The Vault Guide To Top Engineering Firms

THE VAULT GUIDE TO THE TOP
ENGINEERING FIRMS
2009 European Edition
is made possible through the generous support of the

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The Vault Guide to the
Top Engineering Firms

• 2009 European Edition •
© 2009 Vault.com Ltd

Copyright © 2008 by Vault.com Ltd. All rights reserved.
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ISBN 13: 978-1-58131-603-2

ISBN 10: 1-58131-603-8
Printed in the United Kingdom
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Profiles and overview written by: Eli Lee, Brandon Johnson, Colin Richardson, Nicole
Kai Kobilansky, Saba Haider, Jewel Blackfeather Welter, Emma Jayne Jones, Sila
Cameselle Vila, and Cristina Fernandez.
Thankyou to everyone at Vault for their help with this guide. Special thanks to Sarah
Underwood, Saba Haider, Nicole Kai Kobilansky, Thomas Nutt, Marcy Lerner,
Sila Cameselle Vila, Martin Dean, Magda Mohammed Ali, Amanda Woolf, Rochelle
Mathieson, Harmandeep Singh, Graeme Buscke, Fernando Sdrigotti, Priya Kantaria
and Gavin Woods.
Particular thanks from the editor to William Peacock, Fernando Sdrigotti, Brandon
Johnson and Drew Kaiser.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Guide to this Guide 3

Introduction 5
Engineering: An Overview 6
Featured Companies
Alcatel-Lucent 16
Alstom 20
ArcelorMittal 26
ARUP 32
Atkins Global 36
BAE Systems 42
Balfour Beatty 48
Bosch 54
Bouygues 60
BP 66
BT Group plc 72
Carillion plc 78
Cepsa S.A. 84
Corus 88
Daimler 96
Dassault Group 102
EADS N.V. 106
Électricité de France 112

Electrolux 118
Endesa 124
Enel 130
E.ON 136
Ericsson 142
Fiat S.p.A. 148
Top European Engineering Firms
Table of Contents
Gazprom 154
Grupo Ferrovial S.A. 160
Michelin 164
Mott MacDonald 168
Nokia 174
P.S.A. Peugeot-Citroën 180
Philips Electronics N.V. 184
Porsche S.E. 190
Renault 194
Repsol YPF 200
Rolls Royce plc 206
Royal Dutch Shell plc 212
RWE Group 218
SAAB AB 222
Schindler Group 228
Schlumberger 234
Siemens AG 240
Telecom Italia S.p.A. 246
Telefonica S.A. 252
Thales Group 258
Total S.A. 264
ThyssenKrupp AG 268
VINCI plc 274

Volkswagen 280
Volvo Group 286
About the Editor 293

A GUIDE TO THIS GUIDE
All our profiles follow the same basic format. Here’s a guide to each entry.
A Guide to this Guide

Firm Facts
The Stats: Basic information about the company, usually information that’s available
to the general public. This includes the company’s leadership (generally, the person
responsible for day-to-day operations, though it can include the chairman and
relevant department heads), employer type (eg. public, private or subsidiary), ticker
symbol and exchange (if public), latest fiscal year-end revenue (usually only for
public companies), number of employees and number of offices.
Locations: A listing of the company’s offices, with the city (or cities) of its
headquarters bolded. We have only listed cities within Europe.
Departments and Divisions: The firm’s major divisions.
Employment Contact: The name of the department, website address, contact name,
telephone number and/or address the firm has identified as the best point of contact
for job-seekers. This can be both to answer inquiries and submit CVs and
applications.
The Profiles
The profiles are divided into three sections: The Scoop, Getting Hired and Our Survey
Says.
The Scoop: The firm’s history, clients, recent developments and other points of
interest.
Getting Hired: Valuable information about any available internships and graduate
programmes; qualifications that the firm looks for in new associates, specific tips
on getting hired as well as other notable aspects of the hiring process.
Our Survey Says: Actual quotes from surveys and interviews with current
employees of the firm on such topics as a firm’s culture, hours, travel requirements,
salaries, training and more. Profiles of some firms do not include an Our Survey Says
section.
3
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
ight back to the invention of the wheel, engineering has required both
R imagination and technical know-how. Today, it has blossomed into a vastly

broad discipline offering numerous possibilities for those with the right
aptitude, inclinations and, of course, qualifications. In Europe, it’s also one of the
most solid, stable and varied sectors of the continent’s economy. And if “growth” is
one of the corporate world’s most popular buzzwords, you can be rest assured that
engineers will have a big part to play in this in future years.
Europe’s engineering firms range from those who produce the smallest of
technologies to those who make the grandest of structures. The top 50 firms, featured
in this guide, range from Germany’s Siemens, who make technologies small enough
to fit in your hand — and smaller — to the United Kingdom’s BP, who lay oil and gas
pipelines across countries and continents.
All aspiring engineers, whether still students or graduates ready to embark on their
career, will find the range and depth of firm profiles in this Vault Guide indispensable
to mapping out their path. No engineering discipline is overlooked, so whether your
career goals lie in civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, aerospace engineering, or
any other engineering discipline, you’ll find a wealth of useful information here.
The profiles in our guide are based on industry surveys, research and extensive
feedback from employees about everything from company culture to compensation,
training, management, perks and benefits. They also offer their valuable perspective
about interviews, internships and diversity at their firms.
Working on the first European edition of the Vault Guide to the Top Engineering Firms
has been highly rewarding. I hope you’ll find it is a fantastic resource for pursuing
your career in this flourishing sector.
Good luck!
Eli Lee, Editor
5
THE STATE OF EUROPEAN ENGINEERING
he European engineering sector is worth close to 3,000 billion euros,
T employing nearly 20 million EU citizens and is comprised of approximately

375,000 companies, according to the European Commission. Interestingly, 90
percent of the European engineering industry’s incumbents are small and medium-
sized enterprises, also known as SMEs. Since the early 1990s, these companies have
come under immense pressure from increased foreign competition in low-cost
centres, cheap imports and from outsourcing. As a result, there has been a massive
reduction of around 20 percent in the number of SMEs in the sector. Recently
tightened environmental legislation and the associated costs have further squeezed
the bottom line. As the sector’s economic base has increasingly withered, many
experts have alluded to a terminal decline.
On the bright side
On the other hand, the European engineering industry seems to have weathered the
storm and finally returned to its former glory. Even Fiat, which was rumoured to be
a takeover target while seriously struggling early in the millenium, turned a
profit in 2007 despite cooling demand in many of its main markets. Mechanical
and electrical equipment worth approximately 710,045 million euros was manufactured
in 2007, according to
figures published by the
“ The European engineering

industry has weathered the storm and “ European Commission. In
total during 2007, exports
of machine tools were
returned to its former glory
worth 471.7 million pounds,
while imports were valued
at 578.6 million pounds, according to the Manufacturing Technologies Association.
As such engineering remains integral to the growth and sustainability of the
economies of the European Union, building and maintaining infrastructure that is
key to the stability of the continent. Many of the world’s biggest companies —
including EADS, Siemens, Philips, Rolls-Royce, Atkins, Daimler, E.ON, Volkswagen,
Porsche, Nokia, Gazprom and Shell — are based in Europe.
Combating the crunch
Despite the credit crunch bringing an end to cheap financing and causing a drastic
cooling across the eurozone and global economy, 2007 was an extremely strong year
for European engineering. The balance of firms recording a rise in orders and output
for July, August and September 2007 was up 30 percent, with companies enjoying
"sustained" growth, according to the Engineering Employers Federation. Strong
demand and full orderbooks both point to high productivity levels and healthy
6
activity. In addition, annual output grew by around seven percent in volume,
The State of European Engineering

corresponding to an 8.2 percent growth in turnover, according to the European
Engineering Federation. This has led to more job creation, with employment levels
rising by 1.6 percent across the industry from an estimated 10.6 million in 2006. All
in all, 2007 was the best year for the industry since the recovery of 1995.
Still cautious
Unfortunately, experts believe the crunch will bite hard in 2009, eroding some of the
recent success. While growth should continue, it will slow markedly as capacity
constraints, the higher cost of capital and currency appreciation all eat into margins.
The strong euro, which has been hitting all-time highs against the British pound and
US dollar, will lower export demand and thus slow production growth to 4.3 percent.
As output slows, job growth will cool to an infinitesimal 0.7 percent in 2008.
Skill shortage
The number of skilled candidates filling these positions looks set to fall. A survey by
the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) found that 40 percent of UK
companies believed they would not to be able to recruit the necessary number of
engineers or technicians to meet their needs between now and 2010. The
Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has also warned that the fall in graduates
with core science and technology degrees will inevitably lead to a real skills crisis. As
a result, many European engineering firms look as far afield as the BRIC countries
(Brazil, Russia, India and China) to recruit new talent.
The problem can be traced to the number of graduates completing engineering-

related degrees at university. In the UK, for example, in the past decade, the number
of applicants for engineering courses has decreased from 11 percent to eight percent
of the total number of university entrants. According to some estimates, applications
to study electronic and electrical engineering were down by 17 percent last year.
Applications for mechanical engineering were also down six percent. Close to half of
those who do graduate with engineering degrees have been entering unrelated
disciplines such as finance, energy, transport and communications.
Oil and gas: cyclical industries
Some suggest it is the cyclical nature of industries associated with engineering that
has pushed graduates towards other fields. Oil and gas, probably Europe’s biggest
industry and certainly the major employer of graduates, is seen as one of the most
cyclical industries in the world, greatly affected by both domestic and external
7
factors, especially geopolitics. In 2007 and 2008, oil prices touched all-time highs as
political instability and volatility across major producing regions intensified fears of
a supply shortage. At the same time, as many refineries were offline, OPEC could
not ramp up production because of capacity constraints. So even though 2007 was a
good year for engineering as a whole, some firms in certain industries suffered. For
example BP, the monolithic British oil major, was forced to restructure its operations
as high oil prices weakened margins and eroded profits.
On the other hand, some companies associated with oil and gas flourished in 2007.
For example, Atkins, the UK’s number one engineering consultancy, increased its
revenues by 20 percent and its profits 19 percent to 81.7 million pounds. Atkins is a
key figure in maintaining and modernising key British infrastructure, particularly
the antiquated oil rigs of the North Sea. Shell, the Dutch oil major, earned profits of
one million pounds a minute throughout 2007 and 3.9 billion pounds in the first
quarter of 2008, buoyed by high oil prices and successful trading strategies.
Innovative?
Only ten European outfits made a recent BusinessWeek ranking of innovative

companies from around the globe. North American companies dominate the list,
with Asian companies second. However European firms still fare very well. Finnish
mobile telecommunications company Nokia came tenth on the list, which alludes to
Europe’s position as a leader in mobile technology, very much a zeitgeist industry.
Europe also leads the way in innovation in the automotive industry: BMW, Daimler
and Audi — a member of the Volkswagen group — are all included in the list. These
are all German-domiciled companies.
Smaller engineering companies in Europe have profited from supplying the

machinery used by manufacturers around the world, including in China, India and
Russia. In Germany, for example, the country’s innovative and hardy engineering
sector is a primary driver behind the economy’s resistance to global economic
turmoil. Britain’s world-class research universities house some of the greatest
engineering minds in the world.
Buying power
Talk of M&A activity in the UK mid-market engineering sector was rife during spring
of 2008. Enodis, the food equipment manufacturer and supplier of building and
consumer products, was reportedly subject to a bid from US firm Manitowoc, looking
to cash-in on falling stock prices. Suez, a Franco-Belgian energy group, merged with
France's Gaz de France, after shareholder approval was finally given in September
2007. E.ON, the German energy producer, was linked with a bid for nuclear power
8

station operator British Energy, which has a market value of around 15 billion dollars
and produces one-sixth of Britain’s electricity. Électricité de France, the French state-
controlled utility, was also in talks with Britain’s Centrica to team up and bid for
British Energy, which could create a European energy powerhouse.
These rumours sparked speculation among analysts that there could be a spate of
deals as the industry further consolidated amid toughening economic conditions,
with synergies a primary deal motivator. As well as cheap valuations and strong
consolidation prospects, many of Britain’s mid-cap engineering firms are attractive
targets as they have strong balance sheets with low levels of debt.
European engineering firms were both eager acquirers and targets during 2007.
According to Dealogic, 1,689 deals were completed across the sector at a cost of 262.3
billion US dollars. Metal and steel producers experienced the highest deal value
overall, with 94 billion dollars worth of transactions completed. Producers of general
industrial machinery were the most active sub-sector by deal volume, taking part in
369 deals worth approximately 22.3 billion dollars. One of the sector’s biggest deals
was the planned takeover of Spanish utility Endesa SA by Spanish engineering group
Acciona SA and Spanish utility Enel SpA, which experts valued at 66 billion US
dollars.
While the first half of 2007 was a big year for buyouts and M&A across all sectors,
activity slowed dramatically during the second half of the year as the incredibly well-
reported credit crunch brought an end to cheap financing. Most activity within the
European engineering sector remained stable however, highlighting its resilience to
cyclical economic downturns.
Amidst all this economic change, the future of resources remains a big question: where are
future energy supplies actually going to come from? Reserves of North Sea crude oil
continue to dwindle. Eight years ago, Britain was the world’s sixth-biggest producer of oil
and gas — by 2006 it was the 12th-biggest. In July 2007, the International Energy Agency
said the drop in production had been steeper than expected, and it is expected to continue.
Spain’s Repsol YPF revealed in April 2008 that its Argentine oil and gas proven reserves
had dropped 20.3 percent in the course of two years.
At the same time, major energy producing countries are becoming increasingly unstable.
The “Russian Bear” has gotten its swagger back through energy imperialism, using its
vast oil and gas reserves to increase its political clout. As a result it has become erratic in
its treatment of trade partners. Piracy in Nigeria is rife, with oil rigs and shipping being
constantly disturbed. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta is
frequently claiming responsibility for attacking oil rigs and crews, demanding a share in
oil profits, which is adding to the politically unstable mix. Oil is a finite resource and
9
much of the world’s proven resources are embedded in places such as Canada’s oil sands.
This means oil is very tough to extract and it is expensive to do so.
What does all this mean for engineering? First, that the industry has an absolutely
central role to play in securing energy supplies at a most challenging time. With
climate change increasingly seen as a real political and social issue — even Richard
Branson has tried flying his Virgin fleet on nut oil — those supplies need to be
renewable. In Germany, for example, renewables already represent a significant
portion of the energy
industry’s income and
“ Engineering has an absolutely

central role to play in securing energy “ expenditure. Renewables
now account for 6.7
percent of total energy
supplies at a most challenging time
consumption in Germany,
up from 5.5 percent in
2006. Turnover of the German renewables industry was up ten percent at 24.6 billion
euros in 2007, nearly four times the figure of 2000. Electricity generated from
renewable sources reached 14.2 percent in 2007. E.ON, the country’s predominant
energy producer, is actively expanding its renewable energy business. Most recently,
E.ON announced its interest in Babcock & Brown Ltd’s European wind park division,
valued at approximately three to four billion euros.
The search for renewable energy sources and development of infrastructure is a

major opportunity for the industry to combat the tougher economic conditions that
will confront it through 2008 and 2009. Leading firms need to work to develop the
technology that can make biofuels and renewables efficient for the benefit of the
environment, society and their own coffers.
However, immediate profits are still coming before the environment according to some
experts. BP recently considered floating or selling its renewable operations, which it values
at 3.5 billion pounds. And the sustainability of the world’s offshore wind farm, and a
major contribution to Britain’s renewable future, was called into question in spring 2008
after a primary investor pulled out. Shell announced it was selling its 33 percent stake in
the two billion pound London Array off the coast of Kent to invest in more lucrative oil
projects. Environmentalists criticised the firm for selling off its solar and wind businesses
to invest further in Canada’s distinctly environmentally unfriendly oil sands (Canada’s oil
sands, primarily in Alberta, are allegedly home to the second-largest reserves of oil in the
world after Saudi Arabia).
According to E.ON, the London Array was under threat after Shell’s announcement,
as rising steel prices, bottlenecks in turbine supply and competition almost
completely eroded profit margins.
10
Finding food

The food crisis is the biggest challenge facing humanity. More than 100 million
people could be forced into deep poverty by rising food costs, according to the
World Bank. Decreased rainfall, linked to climate change, and a world
population expected to grow from six- to -nine billion by 2050 means food
supply and prices will be further squeezed.
While developing countries, particularly those that rely on imports, face famine
and economic ruin, the west are at risk as never before. Urban sprawl, biofuels
and the growing appetite for meat among the emerging middle classes of China
and India are limiting the amount of land available for food crops: while more
space is required for cultivation, available land is actually decreasing. This is
where engineering comes in. New processes such as precision farming and
technologies that reduce external crop reliance need to be developed if the crisis
is to be effectively tackled
Going forward
Prospects for 2008-2009 still appear to be positive for the engineering sector, led by both
direct and indirect export demand from Europe. With credit problems expected to recede
by the end of 2008, boosted liquidity should allow firms to take advantage of cheaper
financing again. As a result, current rumours of a buyout bonanza may become reality. The
energy sector looks especially ready for a bout of consolidation as unbundling continues.
At the centre of these deals will be EDF, the biggest European energy group by market
capitalisation. EDF is, of course, immune to takeover as 85 percent of its shares belong to
the French government. As a result it can cross national boundaries, and after being
thwarted in Italy, Britain and Spain look likely targets.
However, protectionism is notoriously rife when it comes to cross-border energy

deals. State intervention was commonplace in prospective energy deals during the
1990s and this continues to the current day. In the spring of 2008, Spain’s prime
minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said he wanted utilities firm Iberdrola to
combine with Gas Natural in order to fend off a bid from EDF. France is planning to
create an energy giant through a link-up between Areva, the world's biggest nuclear
company, Alstom, an engineering group, and Bouygues, a construction and telecoms
conglomerate, in order to fend off cross-border bids for any of the firms.
Protectionism aside, a new cross-border European energy powerhouse may well

be a reality by the end of 2009, as unbundling continues apace. Such a move could
signify a change in protectionist attitudes and further breakdown of trade barriers
in the EU.
11
All in all, European engineering has defied its critics. Those who sounded the death
knell of the industry have been unequivocally proven wrong, as major European
companies have continued to succeed despite intense competition from low-cost
countries. Although many jobs have been outsourced to these regions, the high-
productivity and high-technology core of most firms remains in Europe. As this
technology becomes increasingly important in addressing some of the world’s major
problems, and European engineering firms, such as Corus and ThyssenKrupp,
continue to supply the world’s biggest manufacturers, the redefined sector looks set
to prosper.
12
The Vault Guide to the
Firms
TOP ENGINEERING
ALCATEL-LUCENT
54 rue la Boétie European Locations

Paris 75008
France Paris (HQ)
Tel: +33 (1) 40 76 1010 Austria • Belarus • Belgium •
www.alcatel-lucent.com Bulgaria • Denmark • Finland • Germany •
Hungary • Ireland • Italy • Kazakhstan •
Norway • Poland • Portugal • Romania •
Russia • Slovak Republic • Spain •
Sweden • Switzerland • Turkey •
The Stats
Ukraine • United Kingdom
Employer Type: Public
Ticker Symbol: ALU (Euronext and 58 further offices worldwide.
NYSE)
Chief Executive: Patricia Russo
2007 Revenue: €17.8bn
2006 Revenue: €13.1bn Employment Contact
2007 Employees: 77,400
2006 Employees: not available www.alcatel-lucent.com
No. of Offices: 58 further (Click on “Careers”)
locations worldwide
Divisions
Broadband services • Business
communications • Consumer
communications
16 career
library
THE SCOOP
n recent years, the telecoms industry has undergone a huge technological
Alcatel-Lucent
I transformation. Whereas not so long ago, we mostly relied on the good old
landline telephone to speak to those we loved in far-flung places, since the
end of the 1990s, the variety of ways of getting in touch with people has
increased exponentially. Alcatel-Lucent, with a presence in 130 countries
worldwide, tries to position itself as ahead of the curve in an industry that has
a potential market of billions of people. The company consists of three key
business groups: carrier, enterprise and convergent communications
technologies for businesses and individuals.
Back to the old school
The company may be a big player on the global scene with 77,400 employees
worldwide, but in real terms, it is just getting started. The two separate
companies, Alcatel and Lucent, merged as recently as 2006, having previously
been rivals. Alcatel can trace its roots back to 1898, when French engineer Pierre
Azaria founded “La Compagnie Générale d’Electricité” (CGE), an industrial
conglomerate involved in electricity, transportation, electronics and
telecommunications. Almost a century later, in 1989, CGE bought the
telecommunications products arm of American industrial company ITT
Corporation and changed its name to Alcatel Alstom.
The company streamlined and expanded simultaneously, creating a foothold in

China and spinning off its Alstom activities to focus on Alcatel. It has since made
acquisitions which have strengthened its position as a leading technology provider.
Through these acquisitions, it is in a position to sell a wide range of products
including broadband and ethernet equipment, mobile products and applications,
network management tools, optical transmission and wireless transmission
equipment and submarine network systems.
Back to the older school

The American company Lucent can claim an even longer history than Alcatel,
dating back to 1869 when it was just a small manufacturing firm called Western
Electric. By 1880, it had become the largest electrical manufacturing company in
the country. In 1881, Lucent was established as American Bell, by a fairly famous
figure in the history of telecommunications, Alexander Graham Bell, who
invented the telephone. Graham Bell purchased a controlling interest in the new
American Bell. The company from then on became dedicated to the development
and manufacture of telephone equipment.
17
A Nobel company?
In the early 20th century, American Bell morphed into American Telephone and
Telegraph (AT&T), which included in it American Bell’s research division, Bell
Laboratories. This notable company invented the transistor, the laser, the solar cell
battery, the digital signal processor chip and won 11 Nobel prizes. Further down the
line, the AT&T technologies unit eventually combined with Bell Laboratories to
become Lucent Technologies.
Lucent was launched in 1996 with an IPO on the NYSE and its stock did extremely
well in the late 1990s, rising from a starting price of 7.56 dollars per share to a high
of 84 dollars. Problems arose later through dubious accounting and sales practices
and share prices bottomed to 55 cents apiece. The company survived by making
extreme job cuts (from 165,000 down to 30,500 employees) and then by merging with
Alcatel in a 10.7 billion US dollar deal in April 2006.
Back to the future
The merged entity, Lucent-Alcatel, is a force to be reckoned with. Given its history,
it is not surprising that it is a research and development powerhouse, with annual
investments of more than 2.5 billion dollars poured into projects ranging from
algorithmic and computer sciences to optical networking, to new service delivery
architecture and platforms
“
to nanotechnology. It is
...it is in a position to sell a wide range headed by Patricia Russo,
of products, including broadband “ former chief executive of
equipment and mobile products... Lucent, who in August
2007 was voted 25th on
the Forbes Magazine’s
“100 Most Powerful Women” list. Russo’s chief job since taking on the top spot at
Alcatel-Lucent has been to restructure for cost-cutting effect. The company needs to
save 2.32 billion US dollars within three years of the merger and to cut 12,500 jobs.
The road to hell
The first 18 months of the Lucent-Alcatel merger have proved to be troublesome for
the united company, with losses posted for its first three quarters. By 2009, the
company says it expects to have “pruned its portfolio” in Russo’s words, which is a
necessary step considering company shares plummeted 38 percent in the first nine
months of 2007. This drop erased approximately 13 billion US dollars of Alcatel-
Lucent’s market capitalisation. In October 2007, the company hit possibly its lowest
point so far, when the French union the Confédération Générale du Travail issued a
18
Alcatel-Lucent
statement criticising the Lucent merger as being “a key factor” in Alcatel’s “descent
into hell”. As of late 2007, the company faces an uphill struggle to get back on its feet
and turn a profit.
Alcatel-Lucent expects to focus on its next-generation upgrades of wireless and fixed-

line networks as part of its streamlining plan. In 2005, one of its “internet protocol
transformation” projects saw it net a 2.2 billion euro contract with Australian
telecoms network Telstra in partnership with Cisco systems. Alcatel-Lucent is
responsible for network design, integration, product supply and ongoing support.
GETTING HIRED
Still on the lookout
Despite the changes and cutbacks the company is experiencing in the early stages of
merged activity, it is still hiring. The firm has no official graduate training scheme
however. Alcatel-Lucent's jobs website is www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/Careers
and it shows worldwide job offers along with internship details. Applications can be
made online for whatever job matches your profile. Work is available with Alcatel-
Lucent in the following fields: administration, business operations, business support,
business strategy and development, communications, engineering services,
environmental health and safety, finance, human resources, IT, legal, manufacturing,
marketing, product development, project management, professional services,
research, sales, sales support and supply chain management.
Three types of internship are available. All of them are for students or recent
graduates and Alcatel-Lucent emphasises integrating your education with your
career goals. The Cooperative education program lasts for one term and is full-time.
It allows students to receive both academic credit and financial compensation for
their work. Eligibility for it rests on a solid academic performance, the right to work
in the country of application and enrollment as a full-time student at a higher
education institution.
The two other internship possibilities are the AIESEC Global Exchange Partnership
and the Research Partner Program. The former is an association that offers overseas
internships. More information can be found out about it by visiting www.aiesec.org.
The latter focuses on research and development and is offered in collaboration with
higher education institutions and research institutes. All these opportunities can be
found on Alcatel-Lucent’s careers website.
19
ALSTOM
141 rue Rateau European Locations

93126 La Courneuve Cedex
France Paris (HQ)
Tel: +33 (1) 49 92 41 27 Austria • Belgium • Denmark • Estonia •
www.alstom.com Finland • Germany • Hungary • Ireland •
Italy • Latvia • Netherlands • Norway •
Poland • Portugal • Romania • Russia •
Spain • Sweden • Switzerland • Turkey •
United Kingdom
The Stats
Ticker Symbol: AC (Euronext)
Chief Executive: Patrick Krom Employment Contact
2006 Revenue: €13.42bn www.alstom.com/home/careers_sections
No. of Offices: Present in over 70
countries
Divisions
Power generation • Rail transport
20 career
library
THE SCOOP
he world of French conglomerates is often more closely-knit than it would
Alstom
T appear. Transport and energy infrastructure maker Alstom, which is a
global heavy-hitter in the engineering business, has the same roots as Alcatel,
the telecommunications company and Thomson, the consumer electronics provider.
All three companies spring from the same origins — the CGE (Compagnie Générale
d'Electricité), which was founded in 1898 by engineer Pierre Azaria. Alstom, founded in
1928, is now present in 70 countries and draws in annual sales of approximately 14 billion
euros. The firm is best known for being both the world number one at constructing
integrated power plants for coal, gas, nuclear, fuel-oil, hydropower and wind use and the
world number one producer of high-technology rail transport. With more than 65,000
employees, this integrated group has a major presence on the world engineering scene.
More power to them
The engineering sector in France is nothing if not political and Alstom is at the heart
of some juicy debates. It will play a massive role in future energy provision, not only
in France but also worldwide. As it predominantly makes turbines for traditional
fuels, for as long as these types of fuels are around, which is for at least another few
decades, Alstom will have a significant part to play in the power landscape. Nuclear
power might also prove to be Alstom’s golden ticket, because as French energy policy
becomes increasingly nuclear-focused, Alstom is well positioned to cash in.
Faster than the speed of freight
Not content with being one of the brightest sparks on the power scene, Alstom wipes
the floor when it comes to train manufacturing too. In the field of rail transport,
Alstom supplies stock, infrastructure, maintenance equipment and rail systems and
by orders, is the second-largest train maker worldwide. Having delivered the first
Train de Grand Vitesse (TGV) in 1978, as a high-speed train maker, the company still
hasn’t been beaten. On April 3, 2007, it achieved the world rail speed record: 574.8
kph — the fastest a train has ever travelled. Such a feat of engineering shortly
preceded the TGV Est, the expansion of France’s SNCF rail network to Germany.
This project cost 5.5 billion euros, with trains built by Alstom.
Do the locomotion with me?
At about the same time as the TGV Est started up, Alstom started to look for buyers
for its next-generation high-speed train, the AGV (Automotrice à Grand Vitesse).
21
With the prototype being tested in late 2007, in January 2008 Alstom secured an order
worth 700 million euros with a private Italian rail company. As Alstom had been
struggling to find a launch customer for the AGV’s, this is good news, but the train
maker is hoping for far more orders in coming years as TGV technology ages.
Off the rails
Despite its bright-looking future, Alstom has only recently emerged from serious
trouble. With its increasingly obsolete shipbuilding subsidiary sinking the whole
company into bankruptcy, in 2004 the French state had to intervene to reduce
Alstom’s 2.5 billion euro debts. By way of a debt-for-equity swap and a rights
issue, Alstom was bailed out, with the government helping itself to an 18.5
percent stake.
Current French President Nicolas Sarkozy was the architect of this rescue. As Finance
Minister, he put huge pressure on the then European Competition Commissioner,
Mario Monti, to allow the
French state to rescue
“ Despite its bright-looking future,

