The female mentor program aims to strengthen women’s participation and increase their willingness to work in technical fields, and to provide an opportunity for female students to become acquainted with the operation, services and career opportunities of an international company during their student years.
The application is for 2nd and 3rd year BSc, 4th or 5th year MSc female students who have active student status at a Hungarian technical college or university. ABB's HR specialists consider the applicants' motivation, professional aptitude and English language skills when evaluating incoming applications. In the selection process of the, results of previous study competitions and participation in higher education professional activities are an advantage
Based on their interests and areas of expertise, the selected applicants are assigned to dedicated ABB mentors comprised of ABB’s executives and professionals, with whom they participate in consultation sessions throughout the program. The mentees gain insight into the everyday life of a multinational company, as ABB offers them half-day programs on various topics once a month. This way, they can participate in factory visits, meet ABB female executives, learn about the career paths of colleagues working in various fields, and receive advice on their future employment in a personal consultation with HR professionals. In addition, there is a time to develop abilities and skills closely related to the technical career, and get acquainted with the secrets of project management, leadership, or presentation through practical examples. It often happens that during or after the program mentees join the ABB team as interns - as it the case this year, too.
In view of the pandemic situation, this year meetings with mentors took the form of online discussions from mid-March.
“2020 is the sixth year that we have successfully implemented our female mentoring program, which aims to strengthen women’s professional participation and acceptance in technical careers. We are pleased to see an increase in the number of female students pursuing technical studies in recent years. We started the selection process with very strong applicants this time, so in the end, our program was kicked off with 8 participants instead of the planned 5. In line with the COVID 19 pandemic-related precautions, during the last three consultations of the program, our ABB mentors successfully transferred their professional experiences on an online platform, too.” - said Taira-Julia Lammi, Managing Director of ABB Kft.
The eight students in the program were asked what their impressions were about ABB women’s mentoring program, here are some replies:
Cecília: “I applied to the program to get to know the world of multinational companies and to find out what the industry’s attitude is towards female engineers and it did not disappoint me. It was worth attending because I got to know ABB’s world and met fantastic people (and had good coffees while we were able to meet face-to-face). Besides, the program also contributed to the development of my soft skills.”
Bettina: " I found it most useful - among other things - during the mentor program to be able to learn about the operation of a multi-faceted international company from an employee’s perspective and also about the skills and expertise needed to build a successful future career."
Bernadett: "The mentor program expanded my professional knowledge with new know-how, in addition I gained competencies that are useful when searching for employment in the field of engineering."
Adriana: "At the beginning of the program, I felt as if we were thrown into deep water when the submission of the application was followed by a phone interview, I'm happy though that it happened, I think it was a useful experience."
Evelin: “This female mentor program has given me a lot. The programs were very varied and interesting. What I am most happy about is that I was able to start working here as intern, as this opportunity was offered as an option during the interview for the program.”
A video of last year's program can be found at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ-3B3neV94&t=55s
