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year of their masters program. The philosophy is that we create internship opportunities with the goal to convert to full-time employment,” said Mills. Students that complete the internship program successfully could potentially be offered full-time employment upon graduation. The recruitment process is competitive with numerous applications and Nike hiring about 400 - 500 early career candidates globally. There are various innovative talent programs where Nike works in partnership with elite athletes to create apprenticeship and fellowship opportunites to build business capabilities. There’s also an additional segment of the pipeline that focuses on direct hires where Mills targets graduating seniors in college as well as second year master’s students. They recruit those students to start at Nike full-time. Mills’ team hires across the Nike, Inc. enterprise for various disciplines from engineers, designers, and technologists to finance, human resources, marketing, and data analytics to name a few. For Nike, there’s also a continued focus to deepen their relationships with HBCUs, says Mills. “There is amazing talent on our HBCU campuses. We are looking for students with
potential to grow and develop their career at Nike,” says Mills. “STEM talent is a huge area of excitement and is critical to Nike’s tech, digital, and sustainability initiatives.” Mills was introduced to global representation as a student at Howard University being in classrooms with students and professors from a variety of countries around the world. “Howard is called ‘The Mecca’ for a reason,” said Mills. “It peaked my interest to think globally and prepared me to launch my professional career.”
To date she’s visited over 35 countries.
Howard University, she says, also had professors that not only taught the theory of her academic discipline but also logical and strategic thinking - how to properly network and establish relationships and navigate her corporate career as a Black woman. Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, she was immersed in HBCU culture from the Atlanta University Center – Spelman, Morehouse, and Clark Atlanta University.
“I was drawn to the culture, the traditions, the authentic
Howard University, had professors that not only taught the theory of her academic discipline but also logical and strategic thinking - how to properly network and establish relationships and navigate her corporate career as a black woman.
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