Alstom has only recently “ Alstom, although the EU
was cracking down on
state intervention in
emerged from serious trouble.
struggling companies. Not
playing by EU rules earned
Sarkozy results — by spring 2007, Alstom reported that its annual net profit had
more than doubled, from 178 million euros to 448 million euros.
Are you gonna go my way?
It may have got back on its feet, but life at Alstom is still as complicated as a soap
opera, so get ready to pay attention. In April 2006, the construction company
Bouygues bought the French state’s stake of Alstom, which by then amounted to 21.3
percent. With the government netting a 1.26 billion euro profit from the sale, Alstom
entered a brief period of calm. But in January 2008, it emerged that nuclear energy
group Areva has been in preliminary talks with Bouygues’ rival, Vinci, to merge
into a domestic energy superpower.
This presents a problem for Alstom because for two decades, the French government has
been pushing for a merger between Areva and Alstom. Since Areva is 79 percent
government-owned, Alstom is now in a serious political tug-of-war. Until an agreement
is reached, Sarkozy will continue to push the Bouygues-Alstom-Areva axis and Areva
chief executive officer Anne Lauvergeon will fight for a partnership with Vinci.
22
You can’t always get what you want
The Areva-Alstom-Bouygues tie-up has long been touted as a perfect way for the
Alstom
French energy industry to confront the global market. Combining Areva’s nuclear
expertise, Alstom’s widespread geographical presence and Bouygues’ project
management experience, on paper it looks like a good move. Patrick Kron, Alstom’s
chief executive, supports the merger. Martin Bouygues, Bouygues chief executive, is
also keen. But Areva believes it has little to gain from Alstom. If it wants to join forces
with Vinci instead, a head-to-head battle between Sarkozy and Lauvergeon may well
be on the cards.
It doesn’t help matters that Areva is 34 percent owned by Siemens, Alstom’s German
arch-rival. Whilst Sarkozy, who wants to create strong national conglomerates, wants
Siemens out of Areva, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, wants it to retain its stake.
So in the midst of all this, Alstom’s future owners and partners are anyone’s guess.
Despite this fuss, it’s worth remembering that Alstom’s power service and transport busi-
ness are doing very nicely. In the 2007/08 period, contracts were secured with 12 coun-
tries to build power plants, including four nuclear power plants in China and hydro power
plants in Brazil and China. Overall, during the first nine months of 2007/08 (from April 1
to December 31, 2007), Alstom booked orders amounting to 19.9 billion euros.
GETTING HIRED
Constructing a career
Alstom is a big hirer — in 2007/08 it hired 8,700 staff, of which approximately half
came on board as engineers and managers. Benefits of working for the global giant
include international opportunities, a chance to own company stock and excellent
opportunities for career progression. There is a wealth of opportunities for students
and recent graduates, all of which can be seen on its careers website:
www.alstom.com/home/careers_sections.
Internships are available, either through the VIE scheme or through the CIFRE programme
(Conventions Industrielles de Formation par la Recherche), a partnership between French
companies, laboratories and graduates. The CIFRE programme is a three-year contract
with Alstom that will allow graduate students to write their PhD thesis while contributing
to the company’s research activities. This programme is managed by ANRT (the
Association Nationale de la Recherche Technique) and the French Research Agency.
23
As for graduates, Alstom recruits for four divisions: construction and commissioning,
which builds new power plants, the hydropower “talents development” programme,
the finance programme and a more generalised pathway for engineering graduates.
The careers section gives full details on each of these programmes. A wide variety of
career paths are possible within each programme. For example, those who join the
construction and commissioning programme could work as civil engineers, site
planning engineers, as contract managers or quantity surveyors, mechanical and
electrical engineers, environment, health and safety engineers or site quality
engineers.
All students need to carefully decide which programme best suits their skills,
education and future career goals. It is preferred that engineering students/graduates
have a minimum 2:1 degree in mechanical, electrical, civil or aerospace engineering.
A masters degree is desirable too. All Alstom jobs can be found through the job
search portals: “current openings”, “internships, graduates and experienced
opportunities”, or through an advanced search, where you can specify location or
function. An online “career account” must be created, where you can manage your
CV and cover letters and apply for any suitable opportunities in the future.
24
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The truth is in the Vault:

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ARCELORMITTAL
Berkeley Square House European Locations

7th Floor
Berkeley Square London (HQ) • Luxembourg (HQ)
London W1J 6DA Belgium • France • Germany
England
Tel: +44 (0)207 629
798819 avenue de la Liberté Employment Contact

L-2390 www.arcelormittal.com
Luxembourg (Click on “Careers”)
Tel: +352 (0)47 9 21
www.arcelormittal.com
The Stats
Ticker Symbol: MT (Euronext), MT
(NYSE), MTS (BMAD), MT (LuxSE)
Chairman: Joseph Kinsch
Chief Executive: Lakshmi N. Mittal
2007 Revenue: n/a
2006 Revenue: $88.6bn
2007 Employees: n/a
2006 Employees: 320,000
No. of Offices: n/a
Divisions
Flat Steel • Long Steel • Tubular
Products • Stainless Steel • Wires •
Bars and Fencing • Automotive •

Construction • Distribution • Projects •
Steel Services Centre
career
26 library
THE SCOOP
rcelorMittal is the world’s number one steel producer and a true
ArcelorMittal
A international superstar. With headquarters split between India and
Europe, the cross-continental company produces a huge range of steel
and steel-related products, employing more than 320,000 workers at locations
around the world. Surprisingly for its world-beating stature, ArcelorMittal is a
market newcomer. The company was formed through a June 2006 merger of the
European group Arcelor with its rival, Indian group Mittal Steel. The result was
a group that rides high as the largest steelmaker by volume in the world, leading
in the provision of steel to construction, automative, household appliances and
packaging markets. As befits such an industrial titan, the group flaunts some
impressive statistics: in the year of its merger, ArcelorMittal produced 118
million tonnes of steel and took in revenues of 88.6 billion US dollars.
Over and over
The history of Arcelor and Mittal show just how important consolidation is to the
steel industry, as both groups were themselves products of mergers. Arcelor
dates back to 2001, when the Luxembourgian Arbed merged with Spain’s
Aceralia and France’s Usinor. This merger became effective in 2002, creating a
European steel stronghold from three companies who had each been around a
century or more. The group that would become Arbed was originally formed in
1882; Aceralia was founded in 1902 and Usinor has been around in various
incarnations since the mid-18th century.
Mittal management
Over in India, Mittal Steel was a much newer player. In 1976, Rajasthan-born
Lakshmi Mittal, the richest man in the UK and fifth-richest man in the world in
2008 according to Forbes Magazine, started his own steel business, LNM
Holdings. Hotshot Mittal spent his formative years in his family’s steelmaking
business before branching out on his own. By 2004, he had purchased Poland’s
leading steel producer, Ispat Polska Stal and the American company
International Steel Group to create Mittal Steel. Spearheading the steel scene’s
global consolidation, 57-year-old Mittal is an impressive captain of industry, as
the news media has frequently pointed out. By the end of 2006 for example, the
high-profile tycoon had bagged a slew of honours: The Financial Times’ “Man of
the Year”, The Sunday Times’ “Businessman of the Year”, German newspaper Die
Welt’s “Gewinner 2006” (which should be self-explanatory even for non-German
speakers) and Time Magazine’s “Newsmaker of the Year”.
27
New hot strip mill, anyone?
As of 2008, the steelmaking supergroup is looking to the future, placing its hopes
for organic growth in markets such as Brazil, Eastern Europe, South Africa and the
Middle East. One of the company’s key selling points is its product diversity, which
is important when catering to differing needs in mature and developing markets. As
local markets change and requirements become more sophisticated, ArcelorMittal
and its numerous subsidiaries are in a good position to tailor their plants and
products accordingly. New projects in Eastern Europe, for example, include a hot-
rolled strip steel mill in Poland and the modernisation of a cold-rolling mill in the
Czech Republic.
The group’s involvement in metal mining is also crucial to its success and it is
eagerly increasing its coal and iron mining capacity. In February 2007, a deal
was struck with the
Senegalese government to
“ The steel making supergroup is

placing its hopes in Brazil, Eastern Europe, “ develop a 750 million tonne
iron ore mining project in
south-east Senegal. A total
South Africa and the Middle East
of 2.2 billion dollars is
being invested in port and
rail infrastructure in support of this project. With its own iron ore and coal mines in
eight countries and expansion plans afoot in Mexico, Bosnia, the Ukraine and
Kazakhstan, by 2010 the group aims to reduce its dependency on external suppliers
from 55 percent of annual requirements to 45 percent.
Steel of fortune
All companies that rely on raw materials for their industrial production are subject to the
caprices of the market and steelmakers are no exception. Historically, steel consumption
goes up when times are good and goes down in periods of recession. Therefore, the bigger
and stronger they are, the more money steelmakers have sloshing about even in bad times
to purchase raw materials. This was a key reason behind the ArcelorMittal merger. The
group is now well-placed to avoid economic humps, especially since approximately 25

percent of its production comes from plants that figure among the lowest-cost producers
in the world. As the company’s 2006 Annual Report noted, “This geographical breadth is
a hedge against regional price fluctuations”.
The integration has also helped keep costs down and efficiency up, by securing the use
of best practice techniques and combined expertise. The new combined research and
development unit, for example, has an annual budget of more than 185 million dollars.
For ArcelorMittal’s extensive automotive division, which supplies approximately 17.4
28
tonnes of materials annually to the automotive manufacturing industry, newly secured
ArcelorMittal
access to a global spread of plants brings the group closer to its markets. This significantly
cuts distributional overheads. The group can be said to be truly international. As of 2008,
the global footprint of ArcelorMittal’s production facilities broke down as follows: 34
percent in western Europe, 22 percent in the United States and Canada, 18 percent in
Central and Eastern Europe, ten percent in Central Asia and the CIS (Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, the Ukraine
and Uzbekistan), nine percent in Latin America and seven percent in Africa.
A glamorous industry after all
Exceptionally unique among steel companies, ArcelorMittal has its own, rather popular,
reality television show, which is available to watch on www.arcelormittal.tv as well as on
YouTube. The web television series is in its second season. Season One documented the
stresses and strains of the 2006 merger, giving a multi-perspective insider’s account of
what it’s like to integrate two industrial giants. The 15 five-minute episodes of season one
took a look at the group’s research and development teams, corporate social responsibility,
branding, new markets and one episode was even dedicated to the perspective of its
shareholders.
Season Two began in January 2008, promising even more eye-opening realism about the
nature of the global steel industry. Episode one, for example, took a fascinating close look
at ArcelorMittal’s role in the war-torn African country Liberia, where in 2007, the group
purchased an iron ore mine with a production capacity of 15 million tonnes a year. The
episode featured interviews with the group’s PR director in Liberia, employees and
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, all of whom shed light on the difficulty of co-
operation on sustainable projects in such a difficult local environment.
GETTING HIRED
Stuck in the Mittal with you

For a global company with 320,000 employees, ArcelorMittal makes its recruitment
process surprisingly easy. The company’s global HR is centralised and the group’s
online employment platform allows potential candidates to scan and apply for
worldwide vacancies in English, French, Spanish and Portugese. Open applications
can also be made by submitting your CV online.
For graduates with MBA’s or MA’s in commerce-related fields, ArcelorMittal has

offered a Business Leaders Programme since 2003. The programme spans the
29
company’s marketing, finance, supply chain, procurement, performance
enhancement and HR divisions and is open to those with three or more years of
professional experience. Located in both an emerging market country and a
developed country, the programme takes two- to three-years to complete and offers
excellent opportunities for career progression afterwards.
ArcelorMittal also offers many internships and university partnership

placements. Internship opportunities can be seen through the HR portal and are
available for those in higher education in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and
Spain. The group has excellent links with universities, particularly technical
schools and are highly active at careers fairs. The V.I.E. scheme, available to
students with five or more years of higher education, is another way to get your
foot in ArcelorMittal’s no doubt impressive cast iron door.
OUR SURVEY SAYS
Test your Mittal
One ArcelorMittal Group employee at the Steel Coat subsidiary in Belgium described
his experience of the hiring process as “a first interview with a hiring company to test
my knowledge in foreign languages, followed by a second interview with the general
manager, the logistics manager and the production manager.” He said that while
there were “no specific questions, we talked about my professional experiences, what
I expected from my new job and what the firm expected from me, including detailed
descriptions of my tasks.”
If you have made it clear you have language skills, be prepared to have them tested.
One source at Arcelor Packaging International in Paris explained, “I mentioned [on
my application] I was fluent in English and Spanish and in the interview they
switched from English to Spanish”.
Another France-based source said the hiring process was quite straightforward, even
speedy, explaining: “A first interview in which I was asked to describe my studies and
professional path was followed by a second a week later with my future boss and the
human resources manager. The second interview was more operational, investigating my
skills and abilities in marketing and foreign languages. I was notified three days later.”
One Paris-based employee, however, did describe the firm as “quite elitist in its
recruitment for a new position,” but said that it kept a “human aspect” to its
workings, despite its massive size.
30
Flexible and friendly
Insiders sing the praises of the company’s approach to autonomy. “You have a lot of
ArcelorMittal
freedom in your job and very flexible hours” one respondent at ArcelorMittal
subsidiary, Steel Coat, informed us. “The management committee try to have as
much contact with the employees as they can, just to remain informed about what’s
going well and what’s going wrong; they always try to find solutions to help or to
improve.”
This level of manager-employee contact is consolidated through annual reviews,

explained the Paris-based employee, saying: “Every year we have an interview with
our general manger to talk about what happened during the year in the company
and in our job but also about how we see our future at Arcelor and what we would
like to do or change in our job.”
Treated like kings
One seasoned employee based in Paris described the “special policy” for wage
increases for young executives, explaining that if you are “up to 29-years-old, you’ll
get a yearly raise of between six and ten percent, which can increase to 15 percent.”
They also described their starting salary as “unusually low, which resulted in a
higher salary increase percentile.”
Additional perks offered to employees of ArcelorMittal are attractive. One employee

in the Paris office listed restaurant tickets, an extra month’s salary per year, referred
to as a “13-month salary” and a year-end bonus, along with reimbursement of some
medical services as just some of the company benefits.
31
ARUP
13 Fitzroy St European Locations

London
W1T 4BQ London (HQ)
Tel: 44 (0)207 636 1531 Denmark • Germany • Ireland • Italy •
www.arup.com Netherlands • Poland • Romania •
Russia • Spain • Thailand • Ukraine •
United Kingdom
The Stats Employment Contact

Employer Type: Private www.arup.com/arup/careers.cfm
Chairman of Group Board: Terry Hill
Chairman of Trustees: Mike Shears
2007 Revenue: £572m
2006 Revenue: £475m
2006 Employees: n/a
No. of Offices: 92
Divisions
Buildings • Consulting • Infrastructure
career
32 library
THE SCOOP
rup is a firm of designers, engineers, planners and consultants responsible
Arup
A for some of the world’s most well-known structures. Ove N. Arup, the son
of a Danish Consul, born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, founded the company in
1946 with the intention of bringing together professionals from diverse fields to work
in close collaboration with architectural practices. Arup, a structural engineer, wanted
his firm to have more a complete and integrative approach to construction and
engineering than the industry was traditionally known for. This approach has stayed
with Arup over the years, with the group continuing to emphasise its holistic and
multi-disciplinary approach to building and planning.
The firm has three main global business areas: building, infrastructure and
consulting, but there is a good deal of overlap between them. The firm’s focus on
hiring specialist engineers and consultants gives it a broad base of experienced
professionals whose knowledge spreads across many different fields. In addition to
its work on more traditional infrastructure and engineering projects, including
highways and bridges, Arup has maintained from its inception a close connection
with avant-garde architecture. The firm continues to seek innovation, aesthetically as
well as economically and environmentally.
Arup first rose to prominence during the postwar era of high public sector spending
in the UK during the 1950s and 1960s and has continued to expand its global reach
and the scope of its expertise ever since. Its research and development department
was established in 1966, incorporating structural pathology, materials technology,
geotechnics, transport planning and industrial engineering groups. Arup has
continued to expand its range of specialist services over the years, including offshore
engineering, acoustics, communications, energy, seismic engineering, airport
planning, sports stadium design and operation, vehicle design and sustainable city
design and master planning.
Shells: the new cubes

Arup has been active in the design, engineering and construction of some of the most
recognisable and avant-garde structures in the world. Arguably the most famous
among these and one of most easily identifiable buildings in the world, is the Sydney
Opera House, located on Sydney Harbour. Construction of the Opera House,
designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, was begun in 1957 and finally completed
in 1973. In 2007, at a meeting of the United Nation’s World Heritage Committee, the
Opera House was declared a World Heritage site. This placed it alongside the Taj
Mahal in India, Egypt’s Great Pyramids and the Acropolis in Greece. It is the
youngest building to be included on the list and only the second by a living architect.
33
Other world-renowned Arup creations include the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the
Millennium Bridge in London, the De Young Museum in San Fransisco, the Oresund
Bridge running between Denmark and Sweden, the Scottish Parliament Building in
Edinburgh, the Torre Bicentenario in Mexico City and the Casa da Musica in Porto,
Portugal. Arup designed the Beijing National Aquatics Centre (the “Watercube”) and
the Beijing National Stadium, both built for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Designing all over the world
Arup is ceaselessly consolidating its global footprint, taking on new projects in every
corner of the world. In 2008, the biggest hypermarket in Borneo was completed
by the firm and in January of the same year, Arupsport, Arup’s sports
architecture practice, was
“
chosen by the Singapore
Architects Arup are working
Sports Council to design
with include the renowned Singapore’s ‘Premier Park’
Richard Rogers Partnership
“ which includes, among
and Zaha Hadid Architects. its roster of shiny sporting
facilities, a new national
stadium. In Madrid, six of the buildings in the new City of Justice are being
engineered by Arup. The City of Justice is the largest single site dedicated to justice
in Europe, comprising 15 circular buildings housing all of Madrid’s judicial
departments in one location. Architects that Arup are working with on this project
include the renowned Richard Rogers Partnership and Zaha Hadid Architects.
Follow the carbon footprints

In 2005, Arup began work on what it calls the “world’s first eco-city,” comissioned
by the Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation (SIIC). The city, called Dongtan,
is located on the island of Chongming, near Shanghai, China. The urban area of
Dongtan is estimated to occupy about one third of the 86 square kilometre site, with
remaining land being retained for natural wetlands and a buffer zone between two
“managed wetlands.” Dongtan will produce its energy from wind farms, solar cells,
bio-fuel and recycled city waste. Hydrogen fuel cells will be used to power public
transport and strategic cycle paths and footpaths will be built. Only electric and
hydrogen-powered vehicles will be allowed in the city.
As for the all-important question of waste, most of Dongtan’s waste output will be
recycled and composted and much of the organic waste will go to ensure the
continued fertility of local farmland in order to be able to meet most of the city’s food
needs. The local farms will use organic growing practices. Dongtan is projected to
have a population of 25,000 by the year 2010 and 500,000 by 2030. An accord signed
34
between Arup and SIIC in 2005 confirms an ongoing commitment between the two
Arup
entities to collaborate on future sustainable building projects in China.
GETTING HIRED
See the buildings of the world
Arup has schemes designed for graduates, pre-university and mid-degree students
as well as technical traineeships. For graduates, Arup offers on-site training working
on projects alongside experienced professionals. This hands-on training is
supplemented by the chance to attend several short courses relevant to the discipline
in which you are specialising. Arup also offers the chance to partake in its profit share
scheme, a choice of two pension schemes and private medical insurance. Candidates
for the graduate program are expected to have a relevant degree, a minimum of three
‘C’ grades at ‘A’ level and less than 12 months of continuous, relevant prior work
experience. If you have more than 12 months of continuous prior work experience,
you can apply for vacancies for more experienced positions, which can be found in
the “careers” area of Arup’s website.
The pre-university scheme is designed for gap year students who are just about to
begin a university degree in Engineering. The program begins in September and
usually runs for nine months until the end of May. Based on progress through the
year, Arup may offer university sponsorships and the opportunity to work every
summer doing paid six week placements. Those interested are advised to look
through the company’s many groups on the website, which offer many different
specialised engineering disciplines. Arup helps pre-university participants find
accommodation for their year at the firm and social committees are on hand to
organise social events to make new entrants feel at home at Arup.
Positions for technical trainees are offered in the areas of electrical engineering,
environmental services engineering, mechanical engineering, structural engineering
and civil engineering. These excellent opportunities to lay the foundations of a career
in engineering can be applied for on Arup’s website in its “careers” section.
35
ATKINS GLOBAL
Woodcote Grove European Locations
Ashley Rd.
Epsom London (HQ)
Surrey KT18 5BW Czech Republic • Denmark • France •
UK Finland • Greece • Hungary • Republic
Tel: +44 (0)1372 726 140 of Ireland • Italy • Netherlands •
www.atkinsglobal.com Norway • Poland • Portugal • Romania •
Sweden • Turkey

Employer Type: Public www.atkinsglobal.com/careers
Ticker Symbol: ATK (LSE)
Chairman: Ed Wallis
Chief Executive: Keith Clarke
2007 Revenue: £1.26 billion
No. of Offices: more than 200
Divisions
Design and engineering solutions •
Highways and transportation • Rail
Management and project services •
Management consultancy • Middle East
and China • Equity investments •
Asset management • Faithful+Gould
career
36 library
THE SCOOP
Atkins Global
A
tkins is the largest engineering consultancy in the UK, the largest
multidisciplinary consultancy in Europe and the fifth-largest design
firm in the world. The company’s three-pronged credo is “Plan, Design,
Enable”. What this breaks down to is a huge variety of work, from logistics and
technical planning for clients’ projects to designing “systems, processes,
buildings and civil structures”. The company operates in numerous business
areas but key to its work is its engineering and design consultancy segment,
which in 2007 drew the largest slice of Atkins’ revenue of all its various areas,
bringing in 339 million pounds. The company’s other business segments are
management and project services, Middle East and China, highways and
transportation, rail, equity investments and asset management and subsidiary
Faithful+Gould.
All under one roof
Just as Atkins may be based in the UK but has a strong international outlook, it is at
heart an engineering consultancy which stretches out to encompass many more
activities. Whilst 82 percent of the company’s revenues are derived from its UK
operations, the firm is looking more and more to the Middle East as an income
stream, alongside China and the US. The company has more than 200 offices
worldwide and its work encompasses sectors ranging from aerospace to
development infrastructure to security services.
Founded in 1938 by Sir William Atkins, the company originally specialised in civil
and structural engineering work, expanding after World War II into specialist
services including town planning, architecture and engineering sciences. Since being
admitted to the London Stock Exchange in 1996, Atkins has added a number of
companies to its roster, including Faithful+Gould, a project management
consultancy, Ventron Technology, a process engineer, Lambert Smith Hampton,
property consultants, McCarthy’s Consulting Engineers, Boward Computer Services
and Hanscomb Inc. another project management consultancy.
Atkins has numerous projects going on at any one time, but part of its remit for
2007/08 has clearly been to focus more on its operations in India and the Middle
East. The company has opened up two global design centres, in Bangalore and
Sharjah in the UAE, so far comprising more than 200 engineers working in the firm’s
design and engineering solutions business segment. In the Middle East, Atkins has
left a considerable footprint, designing and constructing some flagship projects.
These include the Dubai Metro (still ongoing), the Bahrain World Trade Centre and
Dubai’s Burj Al Arab hotel.
37
King of the road
Closer to home, in 2008, Atkins has scored project after project. Just a sample includes
a five-year strategic partnership with British Energy to provide engineering and support
to its nuclear fleet of stations, in partnership with three other firms for five years at a
value of 20 million pounds per year. Also, in transport engineering, in April 2008 Atkins
scooped three key projects worth in total more than 150 million pounds. The firm is
designing and developing major improvements to the UK’s strategic road network —
one recent contract makes Atkins responsible for the management and maintenance of
1,300 kilometres of the UK’s trunk road and motorways in East Anglia.
Going at high speeds

With the UK’s railways considered by many to be in need of an upgrade, Atkins is
pressing for a new high speed rail network to be put in place. A report released by
the firm in March 2008 showed that a high speed rail network would ease congestion
as well as lower overall UK carbon emissions. It would also make economic sense in
the long-term, Atkins says. What’s more, due to quicker journey times — an
estimated hour to Birmingham and three hours to Glasgow from London, for
example — staff productivity could also increase. Atkins estimates that high speed
routes on the east and west coasts would cost 31 billion pounds to build but that they
would deliver more than twice that in economic benefits in the first 60 years of their
use. The firm is rallying for a new network to be operational by 2026.
Managing the government
In April 2008, Atkins reported that the Home Office awarded it a contract to provide an
Accommodation Help Desk (AHD) service to support the management of its property
estate, along with part of the Ministry of Justice’s property estate. The AHD will support
the management of approximately 1,200 properties, mainly in the UK, which
accommodate around 45,000 staff, including passport, immigration and probation offices.
Atkins also announced in April 2008 that it had sold its 25 percent interest in Modern
Housing Solutions, which provides accommodation to UK Ministry of Defence staff

and to engineering firms Carillion and Enterprise, receiving 3.9 million pounds.
Following the announcement of a share buyback programme in November 2007,
Atkins purchased 3,218,000 shares at an aggregated cost of 34.9 million pounds.
You can’t bet on Metronet
Not everything is smooth in the world of Atkins. The company was one of the
shareholders of Metronet, a firm that maintained and upgraded most of the London
38
Tube network since April 2003, when it took control of two-thirds of the Tube’s
Atkins Global
infrastructure, including nine lines and 150 stations. By June 2007, Metronet
estimated there would be a two billion pound overspend by 2010. It claimed that
some of the blame lay with London Underground for forcing them to do work not
originally stipulated in the contract. London Underground, for its part, claimed that
the overspend was due to Metronet’s inefficiencies.
Metronet went into administration in July 2007 and as Atkins owned 20 percent of it,
the engineering firm incurred unavoidable financial losses running into the millions.
Despite this Metronet blip, Atkins reported strong earnings as 2008 started
underway, including a rise in revenue of 11 percent from the same period the
previous year.
GETTING HIRED
Working for Atkins
Employment opportunities exist across Atkins for engineers, architects, planners,

surveyors, consultants and support staff for those who want to work in the fields of
aerospace, buildings, defence, education, energy, environment, health, industry, oil
and gas, telecoms, transport, urban development and water. The “hot jobs” section
of Atkins’ website is updated frequently with job offerings at the company’s offices
in Europe, the US, the Middle East and Asia.
From mortarboard to hard hat
There are numerous jobs available for graduates, with graduate recruitment hotspots
being the UK and China. Atkins recruits graduates from a broad range of technical and
engineering disciplines and aside from graduate jobs, offers both 12 month and summer
placements. Graduates are expected to have a 2:2 degree as a minimum criteria and all
engineers taken on will enter a professional accreditation scheme tailored to their fields of
interest. Whilst the majority of graduates are taken on in the UK, there is a China-based
graduate training programme and the company is developing those in other parts of the
world. Atkins also has occasional vacancies in human resources and IT, but potential
candidates for such jobs should check Atkins’ online jobs board.
Everybody loves Atkins
In 2008, for the fourth year in a row, Atkins was listed by The Sunday Times as one of
the “Best 100 Graduate Employers” and one of the UK’s “20 best big companies to
39
work for”. Accolades pile up that confirm the firm’s reputation as a top employer. It
won “Best Graduate Recruiter in Construction” at the Target National Graduate
Recruitment Awards 2007, The Times “Top 50 Places Where Women Want to Work”
and in 2007 was named as one of Computer Weekly’s “Best Places to work in IT”.
The Sunday Times survey included such insights as the fact that 70 percent of Atkins
employees said they would not leave if they received a job offer elsewhere.
Employees also overwhelmingly responded that stress was not a problem at Atkins,
that they generally aren’t exhausted after a day at work and that they are happy with
the balance between their work and home lives. In 2007, only two other big
companies on The Sunday Times’ list returned a higher score when staff were asked
if they felt their company made a positive difference in the world.
Internal company surveys are also carried out annually, so senior management can
monitor staff satisfaction and act on feedback. Employees are said to rate their
managers highly and appreciate the focus on activities that put integration first,
including trips around Europe, sailing, archery and theatre visits. In 2008, Atkins
also garnered the sought-after title of “Engineering Consultant of the Year” award at
the UK Building Awards. Judges cited Atkins scoring highly on key issues such as
sustainability, health and safety, along with its “commitment to leadership and
partnering with clients”.
40
BAE SYSTEMS
6 Carlton Gardens UK Locations
London
SW1Y 5AD London (HQ)
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)12 5237 3232
www.baesystems.com
European Locations
London (HQ)
Austria • Bulgaria • Czech Republic •
The Stats Denmark • Finland • France • Germany •
Employer Type: Public Greece • Hungary • Italy • Netherlands •
Ticker Symbol: BAES (LSE, NYSE) Norway • Poland • Romania • Russia •
Chief Executive: Dick Olver Slovakia • Spain • Switzerland • Turkey
2007 Employes: 97,500
2006 Employees: 88,000 Employment Contact
No. of Offices: not available www.baesystems.com
(Click on “Careers”)
Divisions
BAE Systems Australia • BAE Systems
Products Group • BVT Surface Fleet •
CS&S International • Customer
Solutions • Electronics & Integrated
Solutions • Integrated System
Technologies • Land & Armaments •
Military Air Solutions • Regional Aircraft •
Shared Services • Submarine Solutions
career
42 library
THE SCOOP
AE Systems, officially formed in November 1999 as a merger of British
BAE Systems
B Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems, is one of the world’s leading
defence and aerospace companies. The millennial merger combined two
strong British forces in aerospace and defence systems manufacturing. Post-merger,
the company pursued expansion into naval vessel production, munitions, defence
electronics and military vehicle interests alongside its core defence aerospace
manufacture and maintenance business.
With 97,500 employees worldwide and customers in more than 100 countries, BAE
Systems ranks as the third-largest global defence company with 2007 annual sales of
more than 15.7 billion pounds. In terms of global market position based on 2006
defence revenues, only US corporations Lockheed Martin and Boeing are ahead of it.
All busy on the western front…
BAE Systems has six key home markets: the UK, the US, Australia, Saudi Arabia, South
Africa and Sweden. In terms of its business groups, programmes and support brings home
the most revenue for the company — 33 percent in 2007. Electronics, intelligence and
support accounts for 24 percent, land and armaments accounts for 22 percent and
international business contributes to 21 percent. Under the wide spectrum of businesses
conducted under the BAE umbrella, you could find anything from the production of
intelligent munitions to micro-electrical mechanical systems in which nanotechnology is
used for manufacturing sensors, actuators and displays.
When it comes to Europe, BAE Systems has 34,000 employees in the UK and 1,700
in Sweden. In Sweden, the company works solely on land and armaments,
whereas in the UK, the chief focus is on programmes and support across air,
naval, underwater and integration systems activities.
All in it together
Making good use of its proximity to mainland Europe, BAE is also part of the pan-
European venture MBDA, a missile systems manufacturer. MBDA is 37.5 percent owned
by BAE Systems, 37.5 percent owned by Franco-German aerospace company EADS and
25 percent owned by Italian industrial conglomerate Finmeccanica.
On the attack
BAE Systems predicted in its 2007 Annual Report that the defence market in the
UK would become more challenging in future years. The company reminded its
43
stakeholders that overall defence spending in the UK, as 2008 got going, was
restricted to just a little more than two percent of GDP due to low levels of real
growth. The impact of ongoing operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and their
personnel-related costs was cited as a reason for defence budget squeezes.
For BAE Systems, as for every defence manufacturer, the bottom line inevitably
depends on government defence budgets, not only those of their home country but
those of foreign administrations too. According to The Daily Telegraph, around 40
percent of British defence manufacturing output “finds its way into the defence and
service operations of foreign governments”. What is generated from these worldwide
revenue streams is funnelled into research and development in order to produce new
technologies; what The Daily Telegraph calls “spin-offs outside as well as inside the
defence parameters”.
Best of British
One especially important development domain for BAE Systems is its role in the UK
Defence Industrial Strategy. In October 2005, the UK Government published its
“Defence Industrial Strategy” which put forward how exactly the UK defence
industry remains globally competitive. BAE Systems of course plays a huge part in
this. It is trying to fulfil the need to respond to changing defence requirements by
creating systems that outdo its competitors.
A good example that shows the interplay between the UK government and BAE
Systems is 2008’s development of the UK Missile Defence Centre (MDC). The MDC’s
objectives are to feed technical and scientific input into UK policy considerations and
developing relations between UK industry and the US Department of Defense (DoD).
BAE Systems has an annual contract to manage UK interests in the MDC valued at
approximately three million pounds.
Taking flight
In May 2008, BAE Systems was awarded a five-year contract with the British
Ministry of Defence (MoD) worth 43.9 million pounds, for the maintenance
of the VC10, the Royal Air Force (RAF) tanking and transport fleet. The
project involves BAE being responsible for “on-base” engineering, logistics
and technical support of the fleet, including the provision of post-design
services The contract, declared as one of the most “technologically advanced”
in the UK, was developed as part of the UK Defence Industrial Strategy. It
improves aircraft availability for the RAF whilst “reducing the budget impact
for the UK tax-payer”. This is just one of the many contracts BAE Systems has
with the RAF.
44
Turner taking off
BAE Systems lost some crucial talent in August 2008, when chief executive Mike
BAE Systems
Turner stepped down. Turner announced his resignation in October 2007. The
passionate Manchester United supporter served as chief executive for five
successful, if sometimes controversial, years. On the plus side, Turner
spearheaded the impressive growth of BAE’s business in the US, where it is now
the sixth-largest defence company.
However, he has also been in the public eye for different reasons. The company
faced corruption allegations relating to the 20-year-old al-Yamamah arms deal
with Saudi Arabia and both the UK Government’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO)
and the US’s Department of Justice launched inquiries into its transactions. The
SFO inquiry into al-Yamamah was ditched in December 2006 and the company
has emphasised it wants to make a priority of enforcing the highest ethical
standards.
The best Defence
Despite the Department of Justice inquiry, BAE Systems’ relationship with the US
Department of Defense has remained healthy, with a batch of contracts being
signed in recent years. However, the May 2008 detention of chief executive Mike
Turner in Texas may have caused a small cloud to appear in the horizon. The Daily
Telegraph speculated that BAE Systems’ reputation could suffer in the US. But not
all is doomed — far from it. Former Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf was appointed
head of BAE’s “Ethics Committee” in June 2007 and his recommendations for the
company to revise its business approach along ethical criteria should secure it a
bright future.
GETTING HIRED
Becoming a high flyer
BAE Systems’ careers site lists various graduate and undergraduate programmes
and industrial placements available in each of its home countries. Achieved or
expected degree results are as ever vital, but there are no hard and fast rules listed
on the group’s site. Instead, you can find a drop down menu with basic questions
aimed at matching your experience and vocational interests with the right
programme for you.
45
BAE a leader
For those who want to go onto graduate schemes, BAE Systems’ website gives a basic
overview of their three main graduate schemes. The first two-year “GDF” scheme is
for graduates interested in specialising in engineering, project management,
production, procurement or human resources. The other two, “FLDP” and “SIGMA”,
are five year schemes aimed at graduates who see themselves in senior finance and
leadership roles or project leader positions respectively. All three mentored graduate
programmes offer competitive salaries, bonuses and generous incentives.
Experienced hires can use the job search tool to see available positions according to
specialisation and location. Initial applications are made by an account set-up and CV
upload. In addition, the main BAE Systems website intermittently posts specific
recruitment campaigns for business areas as and when required. Both graduate and
experienced hire candidates are required to pass a Criminal Records Bureau security
check or equivalent before they can any offer of employment from the company.
46
“ In May 2008, BAE Systems was
awarded a five-year contract with the
British Ministry of Defence worth
43.9 million pounds, for the maintenance
“
of the VC10, the Royal Air Force
tanking and transport fleet.
BALFOUR BEATTY
130 Wilton Rd UK Locations

