In a constantly changing business world, promoting and incorporating young talent is a strategic investment. It brings future and diversity to companies. It is something that Repsol and RIU Hotels know very well
At SEAT, the training of its future professionals is more than consolidated. “We have had our own technical training school for more than 60 years, in which more than 3,000 professionals who today are or have been part of our workforce have been trained,” explains Ismael Lara, Head of Training at SEAT, the company that leads other initiatives to attract young talent, such as the Kickstart Program. The RIU hotel chain, founded in Mallorca in 1953, a few years ago joined the companies that are committed to offering hospitality and computer training to the new generations since, as its Training Director, Pere Torrens, affirms: “Training our professionals It allows us to better prepare for the future of the company.”
Helena, Daniel and Marisa are four young people with concerns willing to become that generational replacement that every company needs. The following have had the opportunity to train and gain work experience: Helena at Repsol through the Capacities Plan programme; Daniel at RIU Hotels
The thing about Helena Gayet, graduated in Chemistry and with a master’s degree in Bioengineering, is vocational. “As a child I visited the Riotinto mines, in Huelva, and they fascinated me: it is the first memory I have of saying that I wanted to study chemistry. Later, in high school, I loved it, and in my degree I discovered biochemistry”, explains this young woman graduated in Chemistry and with a master’s degree in Bioengineering.
After completing an internship in the Operations department of the Repsol industrial complex in Tarragona, Helena currently participates in the Young Talent program and will spend two years at the Cartagena refinery. “Now I’m in the Processes department, the best place to learn everything the company does,” she explains. After this period, she will start working in the Industrial Transformation Technologies division, located in the Repsol Technology Lab, in Madrid.
What Helena values ??most is having a global vision of the company, something that would otherwise be very difficult for her to obtain. “The initiative is perfect; it allows you to learn how all the processes work and then, in the Technology Lab, you put into practice the knowledge acquired to try to improve what is already working.” This transversality is what Repsol’s projects to attract young talent have in common, “since young people rotate through different areas, even different businesses from those for which they have initially been hired. You just have to think about the breadth that the person can have at the end of that experience,” underlines the head of Selection and Mobility of the multi-energy company.
The young woman believes that, despite her short work experience, she can bring “great enthusiasm and fresh ideas” to the company. Being part of a project that has a great impact on improving the environment and that seeks solutions to current problems –such as climate change– makes her very motivated to learn and give the best of herself. In addition to the program in which Helena Gayet participates, Repsol has a training plan for young talent related to the need to continue digitizing the company and increasing digital capabilities within the businesses. “To do this, we have recruited 65 people with a young profile who, although they do not have a very strong digital experience, are motivated and interested in this area,” adds the Repsol Head of Recruitment and Mobility.
Marisa Dameá is 22 years old and is from l’Hospitalet de Llobregat. She has completed a higher cycle in Industrial Automation and Robotics at SEAT and is now studying for a degree in Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering. The daughter of a company worker, it was clear to her that she wanted to go to the SEAT Apprentice School, “because they provide very good training, with which it is difficult to compete, and the specialties they have are in high demand, with many professional opportunities.” , explains the young woman. “In addition, at the end of the training they offer you the opportunity to continue working in the company”, she emphasizes.
Ismael Lara, Head of Training at SEAT, highlights the need to train future generations “due to the gigantic transformation we are facing, which forces us to use the best methods that guarantee a real incorporation of knowledge”, and adds: ” We guarantee that the same technological or digital training that we do as continuous training in the rest of the company, is imparted to our young talents with even greater intensity. The young generations have an impressive learning capacity.”
Daniel Antonio de Souza trained in the hairdressing sector and was pursuing a professional change. “I found out about RIU’s training offer through an advertisement in the newspaper,” he explains. For Daniel, training in the hospitality sector is a great opportunity, “and even more so living in Mallorca”. The training received has allowed him to make his way in the new sector and have the support of a large group. The company’s Training Director, Pere Torrens, explains that the training they provide is practical and applied, “what you learn in the classroom you apply immediately in the workplace”, and stresses the importance of having staff trained according to the company’s needs: “If I have to say what we have specialized in, I would say reading the company’s future needs and anticipating”.
Currently, RIU Hotels
The experiences of Helena, Daniel and Marisa show that investing in young talent also drives growth and innovation in companies and in society as a whole. Training programs provide young professionals with a platform to learn, grow and contribute in meaningful ways. They are initiatives that transform lives and open doors to new opportunities. “When we apply a program and decide on a very specific bet on young talent, we are giving a much broader experience than what you could currently have in a scholarship program at the company. We are talking about an accelerated program of experience, of knowledge acquisition , network, skills… and that is what the company is promoting,” remarks the Repsol Head of Recruitment and Mobility.
