This article is part of the special “Employer Branding Best Practices” published in the January 2024 edition of Human Resources, within the Employer Branding Conference 2024, promoted by Talent Portugal.
At this point, we can say that this is a winning bet in the young talent market. Proof of this is the number of candidates we have; the “match” of the profiles we have; and the increase in recommendations from colleagues, friends and family that come from the trainees themselves and the community in general.
Sofia Henriques – Head of Employer Branding & Onboarding
A Altice Portugal continues to invest in innovation and the DarWin project is increasingly an example of this investment. It is an intership program in which each trainee in the company is accompanied by a mentor and buddy for a year, so that they can moving from theory to practice a quickly and sustainably.
According to Sofia Henriques, Employer Branding & Onboarding manager of the Human Resources and Organization Department Altice Portugal, this project consists of a 12-month professional intership, in which participants have the possibility of remaining as employees of the company in the future.
«This program aims to help interns have a experience unforgettable in the transition from academia to business life, accelerating learning during this period”, adds the person in charge. In this way, Altice Portugal manages to include the DarWin project in its recruitment program and also enhances the quality of interns. “Even those who do not immediately continue their path with Altice take with them the experience and knowledge acquired in the project, which they will be able to apply in the future”, he recalls.
In addition to the experience in performing functions and individual plan activities, "all interns are invited to undertake business challenges, visits to Altice's emblematic business locations such as the Sesimbra submarine cable station where, for example, the Google cable is laid, and workshops, in which everyone from the Executive Committee and Senior Management to all employees are involved. Altice Portugal». In this way, the organization is able to contribute to the individual development of each intern, while achieving a evolution of the entire group.
For the manager, there are two focuses that guide the project and that have been gaining recognition: «create unforgettable experiences e moving from theory to practice». In this, trainees go through several phases before joining the company. «We view the different phases of the experience as a journey – in analogy with Charles Darwin's expedition on the beagle. This journey takes place over the course of a year, during which a set of activities is completed that has a stable central core and that is repeated each year.»
There are aspects of the project that are adapted from edition to edition, in favor of the specificities, challenges and characteristics of each group. Throughout the year, the level of complexity also increases, as does the exposure and demand of each intern.
Impact and evolution
Over the four editions already held, the volume of applications has increased significantly. Only in the last edition, in 2023, Altice Portugal has received more than 1500 applications. This increase is, in itself, a way of measuring the success of the program, particularly in its Employer Branding.
The manager highlights that every year there are new challenges, namely «diversity, alignment with the program itself and the networking of the group and the company». In general, it explains that the Altice Portugal has managed to find what he is looking for: «Young people with potential, ambitious with willingness and ability to grow together with the company. "
In terms of goals for the future, the company's objective is to achieve a 90% retention of trainees. To achieve this goal, the company seeks, from the candidate selection stage of the program, to “make a perfect match”. In fact, “the 12 months of the DarWin program have benefited from an excellent Net Promoter Score (NPS) and QoS (quality of service)”, and the company is committed to ensuring the same involvement and dedication in subsequent years.
Next steps
Regarding the approach for the future, the company intends to continue developing the adopted strategy, maintaining the work that has been carried out in the DarWin program. On the one hand, Altice Portugal want to take advantage of the dissemination of the program through the first person, the Darwins who participate in the program, and on the other hand, it also intends continue the experience after the end of the 12-month intership. In this sense, “this year we are working on the years following the first year of intership, developing and reinforcing initiatives in this sense”.
Regarding the way in which the program is integrated into the company's strategy, Sofia Henriques guarantees that the DarWin project is a success. «At this moment, we can say that it is a Winning bet on the young talent market. Proof of this is the number of candidates we have; the “match” of the profiles we have; and the increase in recommendations from colleagues, friends and family that come from the trainees themselves and the community in general”, he praises.
Furthermore, “trainee retention increasingly allows us to reach other layers of responsibility and diversity of roles, including other candidate segments”. Despite a different approach, “more based on the Employment Value Proposition (EVP) of a leading, innovative, sustainable and human company”, the knowledge of professionals, sector requirement and impact solutions are the vectors that stand out most in the company.
The real differentiating point of this program is the daily monitoring», namely through recurring feedback, lessons learned or involvement of mentors. «In addition to the company's strategic positioning, we give them the opportunity to work in a market-leading company and in one of the companies with the greatest diversity of functions and levels of demand. We also offer them the opportunity to follow the Altice Portugal, improving the service we provide and contributing positively to the strengthening of our economy”, concludes Sofia Henriques.