London
SW1V 1LQ London (HQ)
United Kingdom Birmingham • Bristol • Croydon •
Tel: 44 (0)20 7216 6800 Derby • Edinburgh • Glasgow •
www.balfourbeatty.com Hampshire • Kent • Manchester •
Sheffield • Surrey
Temporary site offices throughout the UK

The Stats
Ticker Symbol: BBY European Locations
Chairman: Steven Marshall
Chief Executive: Ian Tyler London (HQ)
2007 Revenue: £7,488m Austria • Germany • Italy • Norway •
2006 Revenue: £5,506m Spain • Sweden
No. of Offices: 400+ in addition to
numerous temporary site offices Employment Contact
www.balfourbeatty.com/graduates
Divisions
Building, Building Management and
Services • Civil and Specialist
Engineering and Services • Rail
Engineering and Services • Investments
career
48 library
THE SCOOP
A
world-class player on the engineering scene, Balfour Beatty is an
Balfour Beatty
engineering, construction, service and investment group with strong
platforms in both core and emergent infrastructure markets. The range
of work undertaken by this engineering colossus takes in hospitals, schools,
airports, roads, water supply systems and power generation and transmission
and that’s just for starters. The company is divided into four key business areas:
building, building management and services, civil and specialist engineering
and services, rail engineering and services and investments and developments.
Within each of these business sectors, Balfour Beatty has a number of operating
companies, the majority of which have headquarters in the UK. Balfour Beatty
also operates internationally. Some of its companies located further afield
include Dutco Balfour Beatty and BK Gulf in the Middle East, Balfour Beatty
Sakti in Indonesia and Balfour Beatty Rail International in Malaysia, Spain,
Sweden and Norway.
The world-beatters
George Balfour and Andrew Beatty founded their company in 1909, inspired by the
Electrical Lighting Act of 1882 which set England on the path away from horse-
powered transport and towards electrical tramways. The company described itself as
“a general and electrical engineers, contractors, operating managers for tramways,
railways and lighting properties and for the promoting of new enterprises.” Shortly
thereafter, it was awarded its first contract building a new tram system for the
Scottish town of Dunfermlin and subsequently moved into civil engineering when it
was commissioned to build a five-mile-long aqueduct in Scotland’s Kinlochleven. In
1924, Balfour Beatty began work outside the UK with hydro-electric projects in East
Africa and in Palestine, where it supplied electricity and water to Jerusalem and
Bethlehem.
Major projects that followed for the burgeoning giant included irrigation schemes
at the Tigris river in Iraq, the development of the London Underground in the
1950s, the Kainji dam in Nigeria, the Hong Kong air terminal at Chek Lap Kok,
electrification of the Amtrak line between Boston, Massachusetts, New Haven
and Connecticut, the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, the Pergau
hydro-electric project in Malaysia and many more. Following the privatisation of
Britain’s railways in the early 1990s, Balfour Beatty has played a significant role
in the maintenance of major lines throughout the country. As of 2008, Balfour
Beatty is the second-largest construction company in the UK and the 15th-largest
in the world.
49
A complicated construct
Balfour Beatty’s size and range of operations means that it has a stake in numerous
forms of infrastructure engineering. In the building management and services
sector, Balfour Beatty undertakes new build and refurbishment projects in the UK
through Balfour Beatty Construction. Among other entities, Balfour Beatty
Construction LLC, based in the US, completes over two billion dollars of schemes
each year for clients in sectors including healthcare, education and business. In civil
and specialist engineering, Balfour Beatty’s ten operating companies, as of mid-
2008, work on projects of various scales. As the company itself says about its civil
engineering division, it offers a “wide range of services from construct-only works
contracts to complex asset-based, service-driven work.”
Off the rails
As for its rail engineering operations, Balfour Beatty has its fingers in numerous pies.
For example, the group works on rail projects in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy
and the UK. Its involvement in these domestic railway services encompasses a wide
range of engineering specialisms, such as trackwork, signalling systems,
electrification and communications design, manufacturing and installation.
Engineering its way out of construction
It’s not only engineering and construction that Balfour Beatty can claim expertise
and experience in. The group also runs Balfour Beatty Capital, which develops, owns
and operates privately financed infrastructure projects and has the claim to fame of
being one of the most successful participants in the UK government’s Private Finance
Initiative (PFI), which took off in the mid-1990s.
As of June 2007, Balfour Beatty Capital had committed equity investments of 269
million pounds to 26 projects around the UK. Many of these initiatives are in the
education and healthcare sectors. For example, in the English city of Stoke, in
Staffordshire, Balfour Beatty’s concession company Transform Schools is rebuilding,
upgrading or maintaining 102 schools. In healthcare, Balfour Beatty Capital has seven
major hospital concessions, including the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh, Birmingham
New Hospital and University College London Hospital.
A troubled bridge over water
In 2002, Balfour Beatty was awarded the contract to complete the repainting and
refurbishing of the Forth rail bridge in Scotland. Infamous to residents of the UK, the
project has become a colloquial analogy for a never-ending task. The phrase “painting
50
the Forth bridge” has apparently even found its way into the Cambridge
Balfour Beatty
International Dictionary of Idioms. The task includes first erecting a complex system
of scaffolding, screening the work areas from the environment, followed by removing
layers of old paint to repair defects in the original steel and then adding three
protective coats covering a total surface area of 18 hectares. Balfour Beatty plans to
have the bridge “fully restored to its original condition” by 2012. The fate of “painting
the Forth bridge” as an idiom in modern parlance is unknown.
On the road
New contracts and expansion continue for this engineering empire at a fast pace. Rises in
Balfour Beatty’s shares in April 2008 were attributed to the news that the consortium
Connect Plus, of which it is part, had been awarded a contract to provide additional
capacity for 63 miles of the M25, London’s orbital motorway. The company Dean and
Dyball, a new acquisition for Balfour Beatty, was recently awarded a lucrative 6.6 million
pound contract to extent facilities at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy
for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. In March 2008, Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering
was jointly awarded a contract worth 445 million pounds awarded by the Glasgow City
Council to complete the M74 motorway in Scotland.
GETTING HIRED
Beatt it yourself
Balfour Beatty is always seeking to recruit new talent for its many projects through
the UK, Europe, USA and the Middle East. Its website allows you to search for
employment opportunities by region of interest to you and provides information on
which of its companies are active in each respective location.
Opportunities exist for graduates in engineering (civil, electrical, mechanical, building

services), construction-related disciplines and quantity surveying/commercial
management. The company is also keen to consider graduates in other disciplines

who are interested in becoming management trainees, or who are eager to
undertake a conversion course in quantity surveying/commercial management
or construction management. Vacancies for graduate engineers take in the
following disciplines: civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical
engineering, building services engineering, building/construction management,
quantity surveying/commercial management. To apply for any job with Balfour
Beatty in the UK, you need eligibility to work in the UK and a minimum 2.2
degree. All jobs can be viewed and applied for online.
51
Hold on to your hard hats
Opportunities for undergraduates include an intensive eight-to 12- week summer

placement and an industrial sandwich year placement for six to 12 months. All
centre around project sites and are recommended in particular for students
in the fields of civil engineering, construction management and quantity
surveying/commercial management. A placement in these undergraduate
programs can also lead to sponsorship and a place on a graduate scheme after
university. In 2007 Balfour Beatty recruited 54 students for the longer program
and 96 for the summer placement.
Apprenticeships are available in the UK, in electrical, mechanical or plumbing services

engineering, construction trades and highways maintenance. Balfour Beatty also offers
technician traineeships leading to National and Higher National Certificate and
Diploma qualifications in civil and railway engineering, electrical/mechanical services
engineering and building. To find out further details, visit the website of the
operational area or subsidy that specialises in your specific interest. To find out more
about all opportunities, see www.balfourbeatty.com.
52
“ The range of work undertaken by this
engineering colossus takes in hospitals,
schools, airports, roads, water supply
systems and power generation and “
transmission and that’s just for starters.
BOSCH GROUP
Postfach106050 European Locations

D-70049 Stuttgart
Germany Stuttgart (HQ)
Tel: +49 (0)711 811 0 Austria • Belarus • Belgium • Bulgaria •
www.bosch.de Croatia • Czech Republic • Denmark •
Estonia • Finland • France • Greece •
Hungary • Italy • Latvia • Lithuania •
The Netherlands • Norway • Poland •
The Stats Portugal • Romania • Russian
Federation • Serbia • Slovakia • Spain •
Employer Type: Private Sweden • Switzerland • Turkey •
Chairman: Franz Fehrenbach Ukraine • United Kingdom
2007 Employees: 272,000
2006 Employees: 261,300 Employment contact
No. of Offices: locations throughout
Europe www.boschcareer.com
(Click on “Jobs & Careers”)
Divisions
Automotive technology • Consumer
goods and building technology •
Industrial technology
54 CAREER
LIBRARY
Top European Engineering Employers
THE SCOOP
f your knowledge of Bosch is limited to its household appliances, you may be
Bosch Group
surprised to learn that the company, founded in 1886, doesn’t only make washing
machines. It is also the world’s largest supplier of automobile components. While
it produces numerous consumer goods and has wide-ranging building technology
and industrial technology divisions, approximately 60 percent of its revenue is
generated from its automotive technology wing.
Based in Stuttgart, Bosch Group, offically known as Robert Bosch GmbH, is no small
fry. This manufacturing big shot has 300 subsidiary companies operating in over 50
countries worldwide and generated sales of 46.3 billion euros in 2007. A truly
international company, three quarters of this came from outside Germany and out of
its 270 manufacturing sites, 210 are located outside Germany.
Bosch beginnings
In 1886 Robert Bosch set up his Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical
Engineering in Stuttgart and soon began to sell his magneto ignition systems
internationally in England and France. Just 15 years later, in 1901, he opened his first
plant in Stuttgart and quickly went on to open further factories in Paris and America.
In 1906, Bosch was one of the first large companies in Germany to introduce the eight-
hour working day and a few years later added graded vacation arrangements for its
employees, an almost revolutionary innovation at the time. In 1913, Bosch was
the first vehicle outfitter to introduce the sale of a complete automotive electrical system,
consisting of a magneto
“
ignition with spark plug,
Bosch is the world’s
headlights, alternator and
governor switch. In 1914, it
largest supplier of “
rolled the first electric automobile components
starter motor onto the
market. In 1921 the Bosch horn was the star of the Berlin motor show and two years later,
100,000 had been sold. Five years after, these old-school automotive adventurers went on
to develop the first effective windscreen wiper and in 1932, the first mass-produced car
radio.
A fair share
In 1917, Bosch turned into a public limited company but its shares were never traded
on the stock exchange. Robert Bosch kept 49 percent for himself and sold a further 49
percent to his directors. Their purchase price was fixed at an extremely low level and
55
company directors were allowed to pay for them over two years out of their salaries.
Robert Bosch gave the remaining two percent of shares to his legal adviser. These
two percent were added to the Bosch vote at shareholder meetings which gave Bosch
a permanent majority holding of 51 percent.
Bish, bash, Bosch
Bosch bravely entered the household appliances market with as much gusto as it
applied to the automotive sector. Its range grew from refrigerators and freezers to a
huge range of household appliances, now sold in Bosch’s Hausgeräte sub-
sidiary. Whilst automotive technology is, according to Bosch’s chairman, Franz
Fehrenbach, the company’s “mainstay”, a tougher market has meant that the group
in recent years has been shuffling its priorities. Along with boosting its focus on its
consumer goods and industrial technology businesses, Bosch has been making
inroads into Asian economies such as China and India where growth is high. In 2007,
sales in the Asia-Pacific region shot up by 15 percent. Unsurprisingly, China — along
with Eastern Europe — are the regions where the company happens to be employing
the majority of its new recruits.
Bigger, better, faster
All companies know the importance of research in order to stay ahead of the
fierce competition in sectors that rely on technology and Bosch is no exception.
In 2007, the group spent 3.6 billion euros on research and development, almost
eight percent of its total sales revenue and this amount has been increasing year
on year. In 2007, Bosch’s research and development team stood at 29,000 people,
mostly employed in product development at the divisional level. The focus is
very much on sussing out future macro-trends in technology in order to outplay
its rivals in the global market.
A modern majority
Since 2003, Bosch’s fortunes have been in the hands of chairman Franz Fehrenbach,
who joined the company as a trainee at age 25 and worked his way up the ranks,
having become a member of its management board in 1999. In a unique ownership
structure, 92 percent of the share capital of Robert Bosch GmbH is held by Robert
Bosch Stiftung GmbH, a charitable foundation. The majority of voting rights are held
by Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand KG, an industrial trust. The remaining shares
and voting rights are held by the Bosch family and by Robert Bosch GmbH.
As of 2006, the foundation has donated more than 790 million euros to charitable
purposes and in Bosch’s home town of Stuttgart alone, supports the Robert Bosch
56
Bosch Group
Hospital, the Dr. Margarete Fischer-Bosch Institute for Clinical Pharmacology and the
Institute for the History of Medicine. The foundation's international activities are
predominantly focused on France, the US and central and eastern Europe.
The green machine
After nearly 125 years at the top of the technology industry, Bosch continues to be one
of the most renowned names in the sector. In order to keep in pole position, it is
creating systems to ensure, for example, that its global supplier choices are cost-
efficient and that its assembly line products are defect free. In 2007, Bosch invested
18 million euros in a new headquarters for its Korean branch as well as greatly
increasing the size of their technical centre in the country. It also invested in a large
manufacturing factory in Goa, India, which will make packaging. In early 2008, it
added further to its ever-growing portfolio in Asia by buying power tools company
RoboToolz, based in Hong Kong with outposts in China and the United States.
Alongside its continued growth, Bosch remains committed to developing innovative

safety technology and to being forward-thinking when it comes to environmental
challenges. Its carbon dioxide detector received a “Yellow Angel” award in early 2008
from the German Automobile Association as a stamp of approval for its environmental
benefits. Just a few months earlier, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile
honoured Bosch with its “FIA World Prize for Road Safey, the Environment and
Mobility”. The award recognised Bosch’s consistent efforts to develop and promote its
highly regarded ESP safety system which counteracts vehicle skidding. Bosch’s efforts
to intensify the use of environmentally efficient technologies spreads across all its
divisions, shown by its creation of energy-saving cooling appliances, lawnmowers that
have a 20 times better energy balance than conventional gasoline-powered motors and
modern heating systems that combine condensing and solar technology. The company
is determined to have the right products on hand when market demand for
environmentally friendly technology soars.
GETTING HIRED
Wanna take on Bosch?
With over a quarter of a million employees, there are plenty of opportunities to work
worldwide with Bosch. On its careers website: www.bosch-career.com, you can
search for vacancies by the country you would like to work in. All various roles are
clearly outlined and you can apply for jobs either online (preferred) or by post. In
Germany alone, approximately 1,500 university graduates were sought in 2008.
57
Plenty of placements
Bosch offer thousands of practical placements each year to students and also
encourages university students to develop their dissertation with the company,
offering research support in numerous technical and engineering-related subjects.
Bosch will also consider funding doctorates in business and technical fields, since, as
the company suggests, the next great invention might come to light this way. In
addition, Bosch has more than 40 different types of apprenticeship spanning the full
spectrum of its business, from the most commercial to the most technical of roles.
For international graduates, Bosch offers its Graduate Management Trainee scheme.
Lasting for three years, one is spent in your home country and two in Germany and
at the end of the training you return home to take up a managerial role. While
German is not needed to apply for this scheme, a basic understanding will hardly go
amiss.
Volleyball? ja!
As Bosch operates in so many countries, it is committed to making sure its employees

are aware of different cultures and can interact well with all nationalities. It supports
ongoing training and further education, encouraging staff to expand their knowledge
and skills. The company also has its own vigorous leisure activity programmes,
ranging from volleyball to photography and drama groups.
58
“ The focus is very much on
sussing out future macro-trends
“
in technology in order to outplay
its rivals in the global market.
BOUYGUES
32 Avenue Hoche European Locations
Paris, 75378
Cedex 08 Paris (HQ)
France Austria • Belgium • Croatia • Cyprus •
Tel: +33 (1) 44 20 10 00 Czech Republic • Denmark • Finland •
www.bouygues.fr Germany • Hungary • Iceland • Ireland •
Luxembourg • The Netherlands •
Poland • Portugal • Romania • Slovakia •
Spain • Switzerland • United Kingdom
The Stats
Ticker Symbol: BUG.L (LSE), Employment Contact
EN.PA (Paris)
Chairman and Chief Executive: Martin See the GETTING HIRED
Bouygues section below for contact
2007 Revenue: €29.61bn information for each subsidiary.
2007 Employees: 137,500
2006 Employees: 122,561
No. of Offices: in 80 countries
worldwide
Divisions
Construction • Media • Property
Development • Road Works •
Telecoms
career
60 library
THE SCOOP
Bouygues
hile not everyone will agree that Bouygues has “changed the face of the
W earth”, as The New York Times said back in September 1989, the group
has certainly come a long way since it was founded, using borrowed
francs, in 1952, as a Paris-based building and construction company. Bouygues Group
has fingers in many pies, spanning construction, real estate, film and television and
telecommunications. It has five key business areas: Bouygues Construction, which it
fully owns, Bouygues Immobilier, of which it also owns one hundred percent,
Colas, a construction business of which it owns 96.7 percent, TF1, a French television
operator, of which it owns 43 percent and Bouygues Telecom, a mobile phone net-
work, of which it owns 89.5 percent. Bouygues’ presence is international — the group
operates in over 80 countries, employing more than 137,500 people. In 2007,
Bouygues’ sales amounted to 29.6 billion euros, 8.8 billion euros of which were
generated outside France.
The foundations of Bouygues
The two chief subsidiaries of Bouygues’ construction business, Bouygues Construc-

tion and Colas, have different aims. Bouygues Construction specialises in civil en-
gineering, notably electrical and HVAC engineering and facilities maintenance. Colas
specialises in the construction and maintenance of transport infrastructure and the in-
dustrial production of building materials for such purposes.
To let or not to let
Bouygues Immobilier is the group’s property development business. Its real estate ac-
tivities include the development of residential and commercial property and the man-
agement of urban development schemes. This business, which also operates as an
estate agency for sales and lettings, is Bouyges’ smallest entity, with 1,545 em-
ployees and sales of over two billion euros in 2007.
Hello, France
The telecommunications and media business of the Bouyges Group is comprised of

two core companies. Bouygues Telecom offers mobile telephone and broadband
internet services and TF1 specialises in film and television production in France, as
well the acquisition and sale of audiovisual rights and the publishing and distribution
of CDs and DVDs. TF1, which has on average 30.7 percent of the French television
audience in 2007 and a healthy roster of family-oriented programming alongside
imported American television, gives Bouygues a good deal of clout in the
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entertainment industry. At the end of 2007, Bouygues Telecom had more than nine
million customers, making the company the third-largest telecoms provider in
France.
It’s a family affair
The Bouygues Group was founded by Francis Bouygues, nicknamed “Monsieur

Beton”, or Mr Concrete. His son Martin took over the running of the business in 1989.
The group originally specialised in civil works and construction around the Paris
region but, after floating on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1970, Bouygues began to
expand internationally.
It quickly established itself in the field of construction with projects such as the Stade
de France and the Casablanca Mosque. In late 2006, The Economist reported that
shares in the Bouygues conglomerate were worth 60 times their 1979 value, compared
with only a twenty-fold increase for 250 other leading French companies.
Riding the New Wave
The 1980s were a key growth period at Bouygues as the company took over Colas,
the global leader in construction and maintenance of transport, urban
development and recreational infrastructure, in 1986. Bouygues continued the
experiment in diversity with its acquisition of shares in TF1 during TF1’s
privatisation in 1987. The group’s growth continued with the commercial launch
of Bouygues Telecom in 1994, a mobile phone operator which in 2007 counted
7,700 staff and sales of 4.9 billion euros.
Building and buying
Since the turn of the millennium, Bouygues has had a busy time, with a range of
takeovers, impressive building feats, new technology launches and an ambitious
large-scale recruitment programme. It stacked up numerous high profile building
projects, notably in South Africa, South Korea and Morocco, representing more than
one billion euros. In April 2006, Bouygues bought the French government's 21 percent
stake in Alstom, the railway technology company, for two billion euros, making
Bouygues the largest shareholder in the company. In 2007 Bouygues increased its
stake in Alstom to 30 percent.
Only a month earlier, in September 2007, Bouygues announced it had acquired the
6.5 percent stake that BNP Paribas owned in Bouygues Telecom for 441 million euros,
giving Bouygues an 89.5 percent stake in its telecoms company. In the same month,
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the group announced it had signed an agreement with Neuf Cegetel allowing
Bouygues
Bouygues Telecom to provide DSL services to businesses and consumers. Bouygues
Telecoms then launched a super-fast 3G wireless service in November 2007, targeting
portable computer users rather than mobile phone subscribers.
Heading for splitsville?
Industry rumours that Martin Bouygues’ ultimate goal is to combine Alstom and
his construction businesses with Areva, the French nuclear power group, have
persisted through 2007. The Financial Times speculated in June 2007: “Martin
Bouygues, family patriarch, never misses a chance to pledge his commitment to
both his mobile phone business and TF1, France's leading television broadcaster.
But the markets still do not believe him. They are convinced that he will, at some
stage, sell both to focus on his growing heavy industry assets and fulfil his
ambitions to expand in the energy sector.” Although Bouygues denied the
reports, according to French business magazine Challenges in April 2007, Martin
Bouygyes was said to be looking to sell Bouygues Telecom for approximately 12
billion euros. In Forbes in November 2007, Bouygues had to deny again that
Bouygues Telecom was up for sale.
Sharing and caring
Bouygues makes much of its employee share ownership scheme, introduced in 1970,
which has seen Bouygues employees become the group's second-largest shareholder.
Bouygues is the leader of the CAC 40 index in terms of employee share ownership,
with 50,000 employees participating in the funds, altogether holding 14.2 percent of
the group’s capital. However, in 2006, The Economist reported a complex series of
transactions between 1989 and 1997 through which Martin and Olivier Bouygues
were able to personally acquire assets in the firm to the detriment of other
shareholders.
The future of building is green

Bouygues styles itself as an eco-friendly company. In 2005, the group created a

department headed by deputy chief executive Olivier Bouygues, to oversee
sustainable development policies. This division works with Bouygues’ business units
to share best practice, provide training and assist and advise sustainable
development liaison staff. In October 2007, Bouygues Immobilier launched the Green
Office project in Meudon, southwest of Paris, a venture aimed at producing the first
ever "positive energy" building, designed to produce more energy than it consumes.
Work began on the project in 2008.
63
GETTING HIRED
Opportunities abound
In terms of recruitment, in the three years from 2006 to 2008, the Bouygues Group will
have hired more than 55,000 people worldwide, including 33,000 in France. In 2007,
the group took on 12,000 new employees in France and planned to hire 11,000 more
in France in 2008. In March 2007, Bouygues Construction launched a major
recruitment campaign in France, aiming to hire 10,000 more new employees.
Bouygues says, “The high rate of recruitment in recent years will continue to grow,
driven by strong development in all our businesses.”
Prospective candidates can see all jobs and internship opportunities and make online
applications, by visiting the relevant business’s website at these links:
Bouygues SA, the Group’s holding company (180 employees):

www.bouygues-societemere.com/recrut1.htm (French version only)
Bouygues Construction (49,800 employees):

www.bouygues-construction.com (Click on “Careers”)
Bouygues Immobilier (1,545 employees):

www.bouygues-immobilier.com/jahia/Jahia/lang/en/rh
Colas (67,800 employees):

www.colasrh.com (French version only)
TF1 (4,000 employees):

www.tf1rh.fr (French version only)
Bouygues Telecom (7,700 employees):

www.recrute.bouyguestelecom.com (French version only)
The firm promises that online applications will be forwarded to the relevant line
manager and any other construction managers who are recruiting within 24 hours .
Successful candidates are usually called for an interview with an HR manager and
two interviews with line managers. New recruits are introduced to the group’s
history and values during induction days led by senior executives from the group’s
five business areas.
Bouygues Construction and Colas account for more than 80 percent of company
hires, although other group businesses also have major recruitment programmes.
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The group is keen to hire internationally, with more than 9,700 hires coming from
Bouygues
outside France. Bouygues Immobilier, for example, operates in five European
countries (Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Poland) and recruits locally,
saying it seeks to ensure that every location “reflects the culture of its own market”.
Bouygues Immobilier has designed initiatives to facilitate the integration of non-

French employees into the firm. This includes offering graduates placements in
France to give them hands-on experience at the heart of the company, before they
take up permanent positions in their country of residence.
Get a Bouygues on!
The Bouygues Group offers paid internships to students from all disciplines from
between three and six months, spanning a wide variety of businesses. Nearly half of
all interns go on to a full-time position within the group. Applications for internships,
apprenticeships, international volunteer placements (VIE) can be made online
through the group’s careers websites.
65
BP PLC
1 St James’s Square European Locations

London
SW1Y 4PD London (HQ)
Tel: +44 (0)20 7496 4000
www.bp.com Located in more than 100 countries
worldwide

Employer Type: Public www.bp.com
Ticker Symbol: BP (LSE, New York, (Click on “Careers”)
Frankfurt, Paris, Zurich)
Group Chief Executive: Tony Hayward
2007 Revenue: $284.37bn
2006 Revenue: $265.91bn
No. of Offices: Located in more than
100 countries worldwide
Divisions
BP Exploration and Production •
BP Refining and Marketing •
BP Alternative Energy
career
66 library
THE SCOOP
BP Plc
O
ne of the world’s largest companies, with a market capitalisation of 232
billion US dollars as of December 2007, BP is an empire that reaches back
over a hundred years. The group has a presence in several sectors within
the energy industry. As of mid-2008, it marketed several brands in addition to the
BP brand. The group’s convenience store chain in the US is called am/pm, its
service stations elsewhere are branded BP and these use the exotic name Wild
Bean Cafe for the fresh drinks and convenience shopping offered in other
countries. In Germany, BP retains the Aral brand acquired in the takeover of the
German company, Veba. Finally, the expansive company sells lubricants under
the brand names Castrol and BP.
Journey to the centre of the earth
This enormous group operates in more than 100 countries across six continents,
employing just under 100,000 people worldwide. A bona fide petroleum king, BP
boasts 24,100 service stations, is actively exploring in 29 countries and has production
activities in 22 countries. The group has proved reserves of 17.8 billon barrels of oil
and gas equivalent. Slightly less than 40 percent of these assets are to be found in the
US and 25 percent in Europe. Each day, approximately 5.6 million barrels of BP’s
refined product are sold.
Digging away
BP consists in two major segments: exploration and production and refining and
marketing. In exploration and production, the group’s strategy is to find the largest
fields in the world’s most prolific hydrocarbon basins and manage assets so as to
balance out declining assets with more competitive ones. The company has
pinpointed its “profit centres”, such as the Asia Pacific, West Africa, the Caspian
region and Russia and also its “declining established profit centres” where resources
need to be carefully managed. The latter are mostly in Alaska, Latin America and
the North Sea.
Refine, refine, refine
When it comes to refining and marketing, after a tragic accident in 2005 at its largest US
refinery, Texas City, the emphasis has been put firmly on safety at the five US refineries.
Refining and Marketing is BP’s product and services-led arm and it focuses on fuels,
lubricants and chemicals products. One of the key aims of the segment is to make
sure that its markets are kept supplied with high quality products at all times. In
2007, a joint venture refinery in the German town of Gelsenkirchen was transformed
67
during an upgrade to comply with EU regulations. BP invested 200 million dollars
to replace 17 old furnaces with five new ones. These new ones have caused an
estimated reduction in fuel usage and carbon dioxide emissions by 13 percent and of
atmospheric dust by 97 percent.
The future of energy
BP far from operates in a vacuum, as energy policy and use of oil and gas are hotly
debated topics worldwide. One particular concern that the company is actively
addressing is energy security. Despite rising energy prices — the average crude oil
price rose 11 percent in 2007 — energy consumption worldwide continues to grow.
In 2006, world primary energy consumption rose by 2.4 percent, which was an above
average amount relative to the previous ten years. BP assured its stakeholders and
customers in its 2007 annual report however that “global proved oil and natural gas
reserves…remain adequate to cover expected consumption for decades to come”.
The latter part of 2007 saw BP roll out six new exploration and production projects
intended to increase operational momentum. Locations of such projects include the
Gulf of Mexico, Angola and Trinidad & Tobago. The company also experienced a
good year in 2007 in terms of replacing more than 100 percent of reserves for the 14th
consecutive year . Helping it to achieve this were significant discoveries in Azerbaijan
and Egypt. It also gained access to new oil and gas exploration acreage in Oman and
Libya and a joint venture to access Canadian oil sands.
The age of the explorer

