The top Bank of America hiring exec offers job tips for Charlotte-area grads
Charlotte-based Bank of America is welcoming thousands of young college graduates as they start their career journeys with one of the largest financial institutions in America.
The bank is bringing in 4,000 summer interns and full-time campus recruits at locations worldwide for the season, the company announced last Wednesday. They are coming from more than 500 colleges and universities. Their work includes consumer, investment and corporate banking.
The summer interns also serve as a pipeline of talent for Bank of America.
Josh Bronstein, head of global talent for Bank of America, recently talked about the bank’s evolving approach to recruiting and hiring with The Charlotte Observer. He also shared tips for jobseekers.
Bank of America is maintaining its commitment to improving entry-level hiring, including through a military veteran program. More than 20,000 people have been hired through the initiative.
Last year, around 18,000 workers joined Bank of America worldwide.
The bank had more than 213,200 employees in 2025, and that figure dipped earlier this year to about 212,130. But the bank is keeping pace with its hiring plans, according to Bronstein. About 19,000 people work in Charlotte.
The Charlotte Observer recently spoke with Bronstein to discuss the bank’s current hiring practices, recruitment strategies and advice for recent graduates looking to break into the finance industry. The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
With a big hiring wave underway and new graduates coming in, how much of that talent is coming to uptown Charlotte? About 20% of our campus hires are in the Charlotte area.
Have you changed or modified your approach to hiring over the past few years? We’re always evolving our approach to hiring as the skills needed to do the work evolve. I’d call it an evolution more than anything else. We’re constantly adapting. For example, we’ve increased the number of technology hires, including cyber.
Where are your new hires coming from?
We recruit globally. We hire from more than 500 colleges and universities, and as part of that process, individuals have an opportunity to consider their desired work location against our workforce needs.
What types of jobs are available?
We hire for a broad spectrum of roles in Charlotte. If we look broadly beyond campus recruiting, that includes consumer banking such as relationship bankers, first-line managers, technologists and risk managers. But looking specifically at our recent hiring announcement for summer interns and entry-level talent through our campus program, the focus is heavily concentrated on client-facing and technology roles.
When you’re looking at resumes, what makes a candidate stand out?
The first point is that we understand where people are in their careers, especially those starting their careers. We look for experiences that demonstrate initiative, intellectual curiosity, adaptability, judgment and relationship-building skills.
Students who can show these qualities early through professional or pre-professional experiences are valuable to us.
We’re also looking for technical skills, including quantitative and financial skills, as well as technology skills such as coding experience. As the processes, tasks and activities our teammates are doing continues to evolve, demonstrating strong human skills, intellectual curiosity and the ability to adapt and use available tools will become increasingly important.
Do applicants need a bachelor’s degree to work for Bank of America? No. About 40% of our hires last year did not have a bachelor’s degree, so we take a balanced approach. The campus pipeline is an important talent source, and so is skills-based hiring, including hiring individuals without a bachelor’s degree.
We’ve also committed to hiring 8,000 teammates over the next five years from community colleges, which is an important part of our long-term hiring strategy.
What do you tell grads worried about finding work in what feels like a tight hiring market?
It’s important to connect your skills and experiences to the work needed in a given role, remain flexible and adaptable, and demonstrate to employers like us a commitment to ongoing learning, skill-building and a long-term career mindset.
Right now, what’s most important is flexibility and intellectual curiosity.
We don’t know exactly what the tasks and activities will be in 10 years for some of these entry-level jobs, but we do know we’ll need people who are intellectually curious, career-minded, flexible and committed to helping us grow responsibly. We’re committed to continuing to bring in talent from a broad range of sources to help us do that.
How do you sell Charlotte over major metropolitan hubs like New York, Los Angeles or Miami to a candidate holding a similar banking offer?
We’re not selling any one city over another. We’re focused on providing good-paying jobs in the communities we serve, and that includes our headquarters city. Many of our recruits are from the region and know our reputation as a great place to work, as well as Charlotte’s reputation as a great city to live, raise a family and grow a career. That helps support hiring in the market. As I said, about 20% of our campus class will come here, and we’re thrilled about that.
How do you sell office life in uptown to Gen Z grads used to remote classes or wanting hybrid work?
Many young professionals who spent part of their education in remote settings are thriving in in-person cultures and want connection with their peer group, managers and mentors who can help them learn, develop and grow. We’re upfront with teammates that we are largely an in-office culture, and that hasn’t been a challenge in recruiting entry-level talent.
Once you get them in the door at Bank of America, how do you make sure they stay? We’re focused on the full support structure around our teammates, including physical, emotional and financial wellness, and we provide world-class benefits across all three. We also place an intense focus on career development resources to help teammates expand their skill sets and support internal mobility.
Last year alone, we provided opportunities for 14,000 teammates to move into other roles.
We’re also deeply invested in the role of the manager. We have about 19,000 managers, and we ask them to deliver the company to our teammates, not only by managing the work, but by managing people. The reality is that, as much as we invest across wellness and career development, managers have a major impact on teammates’ experiences.
We’re clear with managers about what we expect, ensure they have the skills to meet those expectations, and measure them accordingly. Taken together, strong benefits, career development resources, internal mobility support and great managers mean people choose to stay and grow their careers.
Do you have any additional comments?
One additional (benefits) program we introduced in 2017, when many companies provided a one-time cash payment to employees, is something we’ve continued every year. We call it “Sharing Success,” and most recently it has been delivered as equity.
About 97% of our teammates receive Sharing Success awards each year, so it’s truly broad-based. It’s an equity program that provides both a financial reward and a sense of ownership in our company, and it’s been a unique differentiator at our scale.
It’s an added component to the other investments we make in our teammates, and helps us attract and retain top talent. I’d highlight it as one example.
