully aligns with what our conversations are during our intake process with our people leaders. So very broadly, it all depends on your title. So if you are working on our finance business unit, you are most likely building financial analysis, improving operational processes. An intern could be building dashboards to create an impact on our customers. These are really incredible projects that we have. A lot of them are more focused on process improvement and contributing to tech initiatives. We also have put a lot of focus on marketing and people focus projects. So it all depends on the business unit, but these are the typical projects that we see for interns. Overall, it's a really incredible project and communication throughout the internship program. At the end of the program, no matter what is your project, you are expected to showcase that presentation to our senior leaders on what they have worked on. So we definitely have templates, we prepare you, we prepare our leaders through it, but overall our interns are definitely gaining that corporate experience with us through their project. I'm curious throughout the kind of intern experience at Iron Mountain. Are there any sort of mentoring opportunities or buddy systems that y'all have put in place from the programmatic side of it? Yes, absolutely. So from the very beginning, interns at Iron Mountain are supported through a buddy and a mentor system, depending on the size and the structure of their team. We are actually really intentional about preparing both buddies and mentors and we do host trainings to make sure that they feel equipped to support early talent effective. The buddy relationship is very focused on helping interns learn quickly. It gives them someone that they can go to for their day-to-day questions, how things work, how to navigate systems, and then how to feel comfortable in their role right away. The mentor relationship and be a little bit different. It's another layer of support, right? Our mentors help interns think more long-term. It's more about their career path, their growth, and how to navigate their professional journeys. We are really thoughtful about the cohort experience. Just from day one, we focus on building that strong support system among interns so they feel connected and very confident throughout their experience, which makes it way more meaningful. The program sounds great. I'm curious if you'd be willing to share any feedback from former Iron Mountain interns about what they've said their experience has been like. Yeah, absolutely. One of the most consistent things we hear from former interns at Iron Mountain is that they felt that we truly invested in them, right? They often tell us that it never felt like they were just here for the summer. It felt like a company that honestly was genuinely committed to their growth. I can tell you from the program side, we're very intentional about staying connected. We overcommunicate. That's our thing. We're super transparent. We make sure everything feels very easy to navigate for them. Interns actually tell us that they know what's coming, what's expected, where to go for support, and a huge big theme that I would say is strong in our amount. This is actually the sense of community and just the mountain. near pride. We feel connected to each other, our managers and our broader organizations. So by the end of our program, our goal is that our interns are feeling that they have genuinely developed themselves as early talent. And that's exactly what they tell us. They always share that they have learned so much compared to where they started. So that's a big win for us and for them as well. So they built obviously corporate experience or growing professionally, dimension that they have gained so much confidence in how they show up at their work. Another big takeaway is their network. Many interns tell us that they leave with stronger relationships and connections that they ever expected. So you know, with our peers, with our mentors and our leaders with that communication throughout the program. So overall, you know, what we hear mostly is that they walk away feeling prepared, supported, and proud of their experience here. And that's exactly what makes a successful experience for interns. Danielle, this has been so fun to learn about everything that is going into the Iron Mountain internship program. It sounds amazing from everything that I'm hearing. I want to make sure we wrap up the show with something from you. I'd love for you to leave a listener with one thing that maybe you want them to know about Iron Mountain or your internship program. So what would you think that would be? If there is one thing I want the certainly to leave knowing about Iron Mountain is that we don't just give interns a role. We walk along the side with them as they grow. So at Iron Mountain, we don't hand you a map and say, hey, good luck. Enjoy your summer. We truly climbed the mountain with you, right? We're intentional about creating that experience that feels human, supportive and meaningful. We want to make sure that we are giving them creative thinking, communicating, collaborating, growing in a professional environment. It's so important. So that is one thing that I want to make sure that interns know in your podcast, our interns are seeing their supported. They're trusted with real work. And because of that, they leave more confident, more capable and obviously more prepared of what's next. So if you are looking for a place where you're going to feel challenged, develop and truly invest it in, that's what we strive to offer here at Iron Mountain. This has been awesome, Danielle. Thank you so much for the time today. Thank you so much, Parker. I really appreciate you and the internship show for creating the space for students and early talent. We're always rooting for you and we hope to see some of your listeners on the mountain very soon. What a great conversation with Danielle from Iron Mountain, to learn about everything that goes into their internship program. Stay tuned for the next episode of the internship show and have a great day.