An important question shouldn’t be overlooked right about now: how did this energy
behemoth come about? In 1901, English entrepreneur William D’Arcy was granted
exclusive rights to search for oil in southwest Persia. His team made its first discovery
in 1908 and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was incorporated on April 14, 1909. In
1935, Persia changed its name to Iran and the company followed suit. The following
decades were witness to political unrest and by 1954, due to a tumultuous political
situation, the company’s name changed again; this time to the British Petroleum
Company. Both Amoco, which BP merged with in 1998 and ARCO, existed prior to
BP’s founding — they started, respectively, in 1889 and 1866.
Northern exposure
The 1970s was one of the defining eras for the oil industry. Whilst BP had previously
relied hugely on Middle Eastern oil, from 1975 to 1983, this reliance went down from 80
percent to approximately ten percent. Fortunately, energy reserves were in good supply
elsewhere, particularly Prudhoe Bay in Alaska and off the coast of Scotland. During the
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construction of the Trans-Alaskan pipeline system in the mid 1970s, the largest ever
BP Plc
civil engineering project attempted in the United States at the time, BP responded to the
environmental risk of its operations; the group had to take special care not to disrupt the
ecological balance in the area surrounding the extensive pipeline.
Greener is the colour…
Having kickstarted its green initiatives in the 1970s, BP has had to up the ante on the
environmental front in recent years, given the increasing attention paid to climate
change and sustainability. A great part of the company’s 2007 Sustainability Report
is dedicated to ecological concerns and to defining strategies for minimising negative
operational impact on the environment.
One of BP’s recent introductions for new developments is its “ERNP” —

environmental requirements for new projects. These requirements range from
environmental assessments prior to the start of projects to considerations that must
be rated during a project, such as air quality, community disturbance, energy
efficiency, emission of ozone, depleting substances and waste management.
According to the company’s 2007 Sustainability Report, among the alternative energy
steps taken by BP in 2007 was the opening of its first wind-powered project in Asia,
in Dhule, India. BP is already one of the biggest wind farm developers in the US
with more than 300MW installed. In March 2007, an expansion of BP’s solar cell
power production facilities in Bangalore and Madrid was announced. BP Alternative
Energy is investing around nine billion dollars in various areas of renewables
technology. BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, who took up the post after Lord
John Browne stepped down in May 2007 after 12 years at the helm, has clarified his
vision for sustainability in the future. The best preparation for the company’s
sustainability, he says, is to focus on “safety, people and performance.” Hayward,
who has held many previous positions at BP is hoping that through improving its
performance, BP can make a bigger contribution to society.
GETTING HIRED
Opportunities all over
Unsurprisingly, BP has a host of opportunities for students, graduates and

postgraduate students. Potential interns can check out whether BP offers
opportunities in their home country or review its intern programmes in the UK, for
69
which anyone from any country can apply. Internships are available in engineering,
science and business and in the UK alone the company takes on around 100 interns
each year for its summer and year-long internship programs. The summer
internships last from eight- to 13-weeks and usually take place the summer before a
students’ final academic year. BP promises you’ll get to work alongside experienced
colleagues and use the latest technologies. More details are available on BP’s website
under its “careers” link.
For graduates, BP recruits at every stage of the energy life cycle from engineers who
build platforms in the middle of the ocean to those who trade in the energy and
financial markets. BP recruits graduates from a variety of engineering, scientific and
other disciplines and will be hiring in the region of 175 graduates for the 2009
programmes which will typically last for three years. After completion of the
programme, graduates will have developed the skills and knowledge to be able to
perform a stand-alone role in their chosen field.
More details are available on BP’s website under its “careers” link, where there is a
self-assessment questionnaire and a “programme wizard” on BP’s careers site that
you can use to find out which opportunities are most suited to you.
Putting the doctorate to good use
BP offers a Technology Associate Programme, aimed mainly at researchers who hold

a PhD and are doing post-graduate work in areas relevant to the company’s focus.
This program consists of two placements of 12 to 18 months’ duration, at the end of
which participants can take up a permanent role at BP.
For those who are interested in having a pan-European focus to their training, the
company’s Eurograduate programme gives the opportunity to experience three
diverse placements in two or three different European different countries over a five-
year period. These would be in areas such as marketing, procurement, operations,
trading, finance, business analysis, digital business, project evaluation, mergers and
acquisitions or human resources. This programme is available to applicants with a
business or technical degree at Masters level, complemented by practical experience

for those with technical backgrounds.
70
BT GROUP PLC
BT Centre European Locations
81 Newgate Street
London EC1A 7AJ London (HQ)
Tel: 020 7356 5000 Czech Republic • Denmark • Finland •
www.btplc.com France • Germany • Hungary • Ireland •
Portugal • Slovakia • Spain • Sweden •
Switzerland
The Stats
Employment Contact
Ticker Symbol: BT (LSE, NYSE)
Chief Executive: Ian Livingston www.btplc.com/Careercentre
2007 Revenue: £20.2bn
2007 Employees: 106,200
2006 Employees: 104,400
No. of Offices: Offices and service
centres throughout Europe
Divisions
BT Design • BT Global Services •
BT Group Strategy & Operations •
BT Operate • BT Retail • BT Wholesale •
Openreach
career
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THE SCOOP
BT Group plc
nown as British Telecom until 2001, today’s BT Group plc is the listed holding
company for a group of voice and data transmission businesses in the UK,
across Europe and around the world. The primary businesses of this national
goliath, which declares itself the world’s oldest telecommunications company, consist
of networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications
services, as well as numerous broadband internet products and services. In the UK
alone, BT provides its services to more than 20 million business and residential
customers. A report entitled “The Economic Impact of BT”, commissioned by the
group, estimates that BT generates approximately 10.1 billion pounds annually for
the British economy.
BT calling
BT Group contains three principal business lines: BT Retail and BT Wholesale, which
operate almost entirely inside the UK and BT Global Services, which handles the
networked IT services required by multisite transnational organisations. BT Retail
ranks, by market share, as the largest communications service provider to the
consumer and small business markets in the UK. BT Wholesale provides network
services such as ADSL, conveyance, transit and bulk delivery to more than 700
communications companies.
Phoning home the profits
When it comes to the numbers, in 2007, BT posted revenues that had increased four
percent from the previous year, from 19.5 billion pounds to 20.2 billion pounds. Profit
margins also looked good for 2007, with BT’s profit before tax up 15 percent from
2006. BT Group’s divisions stretch far and wide, but it is BT Global Services, which
is aiming to build “the world’s most advanced global IP (internet protocol) network”,
that manages to take home the most revenue. In 2007, this was 9.1 billion pounds,
although the retail services division hovered not far behind with 8.4 billion pounds.
It’s hardly as though BT Wholesale is the underachiever of the group though, as it
had a still impressive 2007 revenue of 7.58 billion pounds to contribute to the
telecoms titan’s overall total.
To be or not to BT…
Riding high as the UK’s best-known telecoms provider, BT has had a pre-eminent place
in the British telecommunications industry since its inception. The story of the group
goes back to 1846, when the first telegraph service was founded in the UK. The United
Kingdom Telephone Service, in its early incarnation, was founded and run by private
73
sector companies. By 1896, the Post Office had taken over the telephone service and by
1912, it was the monopoly supplier of all early UK telephone services.
The idea of converting the Post Office, including its telecommunications department, into
a nationalised industry was raised in 1932 but jettisoned. More calls for nationalisation
were again ignored in 1961. In 1969, the Post Office Act established the British Post Office
as a public corporation, guaranteeing its monopoly on operating the UK’s
telecommunications systems. Then in 1981, the British Telecommunications Act separated
Britain’s telecommunications services, now called British Telecom, from the Post Office.
Telecompetition
The early 1980s also saw an element of competition added to the mix, with a
framework established in which a phased process of industry liberalisation was
begun. In 1982, the government announced that British Telecom would be privatised
and shortly after, the company lost its monopoly with the grant of a license to Cable
& Wireless to run a public
telecommunications net-
“ BT has held the pre-eminent place

in the British telecoms industry “ work alongside BT’s. Hot
on the heels of this was
the Telecommunications
since its inception in 1846
Act of 1984, which created
the regulatory Office of
Telecommunications (OFTEL). By November of that year, BT had gone public, with
more than 50 percent of its shares sold. Within a decade, by 1993, all the company’s
shares had been publically floated.
BT phone home…
By the turn of the millenium, BT had grown comfortable behaving as a listed

company, expanding in Europe, Latin America, Asia and the United States, where it
had acquired Syntegra and Yellow Book USA. Facing greater competition and
escalating debt, however, BT restructured in 2001, divesting itself of its wireless
business and leaving the company as the only high-ranking European telecom firm
without a wireless network. On November 19, 2001, BT Group shares started trading
on the London and New York Stock Exchanges.
Going slightly mobile
BT opted to launch a new corporate identity in April 2003, dropping the piper that
had served as its logo since 1991 and re-entering the UK mobile market with the
introduction of BT Mobile. With this, it hoped to add younger customers who no
74
longer used its fixed-line services. Also, seeking to avoid regulation that could
BT Group plc
possibly have led to its break-up, BT created its new Openreach company in
September 2005, as a provider of service in the “last mile of copper wire,” investing
70 million pounds and transferring 25,000 engineers previously employed by the
company’s retail and wholesale divisions.
The Openreach division functions as part of a regulatory deal with Ofcom (the
independent oversight authority for UK communications), to guarantee that BT’s
competitors are allowed equal access to the company’s network. Openreach, according
to Ofcom, permits every communications company to obtain “equality of access to critical
infrastructure,“ so the UK telecommunications industry has a level playing field.
Openreach, which opened its doors at the beginning of 2006, has as one of its key focuses
in 2008, the preparation of local networks for access to next generation IP technology.
21st century vox
BT announced its 21st Century Network (21CN) in June 2004, a network transformation
project that will move the UK‘s telephone network from the Public Switched Telephone
Network (PSTN) to an Internet Protocol (IP) system. The company believes most
customers will be fully switched over by 2008 and expects to save one billion pounds
annually when the conversion to the new system is completed.
Bring me broadband
In technological terms, 21CN has a roster of desirable inventions that the British public
will no doubt be keen to snap up. BT Vision, for example, delivers television programmes
instantly to viewers through broadband and BT Fusion is a mobile phone service which
switches to a broadband landline when the user arrives home or at the office.
Capital expenditure on the project looks to be approximately ten billion pounds. This
sum is the estimated cost of the project up to 2010 and will be approximately 75 percent
of BT’s total capital expenditure over this period. The company has partnered with eight
suppliers for the program, including some big names on the telecommunications scene
such as Siemens, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Alcatel-Lucent and Cisco Systems.
Grabbing the cable
In March 2006, BT began installing higher-speed broadband services across the UK,
bringing connections that reach eight megabits per second into millions of homes and
businesses. By May 2008, BusinessWeek magazine credited BT with 4.4 million
broadband customers, the biggest market share in the UK. BusinessWeek has speculated
that BT needs to push the provision of home entertainment through broadband in order
75
to retain high revenues, but that it will cost millions to put fibre optic cables into homes.
As BT has to share its network with its rivals who could steal market share from it, it
awaits to be seen whether such a move will be worth the investment.
Don’t mention the world…

As of May 2008, the British institution keeps expanding. As part of this process, the
company announced the creation of a joint global sales enterprise together with
German telecoms giant Siemens, with the purpose of providing converged
communications software for large multinational companies. The new venture will
allow big multinationals which handle large amounts of voice and data information
to consolidate and converge it at a global level. This is intended to reduce costs,
complexity and risk and improve collaboration. Using the latest technology from
Siemens and BT’s network, this project should allow companies to pursue IP-based
converged communications without overspending. Watch out for similar ventures in
the convergence technology field from BT in the near future.
GETTING HIRED
Listen in
BT offers numerous career paths for students and graduates into telecommunications.
They are described in depth on its careers website, which is accessible from the main BT
website: www.btplc.com. It’s under the heading “careers”. There, you’ll find information
for MBA, graduate, PhD research fellowships and undergraduate placements, as well as
a link to a general openings search, details on apprenticeships and the skinny on BT’s
vision and values, corporate culture, benefits and locations.
In terms of graduate programmes, the path that future telecommunications engineers

are likely to want to pursue is that offered by BT’s ICT and Research technical stream.
The training programme in this stream lasts two years and typically offers several
rotations. It gives trainees the opportunity to work on some of BT’s most advanced
technology programmes involving broadband applications, mobility and network

security, for example. Roles available in ICT range from software and platform
engineering to network engineering and management.
They’ll call you
BT also offers a Fast Track Leadership Programme, for those whose tastes might lean
towards management. Those who have a 2:1 degree or similar, plus a proven track
record of leadership or project management, ideally within a commercial
76
environment, can apply for this programme which aims to place its recruits in middle
BT Group Plc
management roles. The programme claims it will broaden your skills, knowledge
and experience by giving you the chance to spend two years rotating around
Openreach, BT Operate and BT Wholesale’s business units, carrying out various
projects. The third year of the programme puts you in a more permanent role in the
organisation depending on your performance and skills. Further information is
available on the BT “careers” website.
77
CARILLION PLC
4 Birch Street European Locations
Wolverhampton
West Midlands Wolverhampton (HQ)
WV1 4HY
United Kingdom Offices and projects throughout the UK.
Tel: +44 (0)1902 422 431
www.carillionplc.com
Employment Contact
www.carillionplc.com/careers
The Stats email: cctlondon@carillionplc.com
Employer Type: Public Tel:+44 (0)20 8538 1422
Chief Executive: Philip Rogerson
Ticker Symbol: CLLN (LSE)
2007 Revenue: £5bn
No. of Offices: 20
Divisions
Building • Defence • Developments •
Facilities Management • Fleet
Management • Health • International
Private Finance • Planned Maintenance •
Property Services • Rail • Regional Civil
Engineering • Roads • Skyblue
(Recruitment Agency) • TPS (Planning,
Engineering and Architectural Design
Consultancy) • Enviros (Environmental
Consultancy)
career
78 library
THE SCOOP
Carrillion Plc
C
arillion is a bit of a national treasure in the UK. The multi-billion pound
British building and industrial entity is involved in several markets
throughout the country, including health, education, road, rail, defence and
commercial property. This industrial success story also offers a wide range of
services, such as mechanical and electrical engineering, consultancy and the
maintenance and management of various forms of infrastructure.
Carillion’s engineering operations are responsible for servicing nearly a quarter of the
British motorway network, according to Thomson Reuters, as well as the management of
the nation’s railway network. Working with the UK’s Private Finance Initiative, Carillion
takes charge of large-scale projects on behalf of British public sector organisations such as
the National Health Service (NHS) Trust, the Highways Agency, government departments
and various local authorities, for better public services in health, education and defence.
The firm is having a busy 2008 in the public sector, including working on the Allenby
Connaught project for the British Ministry of Defence. This involves the replacement
and management of Army accommodation in the South of England. Carillion also has
underway a healthcare partnership with the NHS, through its joint venture
subsidiary Clinicenta.
Building the country
Barely a decade old, Carillion was founded in 1999 when the construction arm of Tarmac,
a British aggregates and road-surfacing materials producer, was de-merged from its parent
company. Carillion’s portfolio includes an impressive range of high-profile services and
projects in the UK and overseas. In 2007, Carillion acquired Mowlem plc, an international
provider of construction support services, which spread its construction works outside
the UK. Since then, Carillion has played a part in building the HSBC bank headquarters
in Hong Kong, the Suez Tunnel in Egypt and the Copenhagen metro.
In the UK, Carillion has redeveloped London’s Royal Opera House, constructed the
extraordinary Tate Modern gallery in the same city, rebuilt the Government
Communication Headquarters’ (GCHQ) intelligence centre in Cheltenham and
constructed new facilities for the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, among other
notable projects.
Carillion calling
Internationally, Carillion’s activities encompass regional businesses in Canada, the

Caribbean and the Middle East, which are markets in which Tarmac (the company it
79
emerged from) was already established. In the Middle East, the firm has one business in
Dubai and two more in Oman and Abu Dhabi, which have already developed important
projects in the region such as Dubai Festival City, Dubai’s Grand Mosque and the Barr
Al Jissah resort in Oman, one of the main tourist attractions in the country. In Canada,
Carillion’s businesses are based on civil engineering contracts, building and
infrastructure and road maintenance services and more recently, health projects.
Complement me
To increase its business range, at the end of 2007, Carillion took over the construction
company Alfred McAlpine, making it one of the UK’s largest support service and
construction companies. The acquisition benefited Carillion by providing the
company with complementary skills in private finance, design, construction,
maintenance and support services.
Not long after the McAlpine acquisition, at the turn of 2008, Carillion took on the
Nottingham Building Schools project, which began in mid-2008 and is expected to be
completed by 2010. The project aims to deliver eight secondary schools, primarily
new builds and refurbishments, as well as three newly built academy schools. In
addition, the company will provide facilities management services for three of the
new schools over a 25-year contract, worth almost 28 million pounds.
Green giant
One of the problems that big companies face these days is how to combine running
a profitable business while at the same time remaining environmentally friendly.
Understandably, this is why Carillion, as one of the UK’s leading support services
and construction companies, has developed a massive sustainability programme.
Through the programme, the multi-billion pound company sets aside one percent of
its annual profit to environmental and community activities. While one percent of
annual profit might not sound like a fortune, we’re talking about a company that
had a 3.59 billion pound revenue in 2006, so it’s no small fry.
GETTING HIRED
Build you own future
Career opportunities at Carillion exist for graduates with a 2.2 or above

undergraduate degree in construction, engineering and information technology
disciplines. Vacancies are typically offered in designing, building and maintaining
and managing Carillion projects around the world.
80
For those who successfully match these requirements, you can apply for a two-year
Carrillion Plc
programme, which includes guidance from a personal mentor. The programme is tailored
to each applicant dependent on his/her role within the organisation. The salary is based
on the degree level and discipline chosen — check Carillion’s website for more details.
To apply for it, you need to simply register with Carillion’s online system, found in
the “graduates” section at www.carillionplc.com. After applying, you can keep track
the status of your application at any time simply by logging back into the system. If
you are successful at this first stage, you’ll be asked to undergo a telephone interview.
The next step will involve taking psychometric and personality tests. If you are
successful here, you will be invited to an assessment centre.
Carillion posts its experienced hire vacancies on the “careers” section of its website,
where you can search by location, job category or length of posting period. The
company explains on its website that each role requires different skills, so it has
helpfully created an online informal test of six questions demonstrating how well
you might fit in with company culture.
If you are not lucky in your application to Carillion, don’t give up hope. SkyBlue, a
recruitment agency owned by Carillion, specialises in finding jobs in the construction,
civil engineering, highways, facilities management and rail sectors in the UK. Getting
in touch with them is a good idea when it comes to the first step in a Carillion career.
For more information, visit their website: www.skybluesolutions.com, or call its head
office on +44 0845 111 4334.
Learning the skills
“Is it not good enough to be good enough today?” asks Carillion on its website. Well,
apparently not. This may be why the company has developed an extensive learning
programme that includes support to and collaboration with schools, colleges and
universities, as well as a construction training programme.
Following an inspection in 2002 by the Adult Learning Inspectorate of the UK,

Carillion was placed in the top five percent of construction training providers. The
company has 16 training centres throughout the UK, offering training in bricklaying,
carpentry and joinery, painting and decorating, plastering, building maintenance
and construction operations. To find out more or to apply for one of these training
placements, contact the training centre head office manager Christine Coates at: +44
(0) 20 8538 1422, or by email: cctlondon@carillionplc.com.
If you are interested in working in a particular area of the UK, regional contact
information is listed on the company website at www.carillionplc.com. Simply, click
81
on “careers” and then “apprenticeships”, where more detailed information is
displayed.
SURVEY SAYS
Overtime with strong support
“I am contracted to a 37 hour week” one source in the UK said, “but frequently work
much longer hours, as do many of my colleagues. I am allowed to take some time off
in lieu, but this is usually at the line manager’s discretion. We get a reasonable
holiday allowance, public holidays and the office usually closes for two weeks over
Christmas.”
Another respondent responded that long hours were offset by a good amount of
autonomy: “personally I work long hours as my job demands it and take time off in
lieu as and when I desire. My line manager and colleagues are a great support.”
Laid-back but inspiring
UK respondents described the working environment as laid-back, with “open plan

offices and a smart casual dress policy. This only changes with “instructions to follow
clients’ dress codes when visiting their premises.”
Working for a company with such a major position in British engineering is

considered inspiring. “I enjoy working for the company overall” said one female
respondent, “We have some major and exciting work, which has included some of
the biggest regeneration schemes in Britain.”
Pluses and minuses
One staffer at Carillion listed 28 days holiday exclusive of public holidays, a company
car and mobile phone among the benefits of working there. “There are no bonuses
or stock options, however,” they added.
82
CEPSA S.A.
Avenida del Partenón 12 y Ribera del European Locations
Loira 50,
Edificio 1 28042 Madrid Madrid (HQ)
Spain Italy • Portugal • United Kingdom
Tel: +34 91 337 60 00
www.cepsa.com
Employment Contact
www.cepsa.com/empleo/index.html
The Stats
Ticker Symbol: CEP (Madrid Stock
Exchange)
Chairman: Carlos Pérez de Bricio
2007 Revenue: €748m
2006 Revenue: €812m
2007 Employees: 9,000+
No. of Offices: locations in nine coun-
tries worldwide
Divisions
Administration • Engineering •
Human Resources • Investigation •
Marketing • Production
career
84 library
THE SCOOP
Cepsa S.A.
epsa got there first — it was the first private Spanish oil company, set up
C in 1929 under the name Compañía Española de Petróleos S.A. By 1950,

Cepsa had moved into the production of lubricants and shortly after it
became Spain’s first producer of aromatic petrochemical products, such as
benzene.
Refining its business
Although Cepsa started as an oil exploration company, the firm quickly took on a
wide range of oil and gas-related activities, from crude oil exportation to the
production, supply and sale of petrochemicals and natural gas products. Cepsa’s
crude oil business is centred principally in Algeria, where the company works
alongside the state petrol and gas company and its primary production sites
alongside Algeria are in Colombia and Egypt.
The Spanish firm owns three refineries in its home country, with an overall
distillation capacity of 21 million tons of crude oil per year and it also has 50
percent holdings in the asphalt refinery ASESA in Tarragona (Spain) with an
annual capacity of one million tons of asphalt. It carries out its wholesale and
retail activities through its proprietary network of global subsidiaries and it also
owns shares in Compañía Logística de Hidrocarburos (CLH), which provides oil
product storage, transportation and distribution services nationwide. This
network consists of more than 1,700 storage and sales points in Spain and
Portugal alone.
Co-gen is the answer
In order to enhance energy efficiency at its refineries, chemical plants and production
sites, the group has five co-generation facilities which, quite magically, produce
electricity and steam at the same time. These cogeneration plants form Cepsa’s
wholly-owned subsidiary company Generación Eléctrica Peninsular S.A. (GEPESA).
GEPESA manages the power output of these facilities in terms of production and
distribution.
Chemical bonding
The 1980s was a time of expansion for many Spanish companies, as Spain
entered the what was then the Economic European Community (now the
European Union) and opened up to the European market. Companies such as
the consumer goods giant El Corte Inglés, the energy firm Repsol YPF and Cepsa
85
used Spain’s European adventure as a catalyst to branch out both nationally and
internationally, setting up a network of divisions and subsidiary companies in
Spain and throughout Europe.
Between 1984 and 1987, Cepsa created two petrochemical subsidiaries: Petresa, a firm
which manufactures and sells n-paraffin, linear alkyl benzene (LAB) and their
derivatives worldwide and Interquisa, which is the only Spanish producer of purified
terephathalic acid (PTA), dimethyl terephalate (DMT), purified isophthalic acid
(PIPA) and raw materials for the manufacture of polyesters.
The Cepsa network built up in Europe in the 1980s was extended in the 1990s through
acquisitions such as the lubricants company Ertoil, the petrochemicals firm Ertisa
and DETEN, the Brazilian manufacturer of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (used
primarily in laundry detergents and cleaning products). At the turn of the
millennium, Cepsa also started to market butane gas cylinders, used primarily in
outdoor heating and cooking appliances.
Asian chemistry
In 2007 Cepsa got busy in the Asian market, since the Latin-American market was
going through a stagnant phase and the European market was becoming
overcrowded. In July 2007, the company signed an agreement with the president of
Hyundai Oilbank Co. Ltd (HDO) to begin activities in Asia. This has lead to Cepsa’s
presence in South Korea, where the Spanish company will acquire an existing
aromatics complex (paraxylene, cumene and benzene) and set up another. Both
Cepsa and HDO have holdings in the International Petroleum Investment Company
(IPIC), a society which supports them in various endeavours, especially their
development in Asia.
GETTING HIRED
Working out a place in Cepsa
The company offers opportunities for post-graduate students in energy-related

disciplines at international engineering institutions such as the French Petroleum
Institute and the Superior Energy Institute. The Superior Energy Institute in Spain is
designed to give new graduates with a vocational degree complementary training
in the energy field, while the French Petroleum Institute is a well-known international
centre dedicated to industrial research and development in the petroleum sector.
Check www.cepsa.com for further details.
86
Cepsa also offers students the opportunity to train within the company if they have
Cepsa S.A.
not yet finished their degree, offering scholarships in different departments,
including engineering, production, administration, marketing, investigation and
human resources — again, see the Cepsa website for more details.
Refining trainees
Cepsa tailors its application processes to the variety of trainee roles it offers.
Generally, the process is made up of an applied psychometric test — which measures
reasoning, aptitude and personality — a language test and a personal interview with
staff members. The last part of the process consists of a meeting with the manager of
the department the new graduate would be working in, which is a time for both
future employee and employer to suss each other out.
The company emphasises the formality of the personal interview and advises
candidates to come armed with a clear understanding of why they want to work for
Cepsa and what they think they have to offer.
The first step
Positions range from administrative, sales and marketing roles to technical,

engineering and research-based jobs. To apply, visit www.cepsa.com and under
the “career opportunities” link click on “information”. From here, pick “job
offers” and then the “submit CV online” link will enable you to apply directly
(note that the submission page itself is in Spanish). CVs of unsuccessful applicants
are kept on file by the company for an unspecified period of time, but it is
advisable that candidates keep their applications current by resubmitting CVs
when they see appropriate job offers.
For students in their final year(s) of education, the company offers apprenticeships
in engineering, production, administration, marketing, research and human
resources. To apply, submit your CV online for suitable openings, using the link on
the “practice” page, which is on the “students area” website.
87
CORUS
Postbus 10000 European Locations

1970 CA IJmuiden
The Netherlands IJmuiden (HQ)
Tel: +31 (0) 251 499111 Czech Republic • Denmark •
www.corusgroup.com Finland • France • Germany • Hungary •
Ireland • Italy • Norway • Poland •
Portuga • Romania • Spain • Sweden •
Switzerland • Ukraine • United Kingdom
The Stats
Employer Type: Public (Part of Tata
Steel) Employment Contact
Ticker Symbol: 500470 (Mumbai),
TISCO EQ (National Stock Exchange of www.corusgroup.com/en/careers
India)
Chief Executive: Philippe Varin
2007 Revenue: £12bn
2006 Employees: 41,2001
No. of Offices: 30 sales offices
Divisions
Trip Products • Long Products •
Distribution & Building Systems •
Research and Development •
Technology
career
88 library
THE SCOOP
teel has long been a euphemism for strength — Superman is often referred to
Corus
S as the “Man of Steel” — and strong people are often described as having “steely
resolve.” So perhaps it’s no surprise then, that the steel industry has had such
strong an influence on society that it is often considered by economists as being an
indicator of a country’s economic progress, purely on the basis of how much steel is
used in infrastructure and development. Steel-making companies have become
global industrial giants over the years, and Netherlands-based Corus is no exception.
Dually headquartered in the Netherlands and the UK, the Corus group aims to be a
major mover in the global steel industry. As Europe’s second-largest steel producer,
the group earns annual revenues of more than 12 billion pounds and boasts an annual
crude steel production of approximately 20 million tonnes. Among its divisions,
Corus counts strip products, long products and distribution and building systems.
Corus itself is a subsidiary of Tata Steel, the sixth-largest producer of the world’s
steel. By 2007, Corus had refuelled its focus on its carbon steel activities as a way to
rally competition in the Western European markets and stimulate growth in regions
with low costs and a high earnings potential.
Stronger than steel
Since then, “The Corus Way” is what the group calls its new business strategy and
great leap forward. The cogs in the Corus Way wheel, it says, are in its ability to be
a leading supplier to customers by providing superior customer service, product
performance and growing brand recognition and quality, “benchmarking with world
class performance levels, and pursuing growth opportunities both in Europe and the
regions beyond.”
A mighty statement, but Corus has made some major investments in order to enable
it to achieve these goals. These investments include a 153 million pound investment
in its strip products plant in IJmuiden, The Netherlands, to expand its product range
capabilities for the automotive and construction markets. Others include a 130 million
pound investment at its construction services and development base in Scunthorpe,

