Growth & development programs

Our people are the reason why Blue Shield is certified as a Great Place to Work®.

Every career at Blue Shield of California offers an opportunity for growth. Once you're here, you'll have the opportunity to plan your career, take advantage of Talent Accelerators, and grow personally, professionally, and financially.

Our mission and strategy call on us to achieve ambitious goals, both as an organization and individually. How will we do it? By having great people do their best work – which includes embodying the leadership behaviors that build and sustain high-performing teams, getting results the right way, and fostering continuous learning.

Our development programs

Career growth most often happens through expanding the scope of your current role, taking on crossfunctional projects, or a stretch assignment that builds new expertise and leadership skills. We offer online, in-person, and self-guided programs that extend existing skills and prepare our people for their next opportunity.
Ready to Lead Lead the Way Management Readiness Shield Emerging Leader Blue Advisor Mentorship Program Executive Readiness Executive Accelerator

Ready to Lead

Ready to Lead is a leadership development program for current, high-performing, nonexempt employees to have an accelerated path to their first supervisor opportunity at Blue Shield. It is a 8-month “Job Plus” design, meaning that the participants are expected to continue performing at a high level in their day job while also participating in this development program. The Program is focused on preparing participants for future leadership opportunities – teaching skills embedded in our leadership model to become a supervisor at Blue Shield.

The program will immerse individual contributors in Blue Shield's management philosophy, expectations, and disciplines most critical for effective leaders. We provide an experiential learning model as a proven methodology for adult learners; and create an outstanding employee experience with shared accountability and commitment.

Lead the Way

Lead the Way is an internal development program, four-quarters in length, for frontline supervisors new to their role. This program aims to develop consistent leadership capabilities for supervisors to ensure effective coaching, performance management, and leadership behaviors across the enterprise. Participants are provided support and development to be successful in their new roles as they learn to confidently manage performance, following Blue Shield policies and practices and demonstrating respect for leaders, peers, and team members.

Management Readiness

Management Readiness is a 12-month leadership development program for bachelor’s graduates, guiding and challenging participants to grow their leadership abilities in preparation for a Manager/Sr. Manager-level role. In this program, you will build core leadership concepts and business acumen to prepare for advancement. The curriculum is designed to develop skills and capabilities that were most critical for individual contributors to develop into managers. During the program, participants complete self-guided courses, assigned reading, practical experience assignments, and participate in engaging sessions focused on the learning outcomes.

Shield Emerging Leader

Shield Emerging Leader is a two-year leadership development program for master’s graduates focused on growing our people leaders and positioning them for Director-level roles. The curriculum is designed to develop skills and capabilities that are most critical to develop into directors. We have partnered with subject matter experts to curate modules that align with Blue Shield’s philosophy and methods. Learning outcomes for participants include an emphasis on developing a larger understanding of the current landscape of health care and its impact on Blue Shield’s mission and the Emerging Leaders’ respective lines of business.

Blue Advisor Mentorship Program

The Blue Advisor Mentorship Program (Blue Advisor) creates opportunities for employees across the enterprise to partner across position levels.  Participants can register as mentors and protégés.  Mentors develop skills in coaching, providing constructive feedback, and building meaningful relationships across the enterprise.  Protégés identify goals and, with the assistance of their mentor, create action plans to achieve these developmental goals throughout the program. 

Blue Advisor is a 6-month, protégé-driven program that requires 2-4 hours of dedicated time per month.  Using the suggested program schedule as a guide, protégés invest slightly more time per month, as they are expected to prepare for and set up meetings with their mentors.  

After the program, these mentoring relationships evolve into a sponsorship, where mentors advocate for and continue to develop their protégés. 

Executive Readiness

Executive Readiness is an internal leadership development program created to develop and strengthen leadership capabilities of Director, Senior Director, and Vice Presidents currently in their roles.  Leaders will receive an executive assessment, executive coaching, learnings, and peer-to-peer partnerships.

Executive Accelerator

Executive Accelerator is an internal leadership development program created to develop and mobilize top talent and prepare leaders for enterprise top jobs.  Vice Presidents and above in this program will participate in a 360 degree assessment, executive coaching, learnings, and peer-to-peer partnerships and networking.

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Our Internship Program

Life at Blue Shield: Internship Program
The Internship Program is a ten-week opportunity to provide undergraduate and graduate students with real-life work experiences while learning what a career at Blue Shield of California offers. Interns work on real-world projects and initiatives while being immersed in many aspects of the business. From interacting with senior leadership to development through hands-on experience, interns will build a better understanding of the diversity and complexities of working in the dynamic world of health insurance and health care. 

As an intern in our program, you will:
  • Gain exposure to our mission and enterprise goals while having a curriculum based on our leadership mode
  • ​Build meaningful relationships and connections through team building and volunteering in the community
  • ​Get hands-on experience with real work projects and work on challenging department assignments
  • build meaningful relationships and connections through team building and volunteer experiences
  • Partner with a mentor who will help guide you through the program and future career planning
View our current internship opportunities

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