Inclusion Intern - Chicago

Working for Equity Residential (EQR), an industry leading multi-family REIT headquartered in downtown Chicago, means being part of a community and striving to provide the best in apartment living, speaking boldly about new ideas for innovation, and inspiring creativity in the ways we work together. Our portfolio of high-quality properties in growth markets – New York City, Boston, Washington DC, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Austin, Dallas, and Atlanta, to name a few – provides homes where people most want to live. We've got the best people in the business, and our experience shows in our dedication to residents and in how much we value each other as colleagues. That’s why our employees say they are proud to work at Equity, a company that knows how to Live Remarkably. 

Equity Residential’s corporate summer intern program is a full-time, 10-week paid internship based in Chicago, IL at the company’s primary corporate office. The selected intern will work with the Human Resources Business Partner team for the duration of the program and will have the opportunity to collaborate with various interns in other business areas (i.e. Property Operations, Information Technology, Investments, etc.). 

The purpose of Equity Residential's corporate summer internship program is to attract emerging diverse talent and promote learning – both about the real estate industry and within the intern’s assigned functional area. Interns will also have the opportunity to accelerate their professional growth and diversify their work experience by engaging with different business partners throughout the program. 

Please note: Equity Residential’s internship experience will be a hybrid in person/remote platform for 2025, with three days of required on-site participation at our corporate office in Chicago. Relocation is not provided for this internship.

WHO YOU ARE 

● Passionate. Motivated. Eager to Learn. You ask smart questions, challenge the status quo, and regularly seek to understand. You invest extra energy to reach your goals. 

● Organized, Flexible, and Adaptable. You have a keen eye for detail and pride yourself on delivering quality work. You multitask well, re-prioritize accordingly, and meet deadlines consistently. You keep your cool during stressful situations, remain resilient, and quickly find solutions in order to meet the changing needs and priorities of the business.

● A Collaborator and Trusted Team Player. You enjoy partnering with others —whether internal or external— and build constructive working relationships that foster cooperation in order to get work done and deliver great results. You are united with teammates and follow through on commitments. 

● A Strong Communicator. Your writing and speaking skills are clear, articulate, and effective, demonstrating your ability to interact with all levels and helping you connect well with others. 

● A Self-Starter and a Solution-Oriented Problem Solver. You enjoy taking initiative and have prior experience demonstrating that you can be successful without continuous supervision. If/when you hit a roadblock, you don’t let it derail you - instead, you instinctively consider possible solutions for how to overcome the challenge. When needed, you pull the right people and/or resources together to solve the issue. 

OVERVIEW OF THE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM 

● A first-hand experience of day-to-day life at a REIT and resources to learn the programs/tools and processes used in the industry. 

● Participate in assigned projects to support the HR Business Partner function. As appropriate, compile recommendations and present results to management and/or department. 

● May create or update systems or databases for specific department needs. 

OBJECTIVE OF POSITION

The Inclusion Intern will work closely with the Manager of Inclusion as well as the rest of the HR team to coordinate and facilitate activities that ultimately drive our strategy forward. This is a great opportunity to gain hands-on experience and exposure to various functional areas of HR, such as: talent acquisition (recruiting), analytics, communications, and benefits.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Opportunity to collaborate with the Manager of Inclusion inclusion on core inclusion initiatives and strategies.
• Research and develop best practices for inclusion ideas that align with Equity’s culture and values.
• Create training materials to support the next phase of our inclusion strategy.
• Partner with the Talent Acquisition team to conduct candidate outreach and assist with the coordination of the recruiting process in order to ensure the talent needs of each department are met.
• Network and engage with key stakeholders across the organization to establish and accomplish key deliverables.

REQUIREMENTS

• Prefer candidates pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Marketing, Communications, or a related field.
• Ability to effectively and objectively communicate and work with internal and external customers, as well as strong organizational skills and a keen eye for detail.
• Must be comfortable working autonomously and multi-tasking in a fast-paced environment with changing deadlines.
• Familiarity and previous experience with Microsoft Excel and Google Applications (Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets) preferred.
• Unrestricted authorization to work in the United States (currently, we are not offering this program under OPT or CPT or sponsoring work visas for these roles).

Salary:  $20.50 / hour