UK, to strengthen its competitive position in structural sections, rail and wire rod
markets. Corus also has its eye on Asia, a notoriously booming market in terms of
population and infrastructure growth.
Clearly an indicator of the company’s ever-expanding global footprint, as of 2007, Corus

had 23,700 employees in the UK, 11,500 in the Netherlands, 1,800 in Germany, 1,600 in
France, 900 in other areas of Europe, as well as an additional 1,700 staff in other countries
around the world. Globally, Corus’ total staff numbers approximately 41,200.
89
Melting pot
Corus was formed in 1999 from a position of power as the merger of British Steel
and Koninklijke Hoogovens. British Steel had a distinguished history, beginning
in 1967. British Steel survived strikes, privatisation and an increasingly
competitive market before combining with Koninklijke Hoogovens, which had
an even longer history. The Dutch company started in 1919 as a way for The
Hague to become less dependent on imports and instead utilise Dutch industry
and inventiveness.
The partnership with British Steel was a means for each company to diversify and
combine talents. Both companies promised they would merge with the minimum of
job losses and plant closings for each company. The arrangement was beneficial,
although the numbers weren’t as strong as they could have been.
In 2007, the company changed hands as it became an acquisition for steel giant, Tata
Steel. At the time of the deal, Tata Steel was a leader in the steel industry but it
wanted to have a bigger presence in even more countries. The acquisition, costing
Tata 6.2 billion pounds, created the world’s fifth-largest steel producer with 84,000
employees across four continents.
Turning up the heat
Once absorbed, Corus became an integral part of Tata Steel, focusing on its main
markets of aerospace, automotive, construction, consumer products, defence and
security, energy and power generation, engineering, packaging, rail and
shipbuilding. Being involved in these different markets enabled Corus to boost its
position as a supplier for metal customers worldwide, which hugely increased brand
recognition. As of 2008, Corus has steel-making facilities in Belgium, France,
Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK.
Each of these operations is bolstered by Corus’ technology, research and

development department. Some key projects for this department have involved
developing new alloys to meet specific market needs, adopting tin-coated steel
packaging or zinc-coated steel for products, making raw steel production more
efficient and testing refractories to possibly be used in other industries.
To ensure that its research, technology and development department is stocked with
the most up-to-date information, Corus has partnerships with universities and
institutes worldwide, such as the Centre de Recherches Métallurgiques, in Lièges,
Belgium, and IMMPETUS, the Institute for Microstructural and Mechanical Process
Engineering at the University of Sheffield.
90
Corus in the community
Corus also has strong roots in the communities where it is located, and encourages
Corus
employee involvement with local groups. In the Netherlands, Corus has sponsored a local
football team as well as a Dutch Premier League team, AZ Alkmaar, even providing the
building materials for AZ Alkmaar’s new stadium in 2006. The UK has also had its fair
share of community awards from Corus and donations have played a part as well, such
as contributions to schools, hospitals, and charities. The British Triathlon, for example,
counts Corus as one of its major sponsors. Schoolchildren also benefit from the company,
with educational awards being offered, schools being adopted and partnerships being
established. Kids in France even have a chance to form a junior company for a year.
The group couldn’t participate in all of these projects without financial resources
behind it. Some ways in which Corus has increased its capital strength have been
raising the prices for aluminised strip steels, forming a joint venture in Bulgaria to
capitalise on a growing construction market and investing in reducing carbon dioxide
emissions at Port Talbot in the UK.
The company’s strategies seem to be working, as turnover has increased year on year
in recent years, from 8.37 billion pounds in 2004 to 9.16 billion in 2005 to 9.73 billion
in 2006. By 2007, the company was riding high with revenue of more than 12 billion
pounds. Additionally, the company’s integration into Tata Steel has given it a further
boost when it comes to future revenue potential. In 2008, the group hiked up prices
for several of its products due to increases in costs of raw materials and energy, as
global steel demand shot to unprecedented new heights.
GETTING HIRED
Becoming a voice in the Corus
Corus considers itself technology-driven and customer-oriented. Teamwork,

innovation, the ability to demonstrate ingenuity and intuitiveness are qualities Corus
looks for in employees. In the company’s careers section on its website you can locate
the area that sounds right for you. Apprenticeships are available in automotive,
construction, rail, energy and power, engineering, business services, security and
defence. The apprenticeship programme is a great way for a person to learn industry-
specific knowledge through hands-on experience.
Corus offers a generous salary, a full benefits package and good opportunities for
promotion. Placements are available throughout the UK, in South Wales, Rotherham
91
and Stockbridge, Scunthorpe, North Wales and Corby. The qualifications needed for
these apprenticeships are a minimum of three GCSE passes at a C grade or higher.
All applications should be completed on Corus’ online application system. See
Corus’s “apprenticeships” website for more information.
Fire with fire
Those with A-levels can apply directly from school to become Corus trainees.
Trainees work in a designated area and after a three-month probationary period,
have a chance to become involved in full-time roles at Corus. Corus also encourages
its trainees to continue their education, as it seeks employees with strengths in
multiple disciplines. The programme which begins every August opens at the end of
April every year and can be viewed on Corus’ careers website.
Careers at Corus
A considerable amount of information is available to graduates potentially interested
in a career at Corus on the company’s careers website, including details on whether
a person needs a work
“
permit, language skills,
Corus itself is a subsidiary of professional accreditation,
Tata Steel, the sixth-largest “ o r a te c hnic al de gre e .
producer of the world’s steel. Approximately 100 post-
graduate students per year
receive sponsorship from
Corus in technical or engineering programmes. You can peruse this section online to
find out what programmes and sponsorships are available. Alternatively, you can
check out the general vacancies on Corus’s “general vacancies” listings.
Corus has jobs in the Netherlands, as well as openings in the Long Products division
at one of the largest manufacturing sites in the UK. You can also directly search for
job openings in the group’s research and development division.
OUR SURVEY SAYS
The first steps
“For the graduate programme, first you register an interest online. If a vacancy
matches your profile you will be contacted asking to apply for it. Then you fill in an
application form for real,” says one keen employee. If the application passes the
92
initial screening, applicants will undertake online numeracy and literacy tests. The
Corus
experienced insider says, “If these are okay, you will be given a telephone interview,
and if that goes well you will be invited to an assessment centre, along with maybe
ten other candidates.”
At the assessment centre, one employee says interviewees undertake a group

exercise, a formal interview and a short presentation. “All in all it is quite a long
process and took me about three months from originally applying, to being offered
a position.”
In terms of who Corus are looking to hire, one UK insider says, “You need to be
enthusiastic. You need to know what the job is you are applying for and want to do
it. If you can demonstrate that you enjoy your field of study and would like to work
in the steel industry then you won’t do yourself any harm.”
Another employee stresses the importance of being honest during interviews,

saying: “If you don’t understand something you’ve been asked then just say so —
they will respect the fact that you’ve had the courage to say so. Lastly, be
confident. At the end of the day this is an opportunity to say ‘Hey, here I am, and
this is what I have to offer you.’”
Enjoyable hours
Employees at Corus say the company has a good approach to working hours and
that the firm offers flexibility and an understanding approach to periods of
necessary absence. One impressed staffer explains: “The firm has a partial flexible
hours scheme, where you are free to work at a time that suits you provided you
are working during the core business hours of 9am–12pm and 2pm–4pm” said
one Corus staffer. Another insider (and new parent) added, “They have been very
helpful and understanding during my paternity leave, leaving me free to
concentrate on my baby.”
One satisfied respondent on the graduate programme said: “I had no real problems
as a graduate engineer with the working hours. I fear that may change when I take
on a substantive position as there can be a requirement for weekend work. Hours
can be flexible, which is a bonus, and they were very helpful when I had an enforced
period of absence last year.”
Some employees noted that “sometimes shift working may be required — or

working during shut-downs.” While another experienced insider described the
hours as “definitely not flexi-time”, but “flexible on prior arrangement with the
management.”
93
Lets party!
For younger employees, it seems that Corus boasts an attractive social culture. One
graduate engineer says the large company has “many social sections”, adding that
“socialising tends to be restricted to other graduates or other work colleagues who
share similar past-times.” He added: “The older generations don’t socialise so much.”
An engineer at the firm said “Engineers tend to socialise together and seem to be
treated as a collective. The engineering department isn’t treated with as much
importance as other departments, like production, even though our performance has
a large impact on the manufacturing side of the business.”
Workers at the firm enjoy “a positive culture with a good emphasis on team working.
Social departmental activities are “held regularly” and professional development
opportunities are “supported, while funding is provided for further qualifications.”
Delivering diversity
“There are quite a few people from minority backgrounds working at graduate
level,” observes one Corus employee, who adds: “My experience shows that
engineers from ethnic minority backgrounds are employed purely on the basis of
their skill and experience.”
In terms a gender diversity and opportunities for women, one Corus employ assures
us, “Female engineers rise to the highest levels of the firm and the number joining the
firm continues to grow.” A female engineer told us: “Corus is very respectful towards
women, and there are lots of women engineers on site.”
Your boss is who you are
“How you’re treated as a graduate engineer largely depends on who is your direct
manager” said one respondent, explaining: “Some take a lot of interest in you, others
don’t.” Another source added: “Engineers are generally kept abreast of any major
developments in the company, though for a company of this size, it is a case of
reading the bulletins rather than large meetings to inform everyone.”
One employee explains that trainee engineers are “guided well” and “coaching is
provided in areas requiring development.” Another noted, “We tend to have an input
into decisions, but we are also expected to solve any complex situations that we were
not party to in the first place.”
Employees listed free parking and relocation expenses among the perks offered
by Corus.
94
Weighing the pros and cons
Some employees suggested “better salaries for graduates, much better salaries for
Corus
chartered engineers.” One insider says, “It seems silly to incur the cost of recruiting
and training people only to lose their skills because you won’t pay the going rate.”
According to one source, working at Corus “is challenging and constantly changing
— no two days are the same.” He adds that employees enjoy “a good level of
responsibility — not too much, not too little — and good training.” Another source
added, “I am pleased with the breadth of my work, the support I receive from
colleagues and the satisfaction I receive from completing projects.”
95
DAIMLER AG
70546 Stuttgart German Locations

Germany
Tel: +49 711 17 0 Stuttgart (HQ)
www.daimler.com Affalterbach • Berlin • Bremen •
Düsseldorf • Gaggenau • Hamburg •
Kassel • Ludwigsfelde • Mannheim •
Rastatt • Sindelfingen • Ulm/Neu-Ulm •
Wörth
The Stats
Ticker Symbol: DAI (XTRA, NYSE)
Chairman: Dr. Dieter Zetsche European Locations
2007 Revenue: €99.39bn Belarus • Belgium • Croatia • Czech
2006 Revenue: €99.22bn Republic • France • Hungary • Ireland •
2007 Employees: 272,382 The Netherlands • Romania • Russia •
2006 Employees: 274,024 Spain • Ukraine • United Kingdom
Divisions Employment Contact

Mercedes-Benz Cars: career.daimler.com/career
Mercedes Benz • Smart • AMG • microsite/index.php/europe/en
Maybach Daimler Trucks:

Mercedes-Benz • Freightliner • Sterling •
Western Star • Mitsubishi Fuso
Mercedes-Benz Vans
Daimler Buses
Daimler Financial Services
96 career
library
THE SCOOP
aimler AG is one of the world’s leading automotive companies. Between
Daimler AG
D 1998 and 2007 the automobile giant had been known as DaimlerChrysler
after its 36 billion dollar merger with Chrysler, the iconic American car
manufacturer. When Daimler let go of the underperforming Chrysler arm in 2007,
everyone agreed it was for the best that both companies stood alone.
Why is Daimler such a titan in the auto industry? The name Mercedes-Benz should
give a clue. The luxury Mercedes brand has been popular for decades and during
the Chrysler merger period, its vehicles were the only consistently high-performing
division for DaimlerChrysler. Newly shorn of Chrysler, as of mid-to-late 2007,
Daimler is the umbrella company for Mercedes-Benz cars, Daimler Trucks, Mercedes-
Benz vans, Daimler Buses and Daimler Financial Services.
Boasting a 2007 revenue of 99.39 billion euros and more than 270,000 employees
around the world, Germany’s Daimler is a huge company on its own terms. Gross
profit has risen since the demerger and in 2007, Daimler pulled in just under 50 billion
euros of sales in Western Europe alone, of which 22.5 billion euros was in Germany.
The same year, US sales rocketed to more than 20 billion euros.
The flagship brand
The central pillar of Daimler’s operations is Mercedes-Benz, headquartered in

Stuttgart with 97,526 employees to its name. In 2007, its unit sales were 1,293,184
vehicles, bringing in hefty revenues of 52.43 billion euros. The majority of Mercedes-
Benz’s automobiles are produced in Germany but this division also has production
sites elsewhere around the world, including the cost-efficient locations of Brazil,
India, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Daimler Trucks, also based in Stuttgart, is another important division for Daimler, as the
company is the world’s leading truck manufacturer. Truck sales for 2007 sales hovered just
under half a million. Revenues for this division amounted to 28.47 billion euros in 2007 and
its employee figures stood at 80,067 in the same year. With vans and buses to its name
along with a raft of subsidiaries including Daimler Research and Technology North
America and Thomas Built Buses, which makes the iconic yellow school buses in the US,
the Daimler empire is nothing if not built on solid foundations.
A tale of two companies
The history of Daimler begins with Daimler-Benz, which has its origins in the 1880s
when two engineers, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, separately developed internal
97
combustion engines. Without meeting, each man founded his own company, Benz &
Companies and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft respectively, and both became
profitable automakers. In 1886, Benz got a patent for a vehicle with an internal
combustion engine, the first viable car to be fueled by gasoline. In 1900, Daimler
secured financing from Emil Jellinek, consul general of Austria-Hungary, to create a
new high-performance car with the stipulation that it would bear the name of his
daughter, Mercedes. An engineer named Ferdinand Porsche was hired in 1906 as
Daimler’s Technical Manager, helping to secure Daimler’s early engineering success.
In 1926, Daimler and Benz merged and Mercedes-Benz automobiles were born.
World War II saw Daimler-Benz manufacturing tanks, trucks and aircraft engines
for the Germans. Post-war, with its production capacity severely reduced, the
company went on to recoup its losses in the 1950s and become a leader automobile
manufacturer in the
decades that followed. By
“ Daimler’s gross profit

has risen since the Chrysler “ the 1970s , w o rldw ide
sales of Mercedes had
taken off. Competitors
demerger in 2007
were on Daimler’s tail
though, and in the 1980s
and 1990s the group diversified into industrial technology and aerospace. In 1985, it
bought German electronics company AEG, German aeronautical company Dornier
and MTU, an engine and turbine manufacturer.
Schrempp strength
By the mid 1990s, the diversification tactic wasn’t working for Daimler, despite being
Germany’s largest company, and it posted a loss of 5.7 billion marks in 1995.
Restructuring and job cuts enabled a turnaround in 1996 and it was able to announce
a net income of 2.8 billion euros. Jürgen Schrempp was the mastermind of this return
to strength. As chairman of Daimler from 1995 to 1998, he was a principal architect
of its merger with Chrysler and he stepped down from the Daimler hotseat in 2006.
Millennial blues
The Chrysler merger was a huge deal in global terms, with Daimler-Benz paying 38
billion dollars to acquire Chrysler Corporation in 1998. Analysts and industry media
predicted that the union would create a global giant, with DaimlerChrysler cars
dominating landscapes as far as the eye could see. The merger was forged with the
best of intentions, such as to cut costs and achieve a balance in terms of geographical
spread and product line. Combined group revenue shot up initially, but the turn of
the millennium saw it run into trouble with Chrysler revenues falling steadily.
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Taking a 37 percent stake in Japan’s Mitsubishi motors in 2000 along with a ten
Daimler AG
percent stake in Korean car manufacturer Hyundai, DaimlerChrysler’s expansion
continued apace. It added to its roster Canadian truck manufacturer Western Star
Holdings and the 79 percent or so it didn’t own already of Detroit Diesel, a truck
engine company. The arrival of a new chairman, Dieter Zetsche, signalled more
changes for Chrysler. Through job cuts, including senior management, Zetsche got
Chrysler back on its feet. By January 2006, he was appointed chairman of
DaimlerChrysler and he set about cutting losses. Both the company’s domestic and
foreign concerns were on the receiving end of more job cuts, and its Smart car
division, marketing a cute two-seat attempt to break out of the luxury market,
narrowly missed being sold off to a private equity consortium after it posted
disappointing sales.
Taking the high road
Daimler and Chrysler parted ways in May 2007, with Cerberus Capital Management,
a private equity firm with stakes in more than 50 companies, acquiring an 80 percent
stake in Chrysler in a deal worth 7.4 billion US dollars. Daimler was renamed Daimler
AG and the new Chrysler entity became a privately-held company, Chrysler
Holding. The deal saw Chrysler walk away with the lion’s share of the capital — 6.05
billion dollars, with Daimler receiving 1.35 billion dollars. Whilst far less than its
original payment for Chrysler, Daimler escaped taking on any liability for Chrysler’s
massive pension and health care obligations.
Since the break-up, Daimler has been able to regain its focus on pushing the
Mercedes brand in growing markets such as Russia and China. While the credit
crisis of 2008 has caused trouble to carmakers worldwide, especially in the
American market, Zetsche’s orientation towards emerging markets as the next
big thing for luxury car makers ensures Daimler’s strength despite its exposure
to the declining dollar.
GETTING HIRED
Want to get your hands dirty?
Daimler offers great vocational training opportunities, combining practical work

experience with theoretical training in the following sectors: manufacturing, service
and sales, administration, information technology and research and development.
Anyone interested in such training needs to speak German and visit Daimler’s
careers website in German where all details can be found.
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Daimler is part of the University of Co-operative Education, an alternative to
studying at a traditional university or technical college. It offers three year specialised
business and technical degrees for those with the Abitur (high school graduation
certificate). The degrees are well balanced between theoretical work and hands-on
practical training. More details are available on the Daimler careers website.
Numerous intern positions are available at Daimler worldwide. Its international “top
talent” programme “Daimler Student Partnership” is a Germany-wide programme
for engineering and business students with one or two years of their training
remaining and some Daimler experience (as an apprentice or intern) under their belt.
Selected students are given a mentor who helps them in their career path towards
either a direct entry position or onto the company-wide trainee programme CAReer.
This programme is designed for those with degrees in engineering or economics,
offering fantastic opportunities to progress at Daimler.
You can pick one of the following departments to start your training in: engineering,
research and development, manufacturing and related functions, sales and
marketing, procurement and supply, finance, leasing and banking, finance and
controlling, information technology or human resources. Requirements include a
passion for and experience in the automotive sector, plus fluent German — if you
want to work in Germany — and sound English skills. Application processes vary
regionally, though you can apply online to work in Germany. With 350 trainees taken
on each year worldwide, if you want to work outside Germany it’s necessary to check
the Daimler website for the country in which you want to work.
100
e d ,
n e e d ”
t h e s p e
e e l f o r
F
“I need G u n, 19
86
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the
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DASSAULT AVIATION
78 Quai Marcel Dassault French Locations

92210 St Cloud
France Saint-Cloud (HQ)
Tel: +33 (1) 47 11 4000 Argenteuil • Seclin • Poitiers • Argony •
www.dassault-aviation.com Martignas • Merignac • Cazaux •
Biarritz Istres • Surenes • Le Bourget
The Stats European Locations

Employer Type: Private Greece
Chairman: Charles Edelstenne
(FYE: 12/07)
2007 Employees: 12,082 Careers website:
2006 Employees: 11,928 www.dassault-aviation.com/en/
No. of Offices: 17 production sites and aviation/careers.html
seven liaison offices
Divisions
Civil Aircraft • Military Aircraft
career
102 library
THE SCOOP
Dassault Aviation
O
ne of the aviation industry’s heavy hitters, Dassault Aviation, has a long
and successful history of manufacturing aircraft for both civil and military
use. Making planes since 1930, the company has always maintained a
strategic focus on the pursuit of technological excellence in airborne systems.
The civil and miltary wings of the private company, which is 50.21 percent owned by
the Groupe Industriel Marcel Dassault, are highly regarded for their engineers’ ability
to put together “complex airborne systems” which match clients’ highly specialised
logistical requirements. With a global presence including offices in India, Russia,
Greece, Brazil, and the UAE, and subsidiaries in France and the US, as of 2007,
Dassault had 2,500 military combat aircraft in service in 35 countries worldwide, and
over 1,700 business jets in use in 70 countries.
A turbulent ride
The company’s roots can be traced back to before World War I, when, in 1913, young
Frenchman Marcel Bloch graduated from Paris’ Ecole Supérieure Aéronautique as an
aeronautical engineer. Three years later, he designed a military propeller, the
“Éclair”, considered one of the best wartime propellers. It made Bloch a national hero.
In 1917, he formed the Société d'Etudes Aéronautiques, but the end of World War I
saw a cancellation of all military aircraft orders and he made an unexpected move
into the real estate business.
The setting up of the French Air Ministry in 1928 took the ardent aeronaut right back
to the heart of the growing aviation industry. By 1930, he had founded the aircraft
manufacturers Société des Avions Marcel Bloch, which was nationalised in 1937.
Bloch was deported to Buchenwald concentration camp in the early 1940’s, where
he was almost hanged for refusing to work with the Germans.
Flying free
Post-war, Bloch, who changed his name to Dassault in 1949, was free to focus on
company expansion. Dassault, which in French means “for assault”, focused on three
specialisations — flight equipment, engines, and electronics. Aided by the increasing
importance of combat aircraft in foreign policy, Dassault went from strength to
strength, moving successfully into exports and becoming the French Air Force’s
major supplier. Having merged with Breguet Aviation in 1971, the company’s chief
focus in the remaining decades of the 20th century was technology, technology and
yes, technology.
103
New computer programmes and materials have consistently helped all aviation
companies make huge improvements in quality and efficiency. Dassault fended off
rival companies by being protected by the French state, who, in 1981, purchased 26
percent of the company. As Dassault’s main customer, the state funnelled money
into research and design in order to gain as much as possible from its acquisition. The
Falcon is doing particularly well, registering record sales figures in 2006 with 158
aircraft made.
Dassault continues to pour money into high technology so its planes can become all
the more impressive. In 2007, work was underway on an executive jet in the super
mid-size market, a range of unmanned combat aircraft, and technologies for a
supersonic executive jet.
Who is flying this plane?
Perhaps the company’s most exciting 2007-08 project is the unmanned combat aircraft
vehicle (UCAV), rather frighteningly called nEUROn. The bird-of-prey shaped vehicle, for
which Dassault is the prime
“
contractor, is “the first large
The company traces its roots to
sized stealth platform
1913 when Marcel Bloch, an designed in Europe,” and
aeronautical engineer, designed “ being developed in co-
a revolutionary propeller operatation with a team of
European partner companies,
including Swedish Saab, Greek EAB, Swiss RUAG Aerospace, Spanish EADS CASA and
Italian Alenia. The development of the vehicle is costing 405 million euros, with half of this
being put forward by France.
First test flights are scheduled for 2011, and Dassault states that its key technological
challenges are to get right the shape of the aircraft, in terms of its aerodynamics, its
tail-less configuration, and its internal weapons bay, along with the key role of
software and the high-level algorithms necessary for automation.
GETTING HIRED
Get Dassault-ed
Dassault, as an “industrial architect of complex airborne systems,” offers a range of

great opportunities for anyone who spent their childhood playing with model
104
aeroplanes. Looking to employ those who wish to work in flight simulation, system
Dassault Aviation
modelling, information systems architecture, technical data management,
production, logistics, maintenance, business engineering, purchasing, quality, and
sales and commercial, the company vigorously recruits and promotes.
It has no graduate trainee scheme but offers several alternatives to graduates looking
to get in to the aviation giant. Approximately 600 internships are granted each year,
lasting for up to six months, in all company divisions. Priority tends to go to those
who have vocational training qualifications or to undergraduates in top-tier
universities who have thesis interests that complement the company’s research and
development projects. Applications should be made in early October by applying
online, through the "join us" section of the "careers" page. All vacancies can be seen
on the company careers website, www.dassault-aviation.com/en/aviation
/careers.html.
Alternatively, you can send in an unsolicited application (as a handwritten or typed

covering letter with CV) to the company recruitment officer, or to the recruitment
officer of the Dassault entity most likely to be interested in your background —
addresses are listed on the careers website. The company does not offer jobs or
placements abroad, except for with Dassault Falcon in the US — visit
www.dassaultfalcon.com for information.
105
EADS
37 Boulevard de Montmorency French Locations

75781 Paris
Cedex 16 Paris (HQ)
France Blagnac • Bourges • Caudebec-en-Caux •
Tel: +33 (1) 42 24 2424 Cazaux • Colomiers • Compiègne •
www.eads.com Douarnenez • Fontenay-aux-Roses • La
Ferté Saint-Aubin • Les Mureaux • Le
Subdray • Les Ulis • Marignane •
Méaulte • Mérignac • Nantes • Orléans •
Rochefort • Saint-Aubin de Medoc •
The Stats Saint-Médard en Jalles • Saint-Nazaire •
Saint-Setiers • Salaunes • Selles-Saint-
Denis • Tarbes • Toulouse •
Ticker Symbol: EAD (Euronext)
Val-de-Reuil
Chief Executive: Louis Gallois
2007 Employees: 116,493
2006 Employees: 116,805 European Locations
No. of Offices: n/a
Belgium • Czech Republic • Denmark •
Finland • Germany • Italy • The
Netherlands • Poland • Portugal •
Romania • Russia • Slovakia • Spain •
Divisions Sweden • Switzerland • United
Kingdom
Airbus • Astrium • Defence and
Security • Eurocopter • Military
Transport Aircraft
Employment Contact
www.eads.com
(Click on “Career”)
career
106 library
THE SCOOP
EADS France S.A.S.

F
ormed by the July 2000 merger of DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) of
Germany, Aérospatiale-Matra of France, and Construcciones Aeroná of Spain, EADS
is Europe’s largest aerospace corporation. The acronym stands for European
Aeronautic Defence and Space Company. Manufacturing aircraft, missiles, space rockets
and satellites, EADS’ clients are both civil and military. The company consists of five main
divisions: Airbus, Military Transport Aircraft, Eurocopter, Defence and Security, and
EADS Astrium. Airbus made 453 hundred-plus seat aircraft in 2007, bringing in a revenue
of 25.2 billion euros, the large majority of EADS’s revenue. In the same year, the military
transport aircraft division brought in revenue of 1.14 billion euros and Eurocopter, which
is the world’s leading helicopter manufacturer, took 4.17 billion euros. The Defence and
Security division brought in 5.47 billion and Astrium, EADS’s space technology and
equipment division, generated 3.55 billion euros of group revenue.
Ownership of EADS splits several ways. Almost a third of it is owned by a holding

company comprising the French state and the media company Lagardère, called
SOGEADE. Approximately 22 percent of it is held by Daimler, the German
automobile manufacturer, just over five percent is owned by SEPI, a holding
company belonging to the Spanish state, and just over 40 percent is owned by other
retail, institutional and employee interests. In terms of geographical spread of
revenues, it shouldn’t be surprising that as EADS’s name suggests, the majority of
group product sales are in Europe, at 45 percent in 2007. Comparatively, North
America generated 20 percent of group revenues in 2007, Asia-Pacific was
responsible for 23 percent, and the rest of the world for 12 percent.
Houston, we have a problem
Despite its solid footing in its markets, EADS faces challenges. In June 2006, the
company’s delivery of its A380 superjumbo jet, the world’s largest passenger jet, with
seating for more than 550 passengers, was delayed, due to problems with installing
its electrical wiring systems. On June 14, 2006, EADS shares dropped 26 percent after
the company announced that the A380 was not going to make its delivery date,
inevitably causing problems that needed to be surmounted in the following months.
Production of the A380 was soon back on track, with the first of the planes delivered
to Singapore Airlines in October 2007. Other A380’s have been sold to British
Airways, Emirates, Air France, Lufthansa and Qantas Airways, and the group had
188 orders for the plane by end of play in December 2007.
Heading up EADS is Louis Gallois, former head of SNCF. Gallois has been sole chief
executive of EADS since August 2007. Alongside his tenure at SNCF, he offers EADS
107
experience gained from many years working for the French state in the Ministry of
Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Research and Industry and the Ministry of
Defence. A graduate of the École des Hautes Études Commerciales in economic
science, Gallois has guided EADS towards an order intake in 2007 which, at 136.8
billion euros, was double of that of 2006. The Airbus subsidiary was piloted by
Christian Streiff during the A380 problem. Streiff, who had previously spent 26 years
at buildings materials company Saint-Gobain, was chief executive of Airbus for only
five months before he left to take the top job at car manufacturer Peugeot-Citroën.
What does Le Figaro know?
In late 2007, the French newspaper Le Figaro suggested that EADS would be facing
inquiries as to potential insider trading. The newspaper reported that high-ranking
company officials had
“
sold shares with advance
Louis Gallois, former head of
SNCF, has been sole chief executive “ knowledge of the A380
production delays, and so
of EADS since August 2007 they had escaped the
losses incurred by the
plunge shares took when Airbus went public with the delays. The French stock
market regulator is currently investigating Le Figaro’s claim, although Le Figaro’s
report is far from conclusive, and Daimler and Lagardère have refuted the charges.
Reaching for the skies
Whilst EADS is undoubtedly undergoing turbulence, it is still early days for the
company, as it has only been in existence for seven years. It was created because
shareholders felt there was a need for a common defence and aerospace contractor
between European countries, so they could share knowledge and technology and
improve efficiency.
The company launched on the Frankfurt, Madrid and Paris Stock Exchanges on
July 10, 2000. From its earliest months, EADS racked up the orders for civil and
military aircraft. Its early orders demonstrated that the company was creating a
global footprint, selling products as far as Australia, the US, Russia, Qatar and
South Korea.
Despite the dollar…
The dollar’s slide in 2007-2008 has been problematic for EADS, as it sells planes in
dollars but uses billion of euros worth of equipment. It therefore is feeling the pinch
as the dollar weakens. Some belt-tightening has had to happen in 2007 by way of the
108
Power restructuring plan, which focuses on streamlining assembly lines,
EADS France S.A.S.

