Making a Home at Home Depot

Cindy Milburn is the senior director of staffing for the home-improvement giant Home Depot (HD ) at its headquarters in Atlanta. She has worked for the company since 1995, when she helped build a program for management development. About four years ago, Milburn began directing staffing for Home Depot and has been an integral part of the efforts to increase the company's visibility at B-schools.

In the last year, Home Depot has made a determined effort to further develop relationships with universities and recruit undergraduate and MBA students at 22 American schools. It will start recruiting at Canadian programs this year as well.

Home Depot hires 125 interns every summer, about 80% of whom are MBAs. Creating a pipeline for full-time hires is the primary objective of the internship program. After graduation, MBAs go into the logistics, operations, finance, marketing, or information technology. Some are hired for Business Development, a sector that deals with mergers and acquisitions. And about 40 specially selected MBAs head into the Business Leadership Program, a two-year training ground that includes the opportunity to rotate into various functions.

Milburn recently talked to BusinessWeek Online reporter Francesca Di Meglio. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow:

Q: How would you describe the culture?
A: Retail, by nature, is constantly responding to a changing business climate. If candidates are interested in being at an innovative and entrepreneurial organization that is fast-moving -- sometimes busy or chaotic -- then this is a great place for them.

Q: How do you decide where to recruit?
A: We looked at a series of things when evaluating universities: academic scores, placement in the rankings of various publications, average years of work experience students have, the gender and ethnic diversity of the class, and the geographic and physical location of the campus. We also look at prior connections that the company has had with the university.

Q: How do you build relationships with schools?
A: We rolled out a new process this year to make executive leaders captains for teams that will develop in-depth relationships with individual universities. They'll look for opportunities to serve as advisors to students or speak on campus.

Q: What skills should MBAs improve?
A: Leadership, communication, influence, and persuasion are things that could be improved. Another is realizing there is a difference between academic and practical [skills]. Certainly, in our industry, flexibility is another skill you must fine-tune. To operate in a fast-paced environment, you have to be willing to change.

Q: What are you looking for in an employee? A: Leadership, leadership, leadership. We look for leadership, both in terms of things the students have done on campus and in their professional life. We are interested in [candidates with] strong communication skills and the ability to influence people. We also have a series of competencies that we consider in our evaluation process, which includes rounds on campus and on-site.

Q: What can a student candidate do to impress you?
A: As much as we want to select the best candidates, we want the best candidates to select us. They impress us when they come to the interview prepared. Do your research on the organization to make sure you're truly interested in working for it. That's an easy thing to sniff out.

I've also been impressed by student contributions once they start working here. Over a 10- to 12-week internship, students have been able to move the needle on initiatives. For example, the self-checkout process in our stores was worked on by an MBA.

Q: Do you have any tips for applicants?
A: Make sure you are educated about our business and its history, leaders, and values. You should also understand the dynamics of a retail environment, which is different from industries like manufacturing, consulting, or investment banking.

Q: How does networking play into getting hired?
A: A number of events are built into the summer internship program to create networking opportunities for MBA students. For example, we have team socials and an executive speaker series. All of these settings provide opportunities for interns to network with each other and our leadership team. Having relationships with current employees can help those seeking long-term opportunities at the company.

Q: Are the pay packages you offer competitive?
A: All employers have focused on trying to be more attractive to candidates as the economy has picked up. Our packages are probably more competitive than they were [during the downturn]. We review our compensation on an annual basis to make sure we are competitive with the marketplace. As we have shifted our focus to recruiting more MBAs, we have given more thought to differentiating pay for people with different backgrounds and experiences.

Q: What are the perks to working for Home Depot?
A: You get to work for a company that gives back to the community and is committed to environmental interests. We work with different organizations on things like preserving the forest. Hurricane-relief efforts and helping the cities of New York and Washington, D.C., after the September 11 terrorist attacks are among the services Home Depot has offered.

We have a huge commitment to the military with Project Homefront, an effort to help families care for their homes while their loved ones are serving overseas.

Q: Is the MBA still relevant to real-world business?
A: We're interested in the depth of business knowledge that candidates have, and we look for that in a number of ways -- from contributions at school to prior work experience. The academic training, rigor, and project-management and organization skills are important. What we have found attractive about MBAs is that they are experienced hires.