any entry-level employees dream of working their way through the ranks to attain management positions or perhaps someday becoming corporate CEOs. And while they may not all end up in the proverbial corner office, shareholder hire helps Alaska Native corporation (ANC) shareholders and descendants begin climbing that corporate ladder quickly.

Federal law allows Alaska Native corporations that were formed by ANCSA to practice shareholder hiring preference, letting the corporations prioritize employment opportunities for ANC shareholders and their descendants.

“Our overarching strategic goal is to increase shareholder employment and development,” says Carol Wren, Bristol Bay Native Corporation’s (BBNC) vice president of shareholder development. “This is broad in scope because we operate in a lot of different industries. Our goal is to provide shareholders, their spouses, and descendants with hiring preference within all of our jobs.”

In addition to hiring preference, ANC shareholders have access to resources to help them find these jobs. They’re also offered training and education to help them excel in leadership positions.

“One of our main strategic goals is to empower our people with options and opportunities through advancement of their careers and employment opportunities,” says Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC) Shareholder Development Director Lucille Sands. “Our metrics and annual goals include increasing employment for our people at all levels of the corporation.”

ANCs use a variety of methods to reach their intended audience including social media, direct mail, job postings on websites, and other means such as through email blasts.

At Calista Corporation, for example, the Shareholder Development Department not only collaborates with its in-house corporate communications department but also works in partnership with outside entities to reach Calista’s more than 33,700 shareholders. It currently employs shareholders at all levels of the corporation; more than 30 percent of positions at the parent company alone are held by ANC shareholders or descendants.

“We have to be creative, especially to reach shareholders in villages that may not have reliable internet connections or access to social media,” says Calista Workforce and Shareholder Development Supervisor Brenda Pacarro. “We do have a variety of social media platforms and online newsletters, but we also send out quarterly print Storyknife newsletters to reach our shareholders as well.

“In addition, we partner with programs like the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program at the University of Alaska to reach out to students, and we work with our tribes and village corporations to spread our messages even further.”

When Calista expanded shareholder enrollment to include descendants five years ago, it targeted its approach to reach this younger audience. “We saw that 80 percent of applicants had email addresses, so we went into the digital world, which included using social media to reach them,” says Thom Leonard, director of Calista corporate communications and shareholder services. He adds that while virtually all these applicants are fluent in English, the corporation also incorporates cultural language into its messaging.

BBNC’s Shareholder Development Department works closely with its communications manager to publicize job openings, which are shared through direct mail and social media. The corporation also maintains its own talent bank and centralizes its job listings, including those of its subsidiaries, on the BBNC website.

“We have individuals across the company that are paying attention to shareholder applications to make sure that we are identifying and hiring qualified shareholders for our jobs,” says Wren. “We look at all of the opportunities for shareholders, no matter what their level of experience or the location of the corporate office or our subsidiaries; we try to meld where they are coming from with the opportunities we have available.”

At BSNC, the human resources and Shareholder Development Departments identify and track shareholders and descendants through their Enterprise Resource Planning system. “We are working on building out a talent bank to use for sourcing and recruitment,” says Sands, adding that the corporation currently has a talent profile for 1,270 shareholders and descendants. “We use this stored talent profile information for targeted outreach.”

BSNC will be moving this information onto a shareholder-facing online platform within the next year where each shareholder or descendant will have access to create and edit their individual talent profiles.

“This will allow shareholders to update their profiles to ensure that we have the necessary information to enhance our sourcing and recruiting processes,” says Sands, adding that the talent bank is an important resource for managers and shareholder development to recruit shareholders and descendants as new openings become available.

Many ANCs have also established internship programs to feed the hiring pipeline.

“When I first started at Calista ten years ago, we had seven positions in our internship program,” says Pacarro. “Now there are about thirty-five positions, not just in our corporate office in Alaska but at our subsidiaries in five different states.”

The internship program at subsidiary Yulista Holding, for example, attracts many college age descendants to its location in Huntsville, Alabama. “We have had a lot of success in the last couple of years recruiting those interns to be full-time employees,” says Pacarro.

BSNC’s Summer Internship Program gives interns the ability to work in a variety of departments and participate in training sessions on topics ranging from government contracting to elementary Iñupiaq.