concentrating on core business activities and cutting overhead costs.
After its A380 setback, Airbus, in particular, had a good 2007, with global market
demand peaking, leading to record net orders of 1,341, mostly in its A320 family and
its A330 family, the latter being one of its range of larger aircraft. EADS is estimating
2008 aircraft orders of approximately 700, with forecasted revenues in excess of 40
billion euros. Good news also came in March 2008 in the shape of a 35 billion dollar
deal with the US military to supply it with air tankers, which will be assembled in
Alabama and create as many as 25,000 jobs.
GETTING HIRED
Working with EADS
EADS obviously seeks out highly qualified technical applicants, and it has
internship and training schemes available for undergraduates and graduates
with relevant experience. Details about all schemes can be found on the
company’s careers website — follow the “jobs and careers” link on EADS’ main
website. You can then visit the “entry options” page, where you can choose
between options for undergraduates, final year students, or graduate
programmemes and apprenticeships. The company is most keen to recruit
students in the fields of aviation, space technology, electronics, information
technology and management.
Brains for planes
Undergraduates who are in their final year are recruited to do their final year project
with EADS. Those who are studying in the field of engineering sciences are also
invited to apply for Airbus’ student scholarship programme. In order to find out
what positions are available to do either of these, and to find out other available
options, you need to go to the job search portal and pick which work contract type
you correspond to. Options available are “agency contract”, “apprenticeship”, “final
year thesis”, “fixed-term contract”, “graduate”, “internship”, “PhD/research
contract”, “permanent” work and the VIE scheme.
Alternatively, you can search for work according to Group Division: Airbus, Astrium,
Defense and Security, Eurocopter, and Military Transport Aircraft, or according to
country, state, area, or work experience level in years. Many of its job offers seem to
be Germany-based, so you will need to be willing to travel.
109
Wings around the world
The company has worldwide opportunities — those interested in working elsewhere

with EADS can search for jobs through the job search portal. If you want to work
in the US or the UK, go to the respective websites for each country:
www.northamerica.eads.net, and www.eadsdsuk.com. The latter website is just for
EADS defence and security systems in the UK, but it has a graduate recruitment
programmeme with an international reach for English speakers who either wish to
pursue a business career or have engineering qualifications and wish to work in
engineering fields.
110
ÉLECTRICITÉ DE FRANCE
22-30 Avenue de Wagram French Locations
Paris
Cedex 8, 75382 Paris (HQ)
France Alsace • Aquitaine • Auvergne • Basse-
Tel: +33 (1) 40 42 2222 Normandie • Bourgogne • Bretagne •
www.edf.fr Champagne-Ardennes • Corse •
Franche-Comté • Haute-Normandie •
Ile-de-France • Languedoc • Roussillon •
Limousin • Lorraine • Midi-Pyrénées •
Nord-Pas-de-Calais • Pays de la Loire •
The Stats Picardie • Poitou-Charente • Provence-
Alpes • Rhône-Alps
Ticker Symbol: EDF (Euronext)
Chief Executive: Pierre Gadonneix
2007 Revenue: €59.6bn European Locations
2007 Employees: not available Austria • Belgium • Czech Republic •
2006 Employees: 153,524 Germany • Italy • Lithuania • Poland •
No. of Locations Worldwide: 51 Russia • Spain • Switzerland • Ukraine •
United Kingdom

Distribution • Generation • Supply & www.edfrecrute.com
Services • Trading & Transmission
career
112 library
THE SCOOP
Électricité de France
O
ne of the world’s foremost electricity suppliers, Électricité de France (EDF)
has enjoyed a prominent status on the global energy scene since its
inception in 1946. Along with its sister company Gaz de France (GDF), EDF
was the result of France’s push towards a post-World War II nationalisation of
industry. The then Minister for Industrial Production, Marcel Paul, merged several
electricity producers, transporters and distributors to create EDF. Like GDF, EDF is
involved every step along the way of its electricity provision, from energy generation,
trading and distribution to its supply and services.
This integrated company boasts 37.8 million customers worldwide, a global

workforce of 156,524, and a 2007 net income of 5.6 billion euros. The majority — 71.8
percent — of its electricity comes from nuclear energy, followed by 21.78 percent
from thermal power, 7.8 percent from hydrocarbons, and 0.24 percent from
renewable energy sources.
Nuke it!
Following the global oil crisis of the early 1970s, national energy independence
became a priority for France, and EDF began to build nuclear reactors in 1974.
The first was completed in 1977. By 1984, the country was a leading exporter of
nuclear reactor technology and know-how. The July 1, 2007 deregulation of
European energy markets has allowed EDF to position itself for more dynamic
growth around the continent and to consolidate its extremely strong footholds in
the UK, Germany and Italy.
In its 2007 Annual Report, EDF said “the energy sector accounts for 26 percent
of global GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions.” Its environmental experts note that
“electricity providers have a special responsibility” to reduce this. EDF’s key
strategy for greener energy provision is to renew its nuclear fleet. Despite the
well-documented downsides to nuclear power, it is the only large-scale thermal
energy source that is carbon-free, and is supported by both EDF and the French
government.
The answer is Nu-clear
EDF is in the process of designing and developing Europe’s largest nuclear

power reactor, costing 3.3 billion euros, together with Areva, the French nuclear
energy company, Framatome, the French nuclear power plant constructors and
the German corporation Siemens AG. Since summer 2006, the European Pressure
Reactor (EPR) project has been underway in Flamanville, north-west France. The
113
reactor is EDF’s key project at the moment as it will provide a long-term way to
provide low-cost power for domestic use and export. As a “third-generation
nuclear reactor,” the EPR has a capacity of 1,650MW and is at the forefront of
nuclear technology. Its steam generator will use 17 percent less fuel than current
reactors and its annual power output will outpace them by 36 percent. On the
green front, once the reactor starts operating in 2012, the electricity it produces
will be carbon dioxide emission-free.
Radioactive decay ain’t pretty
Such a huge nuclear project is not without controversy. Before it was given the go-
ahead by the French government, the EPR was put to public debate. In October 2005,
groups of experts including scientists, academics and environmental agencies such
as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth were called on to give evidence in public
forums and in the media regarding the pros and cons of nuclear power.
A public vote showed that while roughly a third of the French public voted against
nuclear power, mostly because of the problem of the storage of nuclear waste, a
majority were happy to see the EPR greenlighted. Protestors have not been stopped
in their tracks, though. Environmentalists sitting atop EDF’s cooling towers in protest
at atomic energy generation are still a frequent sight.
East meets West
If China, with its population of more than 1.3 billion and increasing industrial and
entrepreneurial activity, is the next big thing in the global economy, EDF is making
sure it’s not missing out. It has had a presence there for over 20 years and is now the
leading foreign investor in power generation in the country. This is by way of its
investments in Chinese companies operating coal-fired power plants. In September
2007, it was reported that EDF signed an agreement with Chinese firm Guangdong
Nuclear Power Holding Company in which the French firm agreed to buy carbon
credits from Guangdong for the equivalent of 1.5 million tons a year of carbon
dioxide emissions.
The credit will be purchased from Guangdong’s wind power unit, which has a total
installed capacity of 400MW. Under the Kyoto Treaty’s Clean Development
Mechanism, clean energy projects in the developing world are permitted to sell
credits to companies in developed countries. This enables the latter to meet their
Kyoto commitments to reducing greenhouse gases.
EDF is making headway in other parts of Asia too, by investing heavily in Vietnam.
In September 2007, it was confirmed that it is building a 2.8 billion euro coal-fired
114
power plant in the Southern Vietnamese province of Hau Giang. It is rumoured that
Électricité de France
it is also planning to set up a nuclear power plant to be in operation in the country
by 2020. EDF is also making advances in Indian, Thai, Korean and Laotian
investments.
However, not everything is smooth sailing. In Laos, one of the least developed
countries in the world, EDF has a 35 percent share in NTPC (Nam Theun 2 Power
Company), which runs a hydroelectric dam on the Mekong generating 1,070MW
energy to be transported around South East Asia. The dam has raised scrutiny
regarding its displacement of locals, reduction of biodiversity, and the
reallocation of community resources. In its Annual Sustainability Report 2007,
EDF has shown it is applying corporate social responsibility principles to the
issue. The health of those relocated by the project is being monitored by the
Pasteur Institute, the Paris-based biomedical research organisation, and housing
provision is also being assured for them, according to EDF.
GETTING HIRED
Electrify your career
EDF offers several ways in. Those with two or more years of higher education and
the Baccalaureate qualification (or equivalent) can apply for any vacancy online that
they fulfill the eligibility requirements for and that suits their interests. See
www.edfrecrute.com for a regularly updated list of vacancies. An advanced level of
French is needed to negotiate this website.
Those with undergraduate or graduate education are also welcome to apply for
apprenticeships (apprentissages) or work experience (stagiaires) with the
company within France. Approximately 1,200 such places are offered each year.
Applicants need expertise or experience in one of the following areas: sales,
administration, accounts, communications, electrical engineering, boiler
manufacturing, civil engineering, industrial engineering, mechanics and

production, environmental security technicians, IT, telecoms, legal, management
or human resources.
Details of how to apply are at the above web address. Finally, V.I.E (Volunteer for
International Experience) positions are offered, which send those with suitable
academic experience off to gain professional know-how in a variety of far-flung
destinations. These positions are paid and are listed along with domestically based
positions on www.edfrecrute.com.
115
Have you got the energy?
If you want to work for EDF in a specific country where it operates but don't want
to be sent to a randomly selected location as part of a V.I.E. scheme, your best option
is to look at the individual country’s EDF website. Each has its own decentralised
recruitment department which hires directly. In order to find out about the positions
available in EDF’s international locations, you need to visit the Human Resources
pages of its website, and pick the country you wish to work in. You can then visit the
careers page on that country’s EDF website. Working for EDF has many perks,
including global travel and the chance to develop your technical skills to the highest
level. The company is committed to retaining staff, and has a job centre, “Group
Employment Opportunities”, which develops skills through training. EDF puts an
emphasis on learning transferable skills and maintains that this facilitiates employee
mobility within the group, and that employees are encouraged to learn new skills
and move around departments. The company claims its core values are
accountability — “responsibility to the world at large,” along with “open and honest
communication” and “respect for individuals and the environment.”
116
ELECTROLUX
Media Relations/C-1 European Locations

SE- 105 45 Stockholm
Sweden (Stockholm, HQ)
Tel: +46 8 738 60 00 Albania • Austria • Belarus • Belgium •
www.electrolux.com Bosnia and Herzegovina • Bulgaria •
Croatia • Czech Republic • Denmark •
Estonia • Finland • France • Germany •
Hungary • Ireland • Italy • Latvia •
Lithuania •Luxembourg • Macedonia •
The Stats
Moldova • Montenegro • Norway •
Employer Type: Public Poland • Portugal • Romania • Russia •
Ticker Symbol: ELUX B Serbia • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain •
Chief Executive: Marcus Wallenberg Switzerland • Ukraine • United Kingdom
2007 Revenue: SEK104,732m
No. of Offices: n/a
careers@electrolux.com
Divisions
AEG Electrolux • Electrolux •
Electrolux-Arthur Martin • Electrolux
Chef • Electrolux Dishlex • Juno
Electrolux • Electrolux Kelvinator •
Electrolux Professional • Rex Electrolux •
Zanussi Electrolux
career
118 library
THE SCOOP
lectrolux is a Swedish company with an international reach, famed for
Electrolux
E making appliances you’ll find in households across the globe. The group
sells its products to more than 40 million customers each year in more than
150 markets, and it’s a safe bet that most people will have stumbled across an
Electrolux appliance at some point or other. The kind of products you may well
have come across include refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, vacuum
cleaners and cookers, and the brands these products appear under include AEG-
Electrolux, Eureka and Frigidaire. The majority of its sales are divided between
Europe and North America, at 42 percent and 31 percent respectively for its
consumer durables business area. For the future, Electrolux is looking at both
consolidation in these markets and growth in its other markets — Latin America,
Asia Pacific and the rest of the world.
Same but better
Recent years have seen Electrolux expand by moving much of its production to
low-cost countries. As it reported in 2007, almost 50 percent of production
prioritises cost-efficiency on this basis. The company has implemented specific
strategies to point it to fiscal success since 2002. It’s not top secret though —
these strategies consist of garnering data from consumer insight, increasing the
regularity of product renewal and more efficient production. The company also
relies on increasing market penetration by raising the profile of its brands, and
also counts on home renovations and the cyclical need to replace worn-out
appliances for sales. Chief executive Hanns Stråberg oversaw big product
launches in Europe in 2007, when approximately 40 percent of Electrolux’s
products were replaced by new and improved versions. In spring 2008, the
group repeated this in North America, its largest ever launch in the region.
The house that vac built
Electrolux’s core products are its kitchen appliances, pulling in 58 percent of the
company’s revenues in 2007. Its laundry products, such as washing machines and
tumble dryers, followed behind with 20 percent of the total 2007 revenues of
104,732 SEK.
A Wenner of an idea
The origins of the modern Electrolux can be found in the story of Axel Wenner-Gren,
a Swedish businessman who saw an American-made Santo Staubsauger vacuum
cleaner in a storefront window whilst visiting Vienna in 1909. The ancient
119
predecessor to the modern vacuum, it weighed in at around 20 kilos and cost 500
Kronor, close to 2000 pounds in today’s currency. Wenner-Gren was neither an
engineer nor an inventor but a brilliant salesman, immediately seeing the potential
for a lighter and cheaper version that could be sold in every household. He contacted
the American manufacturer of the Santo vacuum cleaner and shortly thereafter went
to work as a European sales representative, setting up shop in Berlin.
Wenner left the company in 1912 and returned to Stockholm, where two companies,
AB Lux and Elektromekaniska, were manufacturing copies of the Santo vacuum
cleaner. In 1915, Wenner-Gren set up his own sales company, Svenska Elektron,
which then purchased all of Elektromekaniska’s shares, and in 1919 reached an
agreement with Lux, in which Elektron was given the sole rights to AB Lux vacuum
cleaners. Thus, AB Electrolux was born.
Household wizards
In 1925 Electrolux purchased AB Arctic, who were producing the world’s first modern
refrigerators, and launched the “D-fridge” on the world market. For several decades to
follow, these two products,
“
the vacuum cleaner and the
Not one to shy away from sci-fi
refrigerator, would be the
ideas, in 2000, Electrolux premiered bread and butter of
the Screenfridge, a refrigerator “ Electrolux, with continuous
connected to the internet innovations to models and
the spread of production to
countries the world over. With several acquisitions in the 1970s and 1980s, Electrolux’s
repertoire expanded to include laundry products, kitchen appliances and yard tools.
The machines are taking over
Not one to shy away from sci-fi ideas that still have their ergonomic uses, in 2000,
Electrolux premiered the Screenfridge, a refrigerator that is connected to the internet,
serving as a communications hub for the home in addition to keeping track of
refrigerated goods. Electrolux is also responsible for the world’s first domestic robot
vacuum cleaner, the Electrolux Trilobite. This vacuum-robot has the ability to map
objects in a room with ultrasonic and infrared censors in order to avoid obstacles,
and can come within one inch of an object without hitting it. When the Trilobite is
done with its cleaning tasks, it automatically finds its way back to the base station
where it charges its battery.
In 2002 Electrolux introduced a talking washing machine, the Washy Talky, in India,
which responds to voice commands in both English and Hindi. The company also has
120
Electrolux
a line of products called the Electrolux Oxygen HEPA Canister Vacuum Cleaners,
which are supposed to filter out 99.97 percent of airborne dust and allergens. This
means, rather cleverly, that the exhaust coming out of the vacuum is cleaner than the
actual air in the room.
Sucking up the excess
Electrolux has undergone two major periods of restructuring in the last decade or so. In
1997 and 1998, the company divested its industrial products sector and its production of
sewing machines, agricultural products, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, recycling
operations, professional cleaning equipment, heavy-duty laundry equipment and interior
decoration equipment. Electrolux began an overall restructuring program in 2003, closing
several factories in Western Europe and opening new ones in Eastern Europe. In 2006,
the company spun off its lawn and garden division, Husqvarna.
The end of 2007 saw an 8.6 percent drop in Electrolux’s profits, a combination of rising
costs of raw materials in Europe and a decline in demand in the United States, the latter
attributed to the country’s failing housing market. At the end of 2007, the company struck
an agreement to pay millions of dollars into the pension fund of laid-off factory workers
in the United States in a 77.5 million dollar deal with the federal pensions agency.
Go green as you clean
In May 2008, Electrolux scooped the “Inspiration Prize” at the Swedish Recycling
Industry Association for its Ultrasilencer Green vacuum cleaner. In the past, the
Inspiration Prize has been awarded to companies doing groundbreaking work with
recycled materials. The Ultrasilencer is the first environmentally-profiled vacuum
cleaner on the market, impressively consuming a third less energy than normal vacuum
cleaners, is quiet, 55 percent of it is made from recycled plastics, and more than 90
percent of it can be recycled once its product lifecycle is over. The company claims that:
“If all vacuum cleaners made in Europe in a year were made like this, we could save the
amount of water that runs over Niagara Falls in 19 minutes.” Expect Electrolux to be
rolling out similarly breakthrough environmental products in the future.
GETTING HIRED
Turning your talents to Electrolux
Electrolux normally has recruitment opportunities across its divisions. The firm
suggests that the best way to check them out is simply to use the job search function
121
on the “Careers” section of its website. This shows open positions by country and
function. English is the preferred language of recruitment for the firm, so don’t be put
off if your Swedish isn’t too great.
In terms of graduate opportunities, Electrolux says it offers “a stimulating

environment”, “the opportunity to work across borders in a global workplace” and
“the chance to influence and improve the lives of people worldwide”. There is no
specific graduate or trainee programme but Electrolux instead recruits for specific
positions, some of which are entry-level. So if you want to apply, it’s best to check the
“Career Opportunities” section of Electrolux’s website.
As for internships, Electrolux collaborates extensively with several groups that connect
students with business, such as AIESEC (the world’s largest student organisation) which
has a global internship program, as well as CEMS (the Community of European
Management Schools) and SIFE, a global non-profit organisation for campus
entrepreneurship. Students can also arrange internships or training through their
universities, and the company offers opportunities for thesis integration too.
OUR SURVEY SAYS
The weekly average
There’s no escaping hard work at Electrolux sometimes. “The working hours are
sometimes crazy,” one employee told us, “60 hours a week plus weekends is not
unusual. But some people manage to work around 45 hours a week.”
That’s a lot of people
While one source said that company is quite over-populated, and the standardisation
of processes is a long way off, he described the atmosphere as relaxed and laid-back.
“It’s informal, with no specific dress code.”
Other respondents appreciated the emphasis on tolerance and diversity. One stressed
that Electrolux enjoys “a very nice multinational ambiance, and great people. The
majority are young, open-minded, curious about things and intelligent,” although
they added “many are almost too focused on their professional life.”
“The company’s activities are very complex and interesting” another source added,
“and there are a lot of possibilities to travel and change position within the company
subsidiaries all over the world.”
122
At any company, there are good and bad sides. Several employees had gripes with
Electrolux
Electrolux’s lack of organisation, with one source saying “when you start to advance
you discover that you probably have three normal company’s worth of staff in the
workforce here. Bureaucracy is high”. Also, there is some work to be done when it
comes to breaking the glass ceiling at Electrolux. “Women tend to be employed in HR,
marketing and sales rather than in production or at higher levels,” a source told us.
Electro-bucks
Whilst salaries aren’t particularly stand-out for the industry, insiders vouch for the
fact that perks are better than average, including “ten additional days of holiday,
financed meal vouchers, sports vouchers of 100 euros per year, health insurance, a
pension plan and a company car.”
123
ENDESA S.A.
Ribera del Loira 60 European Locations

28042 Madrid
Spain Madrid (HQ)
Tel: +34 91 213 10 00 France • Italy • Portugal • Poland •
www.endesa.com Turkey

Employer Type: Public www.endesa.com
Ticker Symbol: ELE (Madrid, NYSE) (Click on “careers”)
Chief Executive: Manuel Pizarro
2007 Net Revenue: €2.67bn
2006 Net Revenue: €2.97bn
No. of Offices: n/a
Divisions
Production and Distribution •
Renewable energies • Real Estate •
Telecommunications and Information
Systems • Human Resources
career
124 library
THE SCOOP
E
ndesa was, with no doubt, one of the biggest players in the Spanish business
Endesa S.A.
world from the end of 2005 to 2007. The energy company was a constant
presence in the media, appearing time and again on television, radio and in
newspapers, because other firms were trying to seduce it into being bought by them.
Why? Let’s start from the beginning.
Trying to impress Endesa
The company Empresa Nacional de Electricidad S.A. (Endesa) was formed in 1944
and changed its name to Endesa S.A. in 1997, after taking control of the French
company SNET in September 2004, and cutting 30 percent of its workforce. In 1983,
Endesa was constituted as a group by the acquisition of shares that had belonged to
the Instituto Nacional de Industria, a Spanish state-owned company.
The Spanish state reduced its share in the company to 75.6 percent in 1988, the same
year the firm’s stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The 1990s were
marked by the acquisition of more domestic firms such as Electra, Fecsa, Sevillana de
Electricidad, Nansa and Carboex. In 1994, the Spanish government further reduced
its share in the electric company to 66.89 percent of the capital, and four years later
Endesa became privatised.
Endesa’s reach
As of 2008, the company is organised into a handful of complementary business lines,
providing it with some flexibility and versatility in the notoriously mercurial energy
market. There are three main Directorates-General (DGs) to which different
companies in each area report: one for Spain and Portugal, one for Latin America
and another for Europe.
Endesa Generación was set up in September 1999 to oversee Endesa’s energy

generation and resource mining assets in Spain, integrating it into mainland

subsidiaries such as Sevillana and Viesgo a year later. Endesa Red, created at the
same time, comprises two companies: Endesa Distribución Eléctrica S.L. (Endesa
Electric Distribution) and Endesa Operaciones y Servicios Comerciales S.L. (Endesa
Commercial Services and Operations).
Endesa Energía was created with the aim of overseeing the energy supply
business in the deregulated market. It is also active in the energy supply business
in Portugal, France, Italy, Germany and Belgium. Finally, in Spain and Portugal,
125
Endesa Servicios provides assistance to Endesa companies and outside
customers in the areas of IT, telecommunications and sustainable development
management.
Endesa Internacional was created in 1998 to manage Endesa’s operations in the Latin
American market. More than half of Latin American’s largest private electricity
group, Enersis, is controlled by Endesa, giving the company significant clout in the
region. Through this company, Endesa also has a controlling interest in Endesa Chile,
where it is the largest power generator. Additionally, Endesa is present in Latin
America through direct shareholdings in other companies such as Argentine
generator Dock Sud and Peruvian generators Etevensa and Pyura.
Endesa Europe is another growing subsidiary, created in 2001 to centralise the

administration and management of Endesa’s stakes in electricity companies in
Europe and North Africa: Endesa Italia, Snet, Soprolif and Powemext, Tejo Energía,
Endex, Gielda Energii and Lydec.
Endesa melodrama: act one
Endesa is currently the largest electric utility company in Spain, with more than ten million
customers in the country. Internationally, it serves another ten million consumers and
provides over 80,100 GWh of electricity per annum. The company has additional interests
in Spanish natural gas and telecommunications industries. Perhaps this diverse business
presence is the reason why in September 2005 the company was the target of a messy
takeover bid by Gas Natural, Germany’s E.ON and Italian Enel.
The first company to start the fight for Endesa was Gas Natural, launching a takeover
bid for the whole firm by offering 21.30 euros per share. Just a day after this bid was
made, Endesa refused it and began to take legal action to defend its interests. A few
months later, in February 2006, a new company, the German energy giant E.ON,
showed its interest in the Spanish electric firm and raised the bidding to 27.50 euros
per share, valuing Endesa at almost 30 billion euros.
Meanwhile, the National Energy Committee of Spain — Comisión Nacional de la

Energía (CNE) — and the Competence Defence Court, first halted Gas Natural’s bid
and then accepted it, in the same month the E.ON takeover on Endesa was pending.
Act two
The Spanish Congress then decided to intervene in the affair, allowing the CNE to
block E.ON’s bid to acquire Endesa. However, by this time, the European
Commission had already approved it.
126
Just like in a convoluted Spanish soap opera, a suave Italian player, the Enel energy
Endesa S.A.
group, then appeared on the scene, making a bid for ten percent of Endesa. Due to
this new development, the German firm felt obliged to make a better offer, and in the
final month of 2006, the European Commission asked the Spanish government to
stop empowering the CNE against E.ON, and due to public knowledge of E.ON’s
interest in Endesa, declared their meddling illegal. The whole affair ended up in the
European Court of Justice, with a March 2008 ruling that the decisions of the CNE
and the Spanish government blocking E.ON’s interest in Endesa were incompatible
with European Union law.
In 2007, Gas Natural’s administration board gave up its offer, and E.ON raised its
bid once again to 38.75 euros per share. Enel then acquired almost ten percent of
Endesa for 39 euros a share. By March 2007, the Italian group controlled 25 percent
of the electricity company and announced its intention of being the primary
shareholder of Endesa by partnering with another Spanish energy firm, Acciona.
This team effort finally defeated E.ON’s takeover attempt in April 2007, and E.ON
had to be satisfied with a far smaller slice of the Endesa pie than it had wanted. In
April of the same year, E.ON gave up its bid to the duo of Enel and Acciona, in
exchange for Endesa’s activities in Spain, France and Italy.
Roll the credits?
In October 2007 the deal was completed, with an equal distribution of the ten
administration cabinet’s seats on the Endesa board between Enel and Acciona,
according to the Spanish financial newspaper Cinco Días. The companies also named
several directors chosen by the company, some of whom were members of Partido
Popular, the main rightwing/conservative political party in Spain and, in 2007, the
largest opposition party in the Congress. Cinco Días suggested that such a political
underpinning to a large Spanish corporation was not exactly welcomed by the
Spanish government. However, Endesa has been going strong ever since.
GETTING HIRED
Step into Endesa
Endesa, like many other Spanish companies, offers students the chance to integrate their
degrees, for example in engineering, electric technology or renewable energies, with
hands-on work experience. For these courses, available for students and graduates Endesa
provides theoretical and practical training, given by the company’s experts as well as by
university professors. Admittance into such programmes on the graduate level is
127
competitive and new graduates interested in these courses must prepare for a complex
entrance exam. Those who want more information on this opportunity should visit
www.escuelaendesa.com or write to escueladeenergia@endesa.es.
For graduate students looking for entry-level opportunities with the company,
employment opportunities are listed on www.endesa.com, under the “employment”
link, where there is also a link to submit your CV online.
128
“ Endesa is currently the largest electric
utility company in Spain, with more
than ten million customers in the
country. Internationally, it serves another
ten million consumers and provides over “
80,100 GWh of electricity per annum.
ENEL S.P.A
Viale Regina Margherita 137 European Locations

00198 Rome
Italy Rome (HQ)
Tel: +39 (0) 6 83 05 34 37 Belgium • Bulgaria • France •
www.enel.com Germany • Romania •
Slovakia • Spain

Employer Type: Public www.enel.com
Ticker Symbol: ENEL (Milan Stock (Click on “Work With Us”)
Exchange)
Chief Executive: Piero Gnudi
No. of Offices: Offices throughout
Europe
Divisions
Engineering and Innovation •
Generation and Energy •
Iberia and Latin America •
Infrastructure and Networks •
Management • Sales
130 CAREER
LIBRARY
THE SCOOP
n November 1962, following a long parliamentary debate, the Italian Chamber of
Enel S.P.A
Deputies legislated to nationalise the country’s electricity system. This decision
was taken in order to make optimal use of resources and to ensure equal provision
for all. A month later, in December 1962, Ente Nazionale per l’Energia Elettrica (Enel),
the National Electricity Board, came into being. The law reserved Enel’s monopoly
on the generation, import, export, transport, trade and distribution of electricity.
Carrying Italy’s currents
The company began its life by gradually absorbing already-existing electricity firms.
By the end of 1995, it had acquired a total of 1,270 firms. One of the first operating
units established by Enel was the National Dispatch Centre in Rome, whose task was
to manage production facilities and transmission networks both domestic and
international — in effect, the brains of the entire Italian electricity system.
The 21st century has seen Enel become a powerhouse, with a 2007 revenue of 43.7
billion euros. Climbing the charts of the competitive European energy scene, Enel
claims that as of 2008, it
is Italy’s second-largest
natural gas company and
Europe’s second-largest
“ Having been listed on the Milan
Stock Exchange since 1999, Enel
“
listed utility company by boasts the largest number of
installed capacity. At the shareholders of any Italian company
end of 2007, its installed
capacity was 82.3GW, which served 51.6 million customers in 22 countries on
four continents.Geographically, the company mostly produces and sells its
electricity to European, North and Latin American customers. Enel also has a
strong presence in the Italian natural gas sector, with over 2.5 million customers
and a ten percent share of this market. Other forms of energy are also part of
Enel’s repertoire, and it has hydroelectric, thermoelectric, nuclear, geothermal,
wind-power and photovoltaic power stations to its name alongside its main
operations.
Leading the way
This Italian firm has some longstanding prowess in terms of customer

satisfaction — it was the first utility company in the world to replace its
customers’ traditional electromechanical meters with modern electronic devices
that make it possible to take meter readings in real time and manage contracts
remotely. This innovation enabled Enel to implement time-of-use electricity
131
charges and offer weekend and evening savings to customers — a popular
initiative that has caught on worldwide.
Power to the people

Having been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1999, Enel boasts the largest
number of shareholders of any Italian company, clocking in at approximately 1.7
million retail and institutional investors. The Italian Economy and Finance Ministry
holds 21.1 percent of the company directly and another 10.2 percent indirectly
through the state-run lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. This leaves a free-float of 68.9
percent for institutional and retail investors. These shareholders include international
investment funds, insurance companies, pension funds and ethical funds.
Global expectations
Enel has mutated and grown consistently since its stock market listing. Acquisitions
in recent years include the Bulgarian power plant Maritza East III in March 2003, one
of the country’s largest, and in February 2005, 66 percent of Slovenské Elektrárne
(SE), the largest electricity generator in Slovakia, whose assets comprised a mix of
nuclear, thermal and hydroelectric power. In Romania, since its first acquisition there
in April 2005, Enel has managed to build up its stakes in three electricity companies
whose customers between them number approximately 2.5 million.
Outside Europe, the company is growing fast. In North America, it owns 472 MW of
hydroelectric, wind and biomass power generation facilities, and in November 2006
signed an agreement with a US wind power company TradeWind Energy to develop
more than 1000 MW of pipeline and to procure wind turbines. The American
acquisition bonanza has hardly stopped here. In March 2007, Enel’s North American
subsidiary acquired AMP Resources, a company which allowed it to enter the US
geothermal market. Enel already has solid experience in geothermal electricity
generation from its experiences in Europe, claiming to have developed projects over
a hundred years ago in Tuscany, Siena and Grosseto. More far afield, in 2002, the
company started to operate geothermal generation activities in El Salvador. Latin
American geothermal operations extend to Chile and Nicaragua.
Taking it to the End(esa)

