The Playground Talent Apprenticeship Program provides training and mentorship to a cohort of people who are interested in recruiting and technology, but have not yet had the exposure or opportunity to enter the space.

Throughout a six-month period, apprentices will be working full-time to learn how to recruit top talent for startups from scratch. They'll also learn more about Playground's Talent team, our portfolio companies, and the many ways we support them. The program's curriculum will include everything from an overview of technical recruiting, sourcing (using tools like LinkedIn to find candidates for a role), interviewing, coordination (scheduling with various calendaring systems, email etiquette), negotiating offers, and working with hiring managers.

Our goal is to match our apprentices with full-time positions within one of our portfolio companies at the conclusion of the apprenticeship program. To prepare for the full-time positions, we will integrate each apprentice directly into a portfolio company part-time in the latter months of the training/mentorship period while spending the other half of their time at Playground. Apprentices will use the tools and expertise they've learned to contribute meaningfully to a venture-backed, deep-tech startup.

The apprenticeship program will follow a three-part structure:

• Part 1: An introduction to recruiting in tech and lessons on recruiting techniques.
• Part 2: Hands-on practice with full-cycle recruiting (sourcing, phone screens, job descriptions, etc.)
• Part 3: Part-time portfolio company placement; Continue applying recruiting knowledge to work at Playground.

What you'll walk away with:

• A general understanding of the tech ecosystem and landscape.
• The basics of how to design and execute a great startup recruiting strategy (including advertising jobs, sourcing, interview process, offer negotiation, and hiring manager relationships).
• First-hand experience with all areas of the recruiting function, with a special focus on sourcing or recruiting, depending on your interest.
• Mentorship from the Playground Talent team and recruiting leaders in our portfolio.
• The opportunity to interview for a full-time recruiting role at a Playground portfolio company.

What we offer:

• $29/hr
• Paid holidays and 1 PTO day per month
• If you are local, when you commute to the office for work, you will receive a $35 per diem to cover commute costs
• Medical, dental and vision insurance plus a monthly wellness stipend

We'd love to hear from you if you:

• Are enthusiastic and energized to learn about recruiting, startups and technology.
• Call yourself a people-person and enjoy making connections.
• Love online research and have lots of Googling tricks up your sleeve.
• Enjoy tackling problems in creative ways.
• Have at least 1 year of any type of work experience, including internships.
• Want to get your foot in the door for opportunities within the startup community.
• Can work a standard M-F / 9-5 day, with some flexibility as needed.

About Playground Global:

Playground Global invests in early-stage, deep tech startups – companies like Relativity Space, the world's first autonomous rocket factory, or Virta Health, the team aiming to end type 2 diabetes. As a whole, our team has the technical skills and passion for digging in deep with entrepreneurs, helping them solve technical challenges to execute their vision quickly.

At Playground, we're committed to racial equity, social justice, and equal opportunity. Women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.