BBNC offers internships across its companies, giving shareholders and their descendants the chance to explore careers at the corporation while developing the technical skills they need to become qualified candidates for future career opportunities. The corporation also partners with organizations like tribal offices, small businesses, and nonprofits to host internships that align with career goals and interests.

BBNC encourages employees to create a development plan and to work with their supervisors on short- and long-term goals, according to Wren.

“We then provide them with the resources they need to pursue those goals, whether credentials, longer-term education, or mentorship; they may go in different directions, depending on the industry,” she says. “We also provide financial support to pursue those goals.”

BBNC shareholders and their descendants can participate in Training Without Walls, a two-year management and leadership development program. It includes two-day sessions held three times per year that provide one-on-one coaching, panel presentations, group discussions, and case studies. The program also helps participants build a professional network with leaders from Bristol Bay and the Native community.

BSNC shareholder and descendant employees also have access to training funds and development plans through their employment. The Shareholder Development Department, created in June of 2019, is working on a shareholder and descendant career initiative designed to develop career pathways, grow the corporation’s skilled workforce, and build skills and experience.

“Among many other activities, this initiative aims to enhance shareholder and descendant new hire orientation by equipping our people with knowledge on BSNC’s businesses and corporate culture and how they can use cultural values to succeed in the workplace,” says Sands. “We will provide cultural orientation for all new employees, which will cover important topics such as the intent of ANCSA, understanding and embracing the cultures of our region, and our cultural values.”

The corporation has also focused on providing job-specific training to prepare shareholders for certain positions, such as CDL training for truck drivers. Under a previous apprentice program coordinated in partnership with a Nome nonprofit, several shareholders became electricians.

Calista’s employees can take advantage of a Manager Training Academy to learn how to be good leaders and to better manage employees. Its shareholders, as well as those of a number of ANCs, can also participate in the Alaska Native Executive Leadership Program (ANELP) at Alaska Pacific University (APU), a graduate certificate created by APU in partnership with Afognak Native Corporation, Bristol Bay Native Corporation, Chugach Alaska Corporation, The Aleut Corporation, and CIRI.

Leonard, who was already enrolled in APU’s MBA program, decided to extend his education by a year to participate in ANELP. “It was an incredible opportunity; I was originally concerned about accepting a director position at Calista, but because of the tools and training ANELP offered, I broadened and strengthened my skill set,” he says. “While on-the-job training still occurs with any position, having that foundational leadership skill set is very important; when opportunities arise, you’re ready to move forward.”

There’s no doubt that hiring shareholders and their descendants works—every day, these individuals are helping their corporations succeed.

“Our president and CEO, Andrew Guy, was hired as an intern in the 1980s,” says Pacarro of Guy’s 26-year journey at Calista. “We also have shareholders at our front desk, in human resources, as the director of communications and shareholder services, and as the vice president of lands. Whenever we see that a shareholder is committed and determined to grow, they catch our eye.”

BBNC’s CEO and the executive director of its education foundation are shareholders as well, as are many members of its workforce. “At the corporate level alone, we have shareholders working as paralegals, as shareholder records specialists, as the communications manager, land manager, cultural program officer, and cultural camp program director, among others,” says Wren.

BSNC’s shareholders have also risen through the ranks and now hold C-suite positions in the corporate offices, as well as management positions at corporate subsidiaries.

“For the first time in our history, we have a shareholder manager of our subsidiary-owned hotel in Nome,” says Sands. “When the position became vacant, the knowledge of our shareholder base was leveraged to source and recruit a shareholder to run our hotel, and we were also successful in recruiting a shareholder proposal compliance manager, which has led to an increased proposal win rate for the corporation due to the excellent skills and talent that person brought to the position.”

By taking an active role in recruiting shareholders and their descendants for these jobs and helping them advance, the ANCs are not only assisting these individuals but the corporations as a whole.

“These employees have a real passion for working for their corporation because it’s where they come from,” explains Wren. “They are giving back, in a way.

“They want to see the corporation succeed for years to come—for generations—because it impacts their families; success matters very directly to them,” she adds. “That kind of passion comes through in the work they do for us.”