Enel’s biggest move was the acquisition of ten percent of the Spanish utilities giant Endesa.
In October 2007, Enel partnered with Spanish construction company Acciona to make a
joint tender offer for Endesa. Having built up its stake in Endesa over 2007 from February,
when it acquired almost ten percent of it, and then from that March, when it beefed up its
stake to 25 percent, Enel and Acciona’s October bid saw them land 92 percent of Endesa’s
132
Enel S.P.A
share capital. Enel owns the majority, at 67 percent, whilst Acciona owns 25 percent. In
May 2008, Forbes Magazine reported that Acciona would not, despite press speculation,
be selling its stake to Enel, and that it will stay in Endesa until at least 2010.
Finding the way forwards
The challenges Enel faces in the future mostly stem from the need to provide
renewable energy sources. To that end, the company is investing further in a wide
spread of alternatives. Having consolidated its Alternative Energy Strategy
during 2006, it is now making sure that its targets and criteria match those of the
European Commission’s directive 2001/77. This piece of legislation, which came
into force in March 2007, requires that 25 percent of electricity produced in Italy
comes from renewable sources by 2010. Enel has shown it is clearly championing
this push for alternatives.
The company is intent on becoming a green leader and has numerous strategies up
its sleeve, from diversifying its fuel mix and making more widespread use of clean-
technology coal to researching and developing new forms of energy and technology
such as thermodynamic solar energy. As of 2007, 23 percent of the electricity
produced by Enel comes from natural, renewable sources, predominantly hydro
plants. Enel is planning to increase this to approximately 33 percent.
News on the nuclear front
In May 2008, the Italian government announced that the country would restart
construction of its nuclear power stations. The Financial Times reported that Claudio
Scajola, Italy’s Development Minister, declared that the government intended to
resurrect the country’s nuclear power network by the scheduled end of the
government’s five-year term in 2013. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi confirmed the
news, saying that Italy should “start looking at nuclear power production”. If the
return to nuclear energy is unavoidable, Enel will have to find ways to manage its
investment in other energy alternatives alongside this.
GETTING HIRED
Enel want you
As part of the company’s human resources philosophy, which it says privileges the
growth and enhancement of its employees’ skills, Enel has plenty of exciting
opportunities for new graduates, with or without experience. Training is provided in
133
all jobs. The company is on a recruitment drive, and in 2007 the energy giant’s plan
of fervent recruitment led to more than 800 people being hired in Italy, of which 21
percent were recent university graduates. As the company continues to grow, it
should be expected that hiring figures remain high.
The Italian job
For those who are looking for internships with Enel, the company invites applications
from candidates at the Italian and overseas universities and postgraduate schools it
has agreements with. Details can be seen on the company’s website in its “Work With
Us” section. Internships last up to six months, with work carried out in association
with your university; project work can also be organised this way.
For those with an engineering or related background, a good option is to check the
“Vacancies” page on Enel’s website. Most positions are based in Rome and require
good command of Italian and English. You can also register your CV on Enel’s
database and apply for relevant jobs when they appear. Selection is based on several
interviews, possibly along with technical assessments and an English language test.
New recruits who have no work experience under their belt are put on an 18 month
“Induction Contract’, which familiarises you with the company through a training
plan and the help of a personal tutor.
Expand your energy at Enel
Another option for new engineering and economics graduates is Enel’s International
Recruiting Program. The company is actively recruiting for engineers and economists
to work in Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Greece, France, North America,
South America and Italy. The programme involves a period of 12 to 18 months spent
in Italy and then in one’s home country or you could be based in Italy permanently.
All application processes and work will be carried out in English. More information
and the online application process can be found on Enel’s website.
134
“ The challenges Enel faces in the
future mostly stem from the need
to provide renewable energy sources.
To that end, the company is investing “
further in a wide spread of alternatives.
E.ON
E.ON-Platz 1 German Locations
40479 Düsseldorf
Germany Düsseldorf (HQ)
Tel: +49 2 11 45 79 0 Bayreuth • Erfurt • Essen •
www.eon.com Fürstenwalde • Gelsenkirchen •
Hanover • Helmstedt • Kassel •
Landshut • Munich • Paderborn •
Quickborn • Ratisbon • Whilmershaven
The Stats Numerous further locations

throughout Germany
Ticker Symbol: EOAX (Frankfurt, Xetra)
Chief Executive: Dr. Wulf H. Bernotat
2006 Revenue: €64.1bn European Locations
2007 Employees: 87,815 Germany (HQ)
2006 Employees: 80,612 Austria • Bulgaria • Czech Republic •
No. of Offices: Offices in 16 Denmark • Finland • Hungary • Italy •
countries Netherlands • Norway • Poland •
Romania • Slovakia • Sweden • United
Kingdom

Gas • Energy • Energy Trading • www.eon.com
Climate and Renewables (Click on “Karriere”)
career
136 library
THE SCOOP
lthough E.ON isn’t that old (it began in 2000 as a merger of VEBA and
E.ON
VIAG), it has already made a splash in the competitive world of energy
provision, standing in 2008 as the world’s largest investor-owned power
and gas company. The company, headquartered in Düsseldorf, has a host of
impressive figures to its name. Just as an example, between 2006 and 2007 sales
increased by seven percent and net income rose 27 percent. Employee numbers are
on the upswing too, swelling by nine percent in the same period, from 80,612 to
87,815 people. Such statistics could be put down to first, the company’s presence in
multiple markets across the globe, and second, its pursuit of an integrated business
model which combines the provision of power and gas.
It has the power
This German giant is involved in every aspect of the gas and power business, from
generating power and gas to distribution to netting customer sales. Its power business
is both domestic and international, stretching to the US, and based on a mix of sources.
E.ON’s nuclear reactors and hard and brown coal power plants can be found in Bavaria,
Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, forming the basis of E.ON’s German operations.
In the UK, the company relies on coal and natural gas and in the US, it relies
predominantly on coal.
Moving away from non-renewable fuel sources is of prime importance to all energy
companies. E.ON is leading the way with renewable energies, with its subsidiary
E.ON Wasserkraft the leading supplier of hydropower in Central Europe. The
company also boasts that E.ON UK is rapidly becoming the leading supplier of
renewable energy installations in Britain.
It’s a gas, gas, gas
When it comes to its natural gas business, E.ON has a network that stretches
over 11,000 km which provides gas extracted from beneath the North Sea. The
company’s natural gas is mostly used for heat and power generation, and while
Germany is still a burgeoning market for it, E.ON claims that natural gas has
achieved a share of almost 20 percent of overall primary energy consumption in
just 30 years.
In terms of territory covered, E.ON spreads out from Düsseldorf impressively. It has
footholds throughout Europe, providing both gas and power to markets including
the Nordic countries, Russia, Italy and Spain. The Spanish business unit of E.ON is
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scheduled to open in Autumn 2008. This pan-European presence has allowed E.ON
to build up strong co-ordination between its target markets.
Around for aeons?

So how did a company with so many interconnected projects gain its footing? E.ON
was officially formed in 2000, but its origins go back much further than that. They can
be traced back as far as 1923, when the German government formed Vereinigte
Industrie-Unternehmungen AG (VIAG) to manage its industrial holdings. Shortly after,
in 1929, the Prussian government formed Vereinigte Elektrizitäts-und Bergwerks-
Aktiengesellschaft (VEBA – an electricity and mining company) as a holding company.
Both operated independently, with VIAG opening a second headquarters in Bonn,
Germany in 1951 and VEBA becoming partially privatised in 1965 .
In 1970, VEBA overhauled its holdings and by 1986 it was completely privatised.
VIAG had a relatively quiet time until 1986 when the German government followed
its strategy with VEBA and placed 40 percent of its shares with private investors. By
1988, VIAG had been completely privatised.
The 1980s and 1990s were decades dedicated to acquisition. VIAG, for example,
gained Paris-based SKW Biosystems S.A. Trostberg, Switzerland’s Master Builders
Technologies, over 80 percent of Isar-Amperwerke AG, a 42.5 percent stake in Swiss
Orange Communications S.A., a 93 percent increase in its Goldschmidt AG stake ,
and a mobile communications device in Lichtenstein in this period.
Buy! Sell! Trade!

The big merger came just after the millenium, when, by June 2000, the two
companies had officially joined up and become E.ON. The energy provider did
not waste time in focusing on its core business. Just after being formed, it sold
its 73 percent stockholding in Gerresheimer Glas, transferred its 15.4 percent
stake in Hamburg-based utilities company HEW to Swedish energy supplier
Vattenfall , and sold its 42.5 percent stake in Orange Communications, a Swiss
cellular phone company. Deals like these were a way for E.ON to scale down its
operations whilst readying itself for acquisitions that were more in line with its
strategy. Subsequently, in 2001, E.ON bought Powergen, a prime mover on the
British energy scene.
With Powergen’s inclusion into the E.ON fold came the opportunity to break into
the American market — the world’s then largest energy market. Through the
Powergen purchase, E.ON got its hands on LG&E Energy, in the U.S. Midwest region
and in 2002, LG&E Energy was renamed E.ON U.S.
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The American market wasn’t the only item on E.ON’s agenda. Taking holdings in
E.ON
Finnish energy company Espoon Sähkö in 2001 and a Swedish utilities company
Sydkraft AB, and a majority interest in its affiliate company, Thüga, based in
Germany and Italy, in 2002 showed how serious E.ON was about being a contender
in the European energy industry. By 2007, it had also branched out as far as the
Russian market, buying a majority stake in OGK-4, a Russian power producer.
A greener Europe
In 2007, E.ON took plenty of significant steps towards securing further provision of
green energy. In June, it became Europe’s first company to test a process which is
said to capture up to 90 percent of the carbon dioxide contained in conventional
power plant emissions. Such a test is part of E.ON’s initiative towards eco-friendly
research and development, “innovate.on”, launched in 2006. Other than focusing on
reduced carbon emissions, the key aims of innovate.on are to maintain the thermal
efficiency of coal-fired generating units at more than 50 percent, and to investigate
tidal energy, offshore wind farms, bio natural gas and gas-fired heat pumps.
The energy group is progressing towards these aims at a rapid pace. In August 2007
it purchased a windfarm with approximately 260 megawatts of generating capacity
in Spain and Portugal from a Danish energy company. The Dow Jones Sustainability
Index, in its own words, “the first global index tracking the financial performance of
leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide”, came calling in September
2007, signalling E.ON’s commitment to corporate responsibility.
In the same month, E.ON chose the site for what it claimed was the world’s first
coalfired power plant with a thermal efficiency of more than 50 percent —
Wilhelmshaven, a port city in northwest Germany. This plant is likely to cost
approximately a billion euros to build and will be ready by 2014. And to continue
with its green theme, in December 2007, E.ON acquired an Ireland-based wind farm.
This boosted its wind power capacity to around 900 megawatts and makes the group
one of the world’s largest wind farm operators.
GETTING HIRED
Get in on E.ON
E.ON proclaims that “your energy shapes the future” in the careers section of its
website, and it claims to actively recruit people of all walks of life with a range of
skillsets. Engineering students are particularly sought after, and can register for a
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variety of internships at E.ON. Check the website for details. Students with above-
average performance skills, reliable work patterns, and strong references are
encouraged to apply.
The E.ON graduate programme allows students to study at three domestic bases and
one abroad, so it’s an ideal placement for those wishing to work internationally.
Details about the structure and basics of the post can all be seen on E.ON’s website.
Taking on approximately 300 graduates each year, requirements for entry are a
university degree already obtained (in either marketing, management, economics,
industrial engineering, or engineering sciences), excellent grades, fluency in German
and English; initiative and extracurricular activities, as the company is keen on
offering its employees a good work-life balance.
Post-graduate scholars have the opportunity to complete their degrees with E.ON’s
university thesis programme. More details are available on the website — check out
the “Students and Alumni” page. There are numerous other options available for
training with E.ON either as a vocational or academic student or as a graduate.
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ERICSSON
Torshamnsgatan 23 European Locations

164 83 Kista
Stockholm Stockholm (HQ)
Sweden Austria • Albania • Belarus • Belgium •
Tel: +46 87 19 00 00 Bosnia • Herzegovina •Bulgaria •
www.ericsson.com Croatia • Cyprus • Czech Republic •
Denmark • Estonia • Finland • France •
Georgia • Germany • Greece •
Hungary • Iceland • Ireland •Italy •
Latvia • Lithuania • Luxembourg •
The Stats
Macedonia • Malta • Moldova •
Employer Type: Public Montenegro • Netherlands • Norway •
Ticker Symbol: ERIC (NASDAQ), ERIC Poland • Portugal • Romania • Russia •
B (OMX) Serbia • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain •
President and Chief Executive: Switzerland • Turkey • Ukraine •
Carl-Henric Svanberg United Kingdom
No. of Offices: 220
www.ericsson.com/ericsson/careers
Divisions
Communications • Finance • Global
Services • HR and Organisation • Legal
Affairs • Market Units • Multimedia
Networks • Sales & Marketing •
Strategy and Operational Excellence •
Technology
career
142 library
THE SCOOP
Ericsson
S
wedish company Ericsson is one of the world’s leading global telecommunications
equipment providers. As of 2008, its mobile equipment was used in 140 countries
and the company boldly estimates that a whopping 40 percent of all mobile calls,
globally, are made through its systems. Ericsson pulled in revenues of 187,780 million
Swedish Kronor (approximately 20 billion euros) in 2007. It is rapidly positioning itself as
one of the prime suppliers of not only voice and text telecommunications but also of
images and video content to eager consumers who love their mobile technology.
It’s time for the fourth generation
Like all telecommunications companies who are trying to be ahead of the curve,
Ericsson is focusing on 3G (third generation) wireless network technologies and
on developing a 4G (fourth generation) standard which Håkan Eriksson,
Ericsson’s chief technology officer, predicts that by 2020, everyone will have.
Another of the Swedish
“
telecoms titan’s key
Ericsson has been instrumental in
strategies is to corner
the competitive global making Stockholm a European information “
telecoms market in technology research hotspot
multimedia technologies
and content in both developed and developing countries. As telecommunications
is a field in which companies are constantly trying to outdo each other with the
latest in innovative wizardry, it’s a good thing for Ericsson that it boasts a
particularly strong patent portfolio, with 23,000 patents to its name as of 2008.
Soundwaves from Stockholm
Founded as a telegraph equipment repair shop in 1876 by mechanic Lars Magnus

Ericsson, Ericsson became a limited company in 1896. It has since been instrumental
in making Stockholm a European information technology research hotspot. The
company’s history is impressive — by the mid-20th century, Ericsson already had
sales companies in 12 countries, manufacturing companies in 11 countries, and

concession companies in seven countries.
By the end of the century, its move into mobile telephones had, unsurprisingly,
served it well, as demand for mobile equipment grew. In 2001, Ericsson teamed with
Sony to make mobile phones under the name Sony Ericsson. However, the turn of the
millenium proved to be difficult, with Ericsson experiencing orders and sales
declines. This prompted it to go forward with an efficiency programme, including
workforce reductions, to get it back on its feet.
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A finger in the China pie
In April 2008, Ericsson signed contracts with the two largest mobile phone companies
in China, China Mobile and China Unicom. At a value of 1.44 billion dollars, with the
China Mobile deal worth 1.3 billion dollars and the China Unicom deal worth 140
million dollars, they served to cement Ericsson’s standing as one of the most
prominent equipment suppliers in the rapidly growing Chinese market. So important
were the deals that Sweden’s Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, was in attendance at
the contract-signing ceremony.
China is working to develop TD-SCMA, a 3G technology similar to GSM and CDMA200,

the mobile networks extensively used in Europe and the US China is, perhaps
unsurprisingly given its population of more than 1.3 billion, Ericsson’s largest market,
with seven percent of the company’s total sales in 2007. The US and India are not far
behind in their enthusiasm for Ericsson, with six percent of total 2007 sales each.
Ericsson loves mother earth
As part of the China Green Company Annual Conference in Beijing on April 22, 2008,
Ericsson was awarded the title “China Green Company” for its commitment to
environmental protection in China. Companies were rated on environmental and
social indices, with environmental impact, transparency of environmental policies
and social commitment being a few of many considerations. Top business magazine
and host of the conference, China Entrepreneur, said that Ericsson “has developed
forward-looking strategies from an early stage to deal with climate change”, such as
“continuous technology innovation, the development of energy efficient telecom
equipment, network and sites optimisation, and pioneering alternative energy
sources.” Ericsson continues to improve environmental standards in its products and
networks, clocking up an 80 percent improvement in energy efficiency between 2001
and 2008, by closely monitoring and extending product life-cycles and by developing
alternative energy sources. For example, in 2007, the company put a priority on
powering many of its radio base stations by solar power, which use 60 percent less
energy than traditionally powered stations.
Lofty ambitions
The new president of Sony Ericsson, Hideki “Dick” Komiyama, has announced that
he intends to lead Sony Ericsson, a 50/50 joint-owned company between Ericsson
and Sony, to becoming one of the top three handset manufacturers by 2011. The
previous president of the company, Miles Flint, avoided making such predictions,
possibly because the company had missed its earlier goal of becoming the largest
mobile phone producer by 2006.
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Competition has increased recently with Apple joining in with its iPhone and
Ericsson
speculations abounding in the media of Google soon joining the market.
Komiyama says that sales remain strong in Western Europe, but that Sony
Ericsson must increase its presence in areas such as the US, India and China. The
company hopes to do this by tailoring phones to meet what it believes are the
different demands of different markets.
Turbulent times
Problems arose for the company in late 2007. In October, Ericsson issued a surprise
profit warning that severely depleted its share value. The company’s chief financial
officer subsequently resigned in an effort to strengthen investor confidence. The
warning came as a shock after a September 11, 2007 conference in which Ericsson’s
management assured those attending that the numbers for the quarter were looking
healthy. In February 2008, Ericsson was looking to cut jobs by as much as 4,000 due
to a less than cheery financial outlook for 2008.
Stocks still mobile
It’s not all doom and gloom, however. In April 2008, the company executed a
turnaround that surprised investors, announcing far better than expected results in
the first quarter. Whilst net profit in the first three months of 2008 was 2.65 billion
kronor compared with 5.8 billion kronor for the same period on 2007, which was a
55 percent drop in earnings, it was still far better than predicted, and company shares
rose sharply as a result. This made management, shareholders and anaylsts
optimistic for a rosier future. As the company further moves along the road to
standardising the provision of wireless broadband systems and its seemingly infinite
array of related technologies, and consolidates its position in emerging markets, it
should become even stronger.
GETTING HIRED
Takes all types

Whilst approximately 20,000 of its 74,011 employees, as of 2007, are based in Sweden,
Ericsson is a global company intent on expansion. This means it offers all sorts of
oppportunities both in Europe and abroad for those who have a taste for telecoms.
Ericsson offers internships and thesis integration work arrangements for students in
many of its locations. To find out what it offers in the country you wish to work in,
you need to visit its main careers website and select your desired country.
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For European graduates, the company generally offers three main graduate
programmes, in research and development, finance and multimedia. The
research and development program is an 18-month “action-packed”
international training program for graduates with a Master of Science (MS) in
engineering, computer science, information technology or a similar field.
Graduates with a degree in business administration, commerce, economics or
similar disciplines can apply for the Ericsson Finance Graduate Programme,
which is for those with a genuine love of finance and involves intensive
experience in Ericsson’s finance departments. The Multimedia Trainee
Programme is an 18 month programme for anyone from those trained in
engineering to those with experience in arts or design. The aim of this
programme is an intense study of multimedia technologies, with Ericsson keen
to recruit those with a good undergraduate degree and one to two years of
relevant work experience.
Send out signals
For those thinking about direct entry into the company, Ericsson’s newly
implemented online job search feature can sort by location and function. There
is also a service which allows you to submit your CV if you cannot find a suitable
job posting. Ericsson Research is the company’s division dedicated to pioneering
telecommunications technology. With approximately 600 engineers all over the
globe, it is actively recruiting. In order to apply you can submit your CV online,
either marking your application with “Ericsson Research” and the area(s) you’re
interested in, or scan for vacancies that suit your experience in the “applied
research” selection.
The hiring process at Ericsson was described by one Spanish employee as “pretty
regular — some tests, a curriculum review, and one interview with the direct
manager. The emphasis was on cooperation capabilities and English language
ability.”
Happy talk
In 2007, the company undertook an Employee Satisfaction Survey in which the

overall employee satisfaction level stood at a very strong 70 percent. Compensation
is based on performance, and Ericsson is proud of its culture of fairness, teamwork
and investment in individual competence and skills development.
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OUR SURVEY SAYS
We’re all friends here
General opinions at Ericsson are enthusiastic: “Overall, it’s a good company to work
Ericsson
for” one employee said. “Employees are given a high degree of autonomy with
flexible times and, in general, self-management of their activities. Dress and general
appearance are not expected to be formal except for during meetings with customers.
Cooperation is good among and within units; the work culture promotes
collaboration over competition.”
Can I borrow your stapler?
There may not be the option of reclining luxuriously at your desk though. “Work
resources are adequate” noted an employee in Spain, “in terms of software,
hardware, working space and so on.” He added “the local company is quite
autonomous, though there is a high dependency on the central office at times,
especially for technical issues.”
The future’s bright
Employees tend to see Ericsson’s market position in glowing terms. Spanish

employees didn’t hold back from describing it as “a market leader in the overall
telecom sector, both globally and in Spain.” Enjoying “strong technical advantages,
particularly in the wireless space” enthusiastic employees summed up that “the
outlook is quite good.”
Perks at Ericsson are considered to be good, with staffers counting year-end bonuses,
a month of yearly holiday, medical insurance, meal tickets and a programme to buy
into company stocks among their benefits.
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FIAT AUTO S.P.A.
Via Nizzi 250 European Locations
10126 Turin
Italy Turin (HQ)
Tel: +39 (0) 1100 61111 Albania • Austria • Belarus • Belgium •
www.fiatgroup.com Bosnia • Bulgaria • Cyprus • Croatia •
Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia •
Finland • France • Germany • Gibraltar •
Greece • Hungary • Ireland • Latvia •
Lithuania • Macedonia • Malta •
The Stats
Moldova • Netherlands • Norway •
Employer Type: Public Poland • Romania • Serbia and
Ticker Symbol: FIA (Milan Stock Montenegro • Slovakia • Slovenia •
Exchange) Spain • Sweden • Switzerland • Turkey •
Chief Executive: Sergio Ukraine • United Kingdom
Marchionne
2006 Employees: 172,012
No. of Offices: n/a www.fiatgroup.com
(Click on ‘careers @ FIAT Group)
Divisions
Automobiles and light
commercial vehicles • Agricultural and
construction equipment • Powertrain
components and production systems •
Publishing and communications •
Trucks and commercial vehicles
career
148 library
THE SCOOP
Fiat Auto S.p.A.

iat (Fabbrica Italiana Automobil Torino) is an Italian automobile and engine
manufacturer which stakes a claim to being the largest industrial enterprise
in Italy — a claim that could well be true — just think of how many Fiat
cars you must have seen in your life. Based in Turin, northern Italy, the
company’s main focus is the automotive sector, though its grip extends to
agricultural and construction equipment, trucks and commercial vehicles,
components, powertrains and production systems and publishing and
communications. The group is a major player on the international automative
scene. Its 2007 total revenue of 58.5 billion euros, much of that from famous
models such as Fiat Bravo, Fiat Grande Punto, Lancia Ypsilon and Alfa Romeo,
is indicative of its huge clout.
Smoother, faster, more productive
In 2004, Fiat made a strategic move to focus more intensely on the automotive sector.
The company reorganised itself, which involved the sale of businesses considered
non-strategic, as well as the execution of cost-cutting measures. Fiat’s business is now
divided into five segments. The main business, the automobiles segment, also
includes the luxury car brands Maserati and Ferrari. Aside from this, Fiat comprises
an agricultural and construction equipment segment, which goes by the subsidiary
name CNH and a trucks and commercial vehicles segment whose products go by the
IVECO brand name.
The production of components and power-train systems form another segment. FPT
powertrain technologies focuses on the research, development and production of
engines and transmissions for the vehicles of both Fiat group subsidiaries and third
parties. Magneti Marelli and Teksid produce the components that complement
engines, such as exhaust systems and engine control systems and Comau makes
industrial automation systems. Fiat also dabbles in publishing, owning La Stampa,
Turin’s daily newspaper.
From carriage to car
Founded in 1899 by a group of investors, the first managing director of Fiat was
Giovanni Agnelli, who helmed the company until his death in 1945. Turin was Fiat’s
base at its founding and has long remained the company’s headquarters. The first
plant opened in 1900 with 150 workers who made 24 cars in their first year. Known
from the start for the creativity of its engineering staff, by 1908, Fiat had founded a
sister company in the US. The 20th century was a long history of Fiat rolling out new
car models as the company kept up with techological advances.
149
All about the Agnellis
Giovanni Agnelli’s grandson Gianni Agnelli, considered by Esquire magazine to be

one of the “best-dressed men in the history of the world”, was Fiat’s chairman from
1966 until his death in 2003. Gianni rebooted the firm’s management structure, giving
far more autonomy to each product line and subsidiary. By the late 1990s, Fiat had
consolidated its position in international markets, with more than 60 percent of its
turnover coming from outside Italy.
Taking over in the business lane
The past few years have seen an impressive U-turn at Fiat. The company had been
struggling in the early years of the millennium but by 2005 had left analysts’ forecasts
in the dust, executing a sharp turnaround under chief executive, Sergio Marchionne.
Banking on its ability to make “beautiful cars”, Fiat managed to steal back a hefty
market share from its competitors in 2006.
In September 2007, The International Herald Tribune stated on its website that the Fiat
Group had confirmed a 50-50 joint venture with the carmaking division of the
Russian steel group OAO
“ The company had been

struggling in the early years of the
“
Severstal Auto, with the
aim of building and
selling the Fiat brand of
millennium but by 2005 had left cars and commercial
analysts’ forecasts in the dust vehicles in that country.
This joint venture began
the production of Fiat vehicles in Russia in early 2008. The deal between Fiat and the
Russian firm is part of a strategy by chief executive Marchionne to seek industrial
alliances and joint ventures in important developing markets. This strategy is meant
to boost growth while keeping a tight lid on costs.
New look, vintage cars

In the same year, the company unveiled its re-branding strategy, culminating in
a new logo. This re-branding exercise came alongside the release of some scene-
stealing vehicles, such as a revamped version of the classic Fiat 500 in July 2007.
Just as Fiat’s new logo is a reinterpretation of previous logos, its new cars have
been created along similar lines. As of May 2008, the company was concentrating
on issuing new versions of its award winning Fiat 500 model, with the prospect
of releasing an eye-catching convertible version almost a certainty, according to
Reuters.
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Fiat’s comeback continued as 2007 results came in; net profit rose from 452 million
Fiat Auto S.p.A.

euros to 570 million euros and operating profit from ordinary operations rose from
542 million euros to 947 million euros. Riding particularly high for the company were
its luxury brand Maserati, which reported increased revenues of 33.7 percent from
the previous year and sought-after brand Ferrari, with revenues up 15.3 percent
from 2006. For 2008, Fiat aimed for sales of more than 60 billion euros, which would
mean an increase of close to ten billion euros in two years if this target is hit.
According to Forbes, these expectations were based on the assumption that the
financial market turbulence of 2008 will have limited impact on the real economy
outside of the US.
A bite of the Chery
One of Fiat’s most promising markets is Brazil, where Fiat Group Automobiles
managed to scoop a 31.9 percent increase in deliveries and a 25.9 percent share
of the nation’s automobile market, which confirmed its leadership position.
Another territory looking full of potential for the group is China, where Chery
Automobile, a manufacturer based in the Wuhu region of southeastern China,
signed a deal with Fiat in August 2007. The deal set in place a joint venture
between Fiat and Chery for Fiat to roll out 175,000 cars each year from 2009. Both
Fiat and Chery models are set to be made and the agreement came hot on the
heels of a supply contract deal whereby Chery has agreed to supply 100,000
engines per year for Fiat. Chief executive of Fiat, Sergio Marchionne, made it
clear that China was an important market: ‘Entering the Chinese market at this
stage is a key milestone of our plan to revamp and expand the Alfa Romeo
business worldwide.” How Fiat fares in the competitive Chinese market remains
to be seen.
GETTING HIRED
Put wheels on your career

With a presence in 190 countries, Fiat offers significant international opportunities.

For students, Fiat has internships along with project work openings for those
working on their thesis. Fiat claims it will match all interns to an expert tutor and
will give them a chance to take part in projects related to their studies and interests.
The company also has a mind to “future collaboration” with the students it takes
under its wing, which means a job offer, if your internship or thesis-related project
work goes well.
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Start your engines
New graduates who, Fiat says, are “passionate about the automotive industry” can
get their chance through either a paid internship that lasts six to 12 months, or
through a direct entry job placement opportunity. For further details, check the
“careers @ Fiat” section on Fiat’s website. The selection process is based on interviews
in order to suss out your technical expertise and motivation for wanting to join Fiat.
For direct entry jobs, you can go straight to Fiat’s job search page and pick the
country, location, sector, job family or position type that suits you. If you pick
“graduates” for the position type, you will be directed to Fiat’s graduate
opportunities worldwide. Applications, initially, can be made online.
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GAZPROM
16 Nametkina St. European Locations
117997 Moscow
V-420 Moscow (HQ)
Russia Austria • Belarus • Bulgaria • Cyprus •
Tel: +7 495 719 30 01 Czech Republic • Estonia • Finland •
www.gazprom.com France • Germany • Gibraltar • Greece •
Hungary • Italy • Latvia • Lithuania •
Moldova • The Netherlands • Poland •
Romania • Serbia • Switzerland •
Turkey • Ukraine • United Kingdom
The Stats
Ticker Symbol: GAZP (RTS, MICEX),
OGZD (LSE) Employment Contact
Chairman: Alexei Miller
2007 Revenue: RUR 1,774.98bn www.gazprom-neft.com/career
2006 Revenue: RUR 1,632.65bn
2007 Employees: 432,230
2006 Employees: 430,000+
No. of Offices: n/a
Divisions
Gas Resources • Gas & Oil
production • Transmission •
Processing • Power industry
career
154 library
THE SCOOP
ussia’s state-controlled energy group OAO Gazprom is the world’s largest
Gazprom
R producer of natural gas. Controlling a quarter of Europe’s gas supplies, the
Moscow-headquartered company is predominantly engaged in natural gas
and oil production, transmission, processing and marketing. The global gas giant is,
unsurprisingly, the primary provider of gas to the Russian market, with a hefty 84.7
percent share of national gas provision.
Something to be proud of
One of Gazprom’s claims to fame is that it owns the world’s longest gas pipeline
network, the Yamal-Europe, which runs for 150,000 km across Russia, Belarus,
Poland and Germany. Also impressively, Gazprom possesses the richest explored
natural gas reserves in the world of any one company, comprising 60 percent of
Russia’s reserves and 17 percent of the world’s total.
Illustrating the magnitude of the Gazprom group’s global footprint, the total number
of Gazprom personnel is approximately 432,000 worldwide, of which 150,000 are
employed in Siberia alone. The main businesses and subsidiaries of umbrella
company OAO Gazprom (OAO means Open Joint Stock Company), alongside
working along the full oil and gas value chain, are the extraction, production,
transmission and marketing of other hydrocarbons, thermal and electric power
generation, research and development and, finally, banking services. It doesn’t stop
there. In addition to its core energy business, Gazprom also has peripheral businesses
in insurance, construction, equipment maintenance, agriculture and media.
The tsar of gas
With a market capitalisation of more than 330 billion US dollars, Gazprom was
ranked No. 6 in The Financial Times’ annual FT Global 500 listings. The Russian group
sat behind only five American multinationals: oil goliath Exxon Mobil, technology
conglomerate General Electric, computer software pioneers Microsoft, financial
services powerhouse Citigroup and telecommunications corporation AT&T.

Gazprom has whizzed up the charts in less than 15 years. In 1994, the energy group’s
market capitalisation was a mere 1.5 billion dollars.
Time to take that fur coat off
In 2006, Gazprom’s explored gas reserves were estimated at some 29.85tcm (trillion
cubic metres). Production figures have been just as high in recent years. In 2007, the
group produced 548.5bcm (billion cubic metres) of natural gas. Though this was an
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enormous amount, it was actually a marginal slide from 2006 and 2005 production
figures. This stemmed from lowered demand due, according to Gazprom, to the
abnormally warm winter of 2006-2007.
The oligarchs’ playground

Founded in the 1940s by the reigning Soviet government, Gazprom was privatised
after the fall of the USSR on Christmas Day, 1991. The sale of the energy giant’s shares
began in 1993 and ended in 1995, with 41 percent of company shares remaining under
state ownership. Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin headed Gazprom at
the time. As of 2008, Gazprom stands as Russia’s largest joint-stock corporation, with
more than 500,000 shareholders.
In mid-2005, state-owned OAO Rosneftegaz acquired a 10.74 percent stake of

the energy giant, which, combined with a 39.262 percent stake already held by
the Russian state, brought its total clout of shares in Gazprom to a controlling
50.002 percent. Crucially, this majority stake has assured the state’s strategic
control over Gazprom for the foreseeable future. In addition to this key
acquisition, former Russian president (now Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin,
shrewdly instated his former chief-of-staff, Dmitry Medvedev, as Gazprom’s
chairman, eventually handing over the presidential reins of the entire Russian
state to him in May 2008.
Playing strategy games
The energy giant has great strategic significance for the Russian economy. Putin has
worked on lifting legislative restrictions on trading in Gazprom shares throughout
his leadership of the nation. Its energy market was liberalised in 2006 and since then,
the price of the company’s shares have been on a steady rise. The conversion of
Gazprom’s shares into ADRs (American Depository Receipts) has made the company
more appealing on foreign stock exchanges, opening the trophy Russian
multinational up to high-end investors interested in the company’s long-term
development. This has also had a favourable effect on the Russian stock market as a
whole, attracting international investors to many different sectors.
One Gazprom for all
With business booming, Gazprom’s deputy chief executive, Alexander Medvedev,

announced in mid-2007 the company would aim to achieve a market capitalisation
of one trillion dollars “in a period of seven to ten years.” He followed this with
another ambitious claim — he would like Gazprom to be “the most-valued and most-
capitalised company in the world.”
156
The strategies of attaining this goal, which would entail eclipsing American oil and gas
Gazprom
giant Exxon Mobil, the current largest company in the world, have sometimes been
questioned, but Gazprom shows no signs of slowing down. In December 2006, Royal
Dutch Shell and its partners were forced out of a controlling share in the 20 billion dollar
Sakhalin-II oil and gas development in the Russian Far East, after their license was revoked
by Putin’s government. In June 2007, a BP subsidiary agreed to sell its stake in Kovytka,
filed in Siberia, to Gazprom after Russian authorities questioned BP’s export rights.
In the same month, the governments of Russia and Italy signed a deal to co-operate
on a joint venture between Gazprom and Italian utilities company Eni SpA to
construct a 2,000 kilometre-long gas pipeline from Russia to Europe. This will extend
under the Black Sea
to Bulgaria as well as
to Italy and Hungary,
further ensuring the
“ Russia’s state-controlled energy
group OAO Gazprom is the world’s
“
European Union’s future largest producer of natural gas, controlling
dependence on Russian a quarter of Europe’s gas supplies.
gas. The monolith then
demonstrated its clout by turning off gas to Ukraine after a subsidy dispute on
January 1, 2006, worrying the rest of the continent. The European Union gets roughly
20 percent of its gas from Russia, and the dispute only highlighted this dependence.
Scoring goals for Gazprom
However, an agreement was reached with Ukraine and prospects look rosy for
Gazprom. For 2007, the group reported an increase of its full-year net profit of 7.3
percent, from 2006 figures of RUR 613 billion to RUR 659 billion (as of August 2008,
one Ruble was worth about 0.02734 euros, which would put the profit figures at
around 16.5 billion euros). Factors that have contributed to a neat profit rise — well
above Bloomberg News’ median predictions of RUR 621 billion — include surging
European energy prices. They also include cost benefits arising from Gazprom’s 2005
acquisition of Sibneft, a profitable oil company owned by Londoner Roman
Abramovich (yes, the same exile Russian magnate who owns Chelsea Football Club).
GETTING HIRED
Devoting your energies
Human resources policy at Gazprom is aimed at selecting and training personnel

experienced in the spheres of foreign trade and the gas and energy industries. The
157
core and oldest firms within the group, such as Gazprom Export, have developed a
system of continuous in-house training, occupational training and advanced training
of personnel at Russian trade educational centers, like the I.M.Gubkin Russian State
Oil and Gas University and the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Gazprom also carries out practical training in cooperation with its international
partners, at institutions like the French Institute of Petroleum and the Italian School
of Business and Management. But the road to getting a job at one of these subsidiaries
can be a bit tricky, due to Gazprom’s decentralised recruitment.
Getting to the prom
Though the various companies under the Gazprom umbrella do hire from outside the
Russian Federation, recruitment is carried out through the subsidiaries themselves.
For example, Gazprom Neft (www.gazprom-neft.com) has a “Careers” section where
you can read about HR initiatives and submit your CV via an online form. Though
the website itself can be navigated in English, the CV submission form is only
available in Russian.
If you do not speak Russian, Gazprom has operations through its core and subsidiary
businesses in countries around the world, including representative offices in Europe
and abroad. The range of opportunities stretches from working in marketing in
Central Europe to training as an engineer on an oil rig.
To find out more about opportunities in European countries, you need to check
websites of specific subsidiaries, a full list of which can be found on
www.gazprom.com. Gazprom Marketing and Trading, for example, has offices in
the UK and France (its careers website is www.gazprom-mt.com/aboutus/careers.htm),
and the German subsidiary Gazprom Germania lists its recruitment information on
www.gazprom-germania.de/karriere.html.
158
y ! ”
m o ne
t h e
w me e, 1996
h o Maguir
”S Jerry
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GRUPO FERROVIAL S.A.
Príncipe de Vergara, 135 European Locations
28002 Madrid
Spain Madrid (HQ)
Tel: +34 91 586 25 00 France • Greece • Ireland • Italy •
www.ferrovial.com Poland • Portugal • Switzerland •
United Kingdom

Employer Type: Public www.ferrovial.es
Ticker Symbol: FER (Madrid) (Click on “Recursos Humanos”)
Chief Executive: Rafael del Pino
2007 Employees: 102,447
Divisions
Construction • Electricity • Graphic
Design • Laboratory • Law and
Industrial Engineering • Mechanics •
Quality and Environment • Workplace
Security
career
160 library
THE SCOOP
Grupo Ferrovial S.A.

rom the start, Ferrovial played a key role in the modernisation of Spanish
F infrastructure that took place throughout the second half of the 20th century.
Founded in 1952 by entrepreneur Rafael del Pino, the company originally
consisted of workshops that fitted train sleepers and replaced tracks for Renfe, the
state-owned Spanish railway company. As Ferrovial’s main shareholder, del Pino,
who died in June 2008 aged 87, was one of the richest businessmen in Spain. His is a
rags-to-riches story, starting in post-civil war Spain and ending with the ownership
of a company that brought in a 2007 net revenue of 14.63 billion euros, has a presence
in 42 companies and a workforce of more than 100,000 employees.
The Godfather of construction
Setting out by taking advantage of its railway expertise, under del Pino, Ferrovial
began its first major project 1958 with the Madrid Railway Link Plan, redeveloping
much of Spain’s railway network for the Ministry of Public Works and Urban
Planning. The company also made its first foray into the construction of hydroelectric
complexes — at the time Spain’s main means of electricity generation — in the same
year, with Salto No. 2, on the river Sil in Páramo del Sil.
King of the road
The 1960s saw Spain’s new Minister of Public Works commence plans for a network
of Spanish motorways, along with the Redia plan, for a national network of asphalt
roads. Ferrovial was key to the implementation of these plans, beginning its lengthy
history of road construction with the Redia plan, building the CN-430 in Albacete
province, the Villaiovosa-El Moliner road in Alicante, and consolidating its
reputation with the Zaragoza-Calatavud road, the Luisiana-Carmona stretch, and
further highways in Navarra, Burgos and Madrid.
By the 1970s, the firm had diversified further into water treatment plant engineering with
the acquisition of Spain’s premier water treatment company, Cadaqua. Moves were also
made in earnest towards international expansion. Ferrovial built nearly 700km of roads in
Libya between 1978 and 1985 and worked on projects in Mexico, Kuwait and Paraguay.
Taking its toll
With its acquisition of the concession to build the Burgos-Armiñón toll road in 1978,
followed by obtaining a further concession for the construction of Sant Cugat-
Terrassa-Manresa in 1984, Ferrovial had found a profitable area of specialisation
which gave it the status and resources to expand and diversify further. Through the
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latter quarter of the 20th century, the firm created subsidiaries for facilities
management and car park construction, and consolidated its position with the
acquisition of leading Spanish construction firm Agroman.
A series of high profile construction projects in the 1990s, the Bilbao Guggenheim
Museum foremost among them, was followed by Ferrovial’s creation of subsidiary
Cintra (Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A.), with the brief of bidding
for and managing concessions in Spain and overseas. The advent of the company’s
expansion into the airport construction industry, with the acquisition of nine airport
concessions in Mexico, was begun in 1998.
Constructing an empire
When Ferrovial celebrated its 50th anniversary on December 18, 2002, it celebrated
its expansion into one of Europe’s premier construction giants in just half a century.
With its acquisition of Amey in 2003, it secured a significant presence in the UK. In
the past few years, the Spanish company has undertaken a series of major projects
both in the UK and internationally, together with a cluster of significant acquisitions
that further bolstered its standing. Perhaps foremost among these was its 2005
acquisition of 100 percent of Texan civil engineering group, Webber.
Ferrovial is now the fifth-largest Spanish construction firm, with a truly international
presence, being the first foreign construction firm to settle in Italy and Portugal.
The Spanish invasion

In June 2006, a Ferrovial-led consortium purchased the London-based British
company BAA (British Airports Authority), valuing the company at ten billion
pounds. BAA owns and operates seven British airports, including the busy London
Heathrow Airport, and operates or carries out retail management in several others.
Grupo Ferrovial also owns, through its subsidiary Amey, a share of Tube Lines —
one of two public-private partnership companies responsible for the maintenance of
London Underground’s lines and rolling stock. A year after the acquisition, the
British airports operator gave Ferrovial a warning over BAA’s monopoly. As well as
controlling 60 percent of England’s aerial transport, BAA owns 90 percent of three of
the five major airports in London: Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.
In March 2007, the Office of Fair Trade (OFT) advised Ferrovial to sell some of its
shares of BAA airports in order to create competition, with Stansted being the main
target for a potential share sale. The group has also mentioned that it plans to sell off
one of the three major airports as part of a restructuring plan aimed at easing debts
which were mostly incurred after its purchase of BAA.
162
However, in November 2007, the company sold its shares in six Australian airports
Grupo Ferrovial S.A.

to bolster the financing behind the purchase of BAA, according to Spanish newspaper
El País. The sale, worth a total of 775 million Australian dollars, was part of Ferrovial’
strategy aimed at selling all its non-strategic assets located outside the UK.
Capitalising on success
With a market capitalisation of more than ten billion euros, Ferrovial is one of the
world’s leading infrastructure groups, boasting over 100,000 employees around the
world. After selling its real estate division in 2006, the firm focused on investments
in four strategic business areas: construction, airports, toll roads and car parks. As a
result, just 50 years after its inception, Ferrovial has become one of the leading
construction companies in Europe, specialising in developing, financing, maintaining
and managing transport, urban and services infrastructure.
Ferrovial’s expansion has caused the group to undergo sweeping changes, from
being exposed primarily to cyclical businesses to obtaining 89 percent of its earnings
from airports, toll roads, car parks and services. The new image of Grupo Ferrovial,
focused on major DBFO (design, build, finance and operate) projects, is that of a
company growing rapidly and substantially.
GETTING HIRED
Building the road to your career

With 40 percent of Ferrovial’s staff employed in Spain, there are ample opportunities
for working abroad with the company, particularly in the UK, the US, Poland and
Switzerland. New graduates interested in positions at Ferrovial should check for
vacancies under the www.ferrovial.es, “Recursos Humanos” link. It should be noted
that the job board is only available from the Spanish website. CVs can also been sent
to the company through the same link or to j.morales@ferrovial.es.
The firm also offers internships to those in their final year of university and want
hands-on experience of its businesses. Placements are offered in several
departments and at any one of Ferrovial’s sites, so it pays to be both specific in
your application about what you’re after, and flexible as to location. To apply for
any Ferrovial vacancies, new graduates or students can register and apply on
the website using the online application material provided. The outlook is bright
for potential Ferrovial employees — in 2007, the company’s net creation of
employment was 15 percent.
163
MICHELIN
12 Cours Sablon French Locations

63000 Clermont-Ferrand
France Paris (HQ)
Tel: + 33 (1)45 66 12 34 Avallon • Bordeaux • Bourges •
www.michelin.com Clermont-Ferrand • Cholet • Epinal •
La Roche/Yon • Le Puy • Lille •
Montceau • Orléans • Poitiers •
Roanne • Toul • Tours • Troyes •
Vannes
The Stats
Ticker Symbol: ML (Euronext) European Locations
Chief Executive: Michel Rollier
2007 Revenue: €16.867bn Germany • Hungary • Italy • Poland •
2006 Revenue: €16.384bn Romania • Russia • Spain • United
2007 Employees: 121,356 Kingdom
2006 Employees: 115,755
No. of Offices: 83
Employment Contact
www.michelin-emplois.com
Divisions
Aircraft • Agricultural • Components •
Earthmover • Lifestyle • Light truck •
Maps and guides • Truck • Two-
wheelers
career
164 library
THE SCOOP
Michelin
I
magine a corporate success story that sells two wildly different products but
manages to become a global household name for them both. Who would this
company be? Try Michelin. And what are the company's signature products? Car
tyres and restaurant guides. This might sound like an unlikely double-act, but it
works. In reality, more than two-thirds of the company’s sales are of replacement
tyres for cars, trucks, tractors, lifting equipment, industrial and construction
earthmovers, cycles, aircraft, subway trains and trams.
The rest of Michelin’s revenue stems from, along with the guides, Michelin-branded
lifestyle products. These include automotive and cycle accessories and technical gadgetry,
work, sport and leisure equipment, and maps and travel services under the “ViaMichelin”
brand.The company manufactures its tyres under several different subsidiary brands
globally — Uniroyal in North America, Kleber in Europe and Warrior in China.
The history of this somewhat incongruous company dates back to 1889, when the Michelin
brothers, André and Edouard, opened their first factory. Based in Clermont-Ferrand in
France’s Auvergne region, the fledgling rubber empire initially employed 52 people, and
within the year Michelin
“
had filed a patent for
detachable tyres that could
André and Edouard developed
be repaired in 15 minutes. the Eclair, the first car to be “
So confident were the fitted with pneumatic tyres
brothers about these new-
fangled detachable tyres that they organised a cycle race between Paris and
Clermont-Ferrand in which they scattered nails on the road. This gave them ample
opportunity to show off the fact that flat tyres were no big deal anymore. 1895 was a
breakthrough year — André and Edouard developed the Éclair, the first car to be fitted
with pneumatic tyres. Not long after, the famous Michelin Man logo was created.
Tell me where to go
Everything fell into place for Michelin as it moved into the 20th century. Michelin
guides were created in 1900 and were not so initially incongruous a partner to tyre
manufacturing as they seem now. The guides were first written as a “source of
reliable and practical information for the traveller,” explains Michelin’s website, and
so were the perfect companion to any Michelin-enabled road journey. Michelin stars
have now become a famous benchmark of culinary quality around the world.
With the huge increases in personal and business automobile use in the 20th century, tyre
manufacturing was an extremely good business to be in. Michelin expanded its French
165
operations, opened a base in London and an Italian plant as early as 1906, and followed
these rapid expansions with an American plant in 1907. The company also moved into
making aircraft, producing 1,884 aircraft for the French government’s military use in
World War I. Through its invention of the radial tyre, a design which soon became an
industry standard, Michelin stayed ahead of the curve in automobile tyre technology. By
1966 the company had 81,000 employees to its name, spread all over the world.
Wheely good
The past 40 years have witnessed more strong growth for the company. Michelin
now produces approximately 190 million tyres annually and 15 million maps and
guides at 69 plants in 19 countries. Worldwide, Michelin has 38 tyres plants in
Europe, 18 in the United
“ The Michelin guides were

first written as a ‘source
“
States, seven in Asia, four
in South America, and
two in Africa and the
for reliable and practical Middle East. By 2010, the
information for the traveller’ company aims to have
increased its capacity in
most of these plants significantly. In China, for example, it will have increased
production capacity by 1.4 million tyres annually, and in 2007, it increased its yearly
tyre production in its Polish plants by 3.5 million.
Tough times
Life hasn’t been all smooth going for Michelin. Its chief executive, 62 year-old
Michel Rollier, who joined the company in 1996, has made a lot of noise in recent
years about the fact that it has suffered from huge hikes in the cost of rubber
and energy — in particular, from higher fuel prices in the US and in external
logistics costs. Altogether, such hikes cost Michelin more than 800 million euros
in 2006. The same year also brought troubles of a different kind when in May,
Edouard Michelin, the fourth-generation Michelin family member to run the
company, drowned in a boating accident in Brittany at only 42 years old. Since
then, Rollier, previously a managing partner, has had to steer Michelin through
one of its hardest eras.
He has cut costs and boosted productivity so as to be on course for the 2010 goals of
costs reduced by 1.5 billion euros and productivity up by 30 percent. Despite these
cutbacks, Rollier still intends to invest 3.6 percent of the company’s revenue in
technological research and development — which is more than either of its closest
tyre manufacturing rivals, Japanese firm Bridgestone and American giant Goodyear,
who invest three percent and 1.8 percent respectively.
166
GETTING HIRED
No-slip success
Michelin’s careers website for jobs in France is www.michelin-emplois.com, and
Michelin
fluent French is needed to navigate it and apply for positions through it. The
company has separate recruitment sites for those who want to work for it in
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Spain and the US. The company's fields of work
include sales, finance and management, logistics, marketing and communications,
administration, quality control, research and development, supply chain
management and IT. The job application process is simple — simply see which jobs
match your profile, and then apply online with a detailed CV and cover letter.
The company offers internships, and to apply for them you need to visit the same
website and submit your CV and cover letter for any internships you feel would suit
you, your education level and your professional experience. An alternative method
is to submit your CV and cover letter to the personnel department of the country
where you are studying or seeking to work. For those who attend the Grandes Écoles
and wish to pursue a career with Michelin, long-term apprenticeships are available.
The application process is the same as above. Check the recruitment website to see
whether your profile matches their criteria and if so, apply online with your CV and
cover letter.
167
MOTT MACDONALD
St Anne House Locations in Europe
20-26 Wellesley Road
Croydon Croydon (HQ)
Surrey CR9 2UL Bulgaria • Czech Republic •
United Kingdom Hungary • Ireland • The Netherlands •
Tel: +44 (0)20 8774 2000 Norway • Poland • Portugal • Romania •
www.mottmac.com Russia • Turkey

Employer Type: Private (employee- www.careers.mottmac.com
owned corporation)
Chief Executive: Peter Wickens UK Graduate Recruitment:
2007 Revenue: £748m graduate.recruitment@mottmac.com
2006 Revenue: n/a
2007 Employees: 13,000 UK Student Recruitment:
2006 Employees: n/a student.recruitment@mottmac.com
No. of Offices: 150 in 140
countries worldwide
Divisions
Capacity building • Construction
economics • Consultation and market
research • Contract advisory services •
Corporate sustainability • Design •
Environmental • Infrastructure
management • Management
consultancy • Planning • Procurement •
Project management • Programme
management • Project finance •
Research and development • Risk
management • Software development

Studies • Supervision, inspection and
commissioning • Technical advisory •
Waste management
career
168 library
THE SCOOP
n engineering, management and development consultancy working in
Mott Macdonald
A more than 120 countries, Mott MacDonald provides expertise to both
public and private clients in a wide range of sectors. The global group
assumed its current incarnation in 1989, by way of a merger of civil engineering
firm Mott, Hay & Anderson with engineers Sir M MacDonald & Partners, who
were particularly known for their experience in water-related projects. As of
2008, Mott MacDonald stands as a world-renowned company, responsible for
such projects as the design of the Channel Tunnel and the redevelopment of
Wembley Stadium. The sectors its engineers cover include transport, energy,
buildings, water and the environment, health and education, industry and
communications.
A taste of MacDonald
A good example of the kind of project Mott MacDonald gets involved in is the
world’s first project-financed offshore wind farm in the Dutch sector of the North
Sea, Q7, which, in December 2007, exported power to the Dutch grid for the first
time. Throughout this
project, began in 2005,
Mott MacDonald was
lender’s engineer to
“ Mott Mac scooped The Sunday
Times’ 11th best big company to work
“
Dutch bank Rabobank, for in the newspapers’ annual Top
Belgian bank Dexia, 100 Companies to Work for list
and Denmark’s EKF,
and oversaw the whole construction process. Located in deep offshore waters,
requiring specialist marine engineering, the project is a good example of the scale
and level of expertise Mott MacDonald is accustomed to working on.
Mott-ho, chaps
Mott MacDonald comes from a strong pedigree of engineers. Basil Mott and David
Hay, who formed a partnership in 1902, were mentored by JH Greathead and Sir
Benjamin Baker, the latter best known for the construction of the Forth Railway
Bridge and the Aswan Dam. Both experienced in railway engineering, Mott and Hay
invited engineer David Anderson to join them 1921, to form Mott, Hay & Anderson.
In the same year, Sir Murdoch MacDonald retired from his post as Advisor to
Egypt’s Ministry of Public Works, after the opening of the Aswan Dam. Six years
later, he formed Sir M MacDonald & Partners and embarked upon a series of
large scale projects, not least among them the second heightening of the Aswan
Dam.
169
Getting a Preece of the action
Both firms experienced solid growth throughout the 20th century until their 1989
merger. Five years after the union, in 1994, the power and telecoms consultants
Ewbank Preece came into the Mott MacDonald fold, enabling the engineering
specialist to broaden its range of expertise.
In the run up to the 21st century, Mott MacDonald expanded through acquisition
and the integration of subsidiaries in the health and education markets. Its key health
subsidiary is HLSP, a project management and technical services firm which works
in global healthcare provision. The group’s education consultancy wing is Cambridge
Education, which works on a worldwide basis.
The rest of the group’s newer additions also take in a global reach. Taking advantage
of the booming North American transportation market, for example, in 1996 it
launched Hatch Mott MacDonald, a joint venture with Canada’s Hatch Associates,
with whom it worked on Toronto’s subway network in the 1950s. This subsidiary —
Hatch Mott MacDonald — provides project management in water and transport
infrastructure design and construction in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Sea change
In 2006, Mott MacDonald became involved in a project to tackle the massive loss of
water suffered by the Aral Sea, sandwiched between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Russian irrigation efforts in the 1940s saw the inland sea deprived of its water
supplies and over the decades that followed, its water levels reduced considerably.
Fishing industries disappeared, sailing vessels lay stranded on the sand, and
hundreds of thousands of people were affected. Eventually the levels dropped so
low that a 100km spit of land surfaced, dividing the sea into two bodies of water,
named the Northern and Southern Aral seas.
Alongside Turkish firm Temelsu International, in 2006, Mott MacDonald supervised the
construction of a dyke connecting the North and South Arals. The effort aimed to raise the
water level in the North Aral, replenish its fish population and local agriculture, and
restore what was once an economic hub. Water levels have already risen by 8m, a higher
rate than expected. Re-engineering work on the local Chardara Dam, which could only
start when the dykes were completed, came to a finish in September 2007.
Taking home the goods
Mott has won a host of awards recently. Just a handful of them include the Best Renewable
Project gong at the 2008 Scottish Green Awards for the Steven’s Croft biomass power
170
station, the UK’s largest, for which it is project manager. Similarly, its Manchester Civil
Mott Macdonald
Justice Centre won the Green Major Project of the Year award in the Green Construction
Awards 2007. In terms of international work, for its Stormwater Management and Road
Tunnel (SMART) in Kuala Lumpur, which reduces congestion and diverts flooding, it
won Major Consultancy Firm of the Year at the 2007 British Expertise Awards. The firm
racked up two especially impressive accolades the same year — Best Technical Advisor
at the Public Private Finance Awards 2007, and The Sunday Times’ 11th best big company
to work for in the newspapers’ annual Top 100 Companies to Work for list.
GETTING HIRED
Building your career
Each year Mott MacDonald offers 100 paid summer and industrial placements across 19
disciplines to both undergraduate and pre-university students. Details of individual
disciplines can be found on the careers website by following the “students” link, and the
“disciplines” link at the bottom of the page this leads to. Applications are made via an
online form by clicking “how to apply” followed by “the application form.”
The company offers bursaries to a number of graduate students each year who have
completed a summer or industrial placement.
Career engineering
Mott MacDonald takes on 150 graduates each year with degrees in the full range of
engineering disciplines. The firm puts its graduates to work on projects involving
airports, bridges, energy, environmental services, consulting, geotechnics, highway
construction, quantity surveying, railways, transport planning, tunnels,
hydrogeology and dam and reservoir engineering. Applications can be made year
round, but the company strongly advises candidates apply early in their final year.
Successful applicants will be called to interview at their nearest Mott MacDonald
office. The Mott MacDonald careers website provides useful information as to what’s
in store for those who join the group. Most successful candidates will begin by
working in the UK, with opportunities for travel increasing with experience. Both a
“buddy” and a mentor are assigned to all graduate trainees.
Smiley, happy engineers
As befits a company scoring so highly in The Times’ list of top employers, Mott
MacDonald makes much of its community spirit and its prowess at integrating new
171
staff. Its website provides staff perspectives for potential candidates to get a sense of the
firm’s corporate culture and the different career paths available. You can find these
under the “working with us” link on the careers website, and follow the “Mott
MacDonald community” link. Information on projects carried out by recent graduate
employees can be found by following the “making a difference” link. To search
vacancies, look under “vacancies” and pick your relevant location, discipline or market.
OUR SURVEY SAYS
First impressions
Mott MacDonald employees assure that interviews are focused on engineering

knowledge and background. “My first interview was with three people: two from the
team I would be working in and one from HR. My second was with one of the
directors. There were no special tests, questions about my previous jobs or the
industry I’d been working in,” one British respondent told us.
Open all hours, or not
“I work a 37.5 hour week, and I can take time off during the day to sort things out if
I need to,” one British employee comments. “If I work a long day for any reason, I can
work a short day later in the week.” A London employee reported working 45-50
hours weeks, and added that it was “very rare” to work outside the capital: “most of
the clients I work with are London-based, but I do have occasional meetings outside
London.”
Kicking back with the engineers
“It’s a friendly and supportive place,” one source working in the UK revealed,
adding, “they treat me as an intelligent, competent person, and there’s a variety of
work.” Another British staffer told us “the culture is very much no-blame, to the
point of almost being laissez-faire.”
This is no place for slackers though; hard work is expected, and autonomy granted:
“We’re always very busy,” one respondent told us, “but if you organise your time
well, you can strike a reasonable balance.”
172
“ As of 2008, Mott MacDonald
stands as a world-renowned company,
responsible for such projects as the design
of the Channel Tunnel and the “
redevelopment of Wembley Stadium.
NOKIA
Keilalahdentie 2-4 European Locations
FI-02150 Espoo
Finland Espoo (HQ)
Tel. +358 (0) 7180 08000 Austria • Belgium • Bulgaria • Croatia •
www.nokia.com Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia •
France • Germany • Greece • Hungary •
Ireland • Israel • Italy • Latvia •
Lithuania • Luxembourg • The
Netherlands • Norway • Poland •
The Stats
Portugal • Romania • Russia • Slovakia •
Employer type: Public Slovenia • Spain • Sweden •
Ticker Symbol: NOK (NYSE) NOK1V Switzerland • Turkey • Ukraine •
(Nordic Exchange) NOA3 (Frankfurt) United Kingdom
Chief Executive: Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo
No. of Offices: 5 regional www.nokia.com/careers
headquarters and offices in 66
countries
Divisions
Enterprise Solutions • Mobile Phones •
Multimedia • Nokia Siemens Networks
career
174 library
THE SCOOP
hen you think of Finland, you might think of reindeer, saunas and fir trees.
Nokia
W The country is, however, also home to Nokia, the world’s largest
manufacturer of mobile phones. With a claim to an estimated 38 percent of
the global mobile devices market, according to its 2007 figures, Nokia sold 437 million
mobile phones in just one year in 150 countries at approximately 350,000 points of sale.
More than reindeer
The Finnish group’s international presence and brand power should not be
underestimated. By far the largest company in its home country, it is also one of
Finland’s most innovative companies to work for, undergoing constant expansion
in order to consolidate on its leading position in the competitive and rapidly growing
market of mobile telecommunications.
After a re-organisational programme in 2007, since January 1, 2008, Nokia has been
structured into four segments. The devices segment is responsible for its devices portfolio,
including but not limited to its many mobile phone models. Services and software is
responsible for developing
“
Nokia’s consumer internet Perