Message-ID: <28384658.1075855901169.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 12:13:00 -0700 (PDT) From: sally.beck@enron.com To: charlene.jackson@enron.com, celeste.roberts@enron.com Subject: Hiring Practices for Summer Interns Cc: richard.causey@enron.com, mike.mcconnell@enron.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Bcc: richard.causey@enron.com, mike.mcconnell@enron.com X-From: Sally Beck X-To: Charlene Jackson, Celeste Roberts X-cc: Richard Causey, Mike McConnell X-bcc: X-Folder: \Sally_Beck_Dec2000\Notes Folders\Sent X-Origin: Beck-S X-FileName: sbeck.nsf While recruiting on campus recently I became aware that a decision was made at the Program level to not interview this fall for 2001 summer interns. In talking with students and faculty at The University of Texas and University of Oklahoma, it became clear that there is concern over the feasibility of an internship with Enron, as other top firms will be recruiting this fall for summer 2001 interns. I have communicated my concerns to Lexi Elliott and her manager, Shelley Jones, and was told by both that the decision to delay interviews for summer interns was made at a Program level based on Enron's staffing. When I asked about the competitive data available regarding the practice of other firms on summer intern interviews, I was even more concerned to discover that neither Lexi nor Shelley had that data. It would seem critical to know what the competition is doing in terms of summer intern interview schedules in order to understand the risk that could be created for Enron by not interviewing this fall for these important feeder positions for our Analyst and Associates programs. I have had conversations over the last two weeks with Lexi and Shelley, with no resolution. When they could not provide the competitive data to either confirm or eliminate my concerns, I volunteered to have James Scribner, a Senior Director on my team, obtain this market information. Lexi and Shelley either did not have the time to gather this data, or were not sure how to do so. They were pleased to have some help in getting our hands on this critical information. I now have information at hand with regard to firms that will be recruiting at UT and OU this fall for summer intern positions. And based on this information, I believe that Enron is at risk for not hiring top students as interns for the summer of 2001 if we do not interview for these positions this fall. While my research only touches on two of the schools at which Enron recruits, I want to raise concern over this as a potential problem at many, if not all campuses that we have targeted for recruiting. As administrators of the program, you rely on the involvement of senior members of the company to carry the Enron message to campus. I believe that we also have an obligation to make this a two-way messaging system. I strongly believe that we must address this potential risk for Enron extremely quickly, as teams will be on campuses across the country to conduct interviews in a matter of days. I suspect that many Enron participants in the recruiting process are unaware of the Program's decision regarding the timing of interviews for summer internships. In working with Rick Causey and Mike McConnell, executive sponsors for UT and OU, respectively, they are as concerned as I about the decision on interviewing summer interns. I have copied both of them on this note to the two of you. Please let me know how this can be resolved. With the help of James Scribner and others, we have already compiled a list of students at UT and OU that should be targeted for summer internships. I will offer as much of my time as is feasible to work with staff members of the Program to devise creative ways to turn this around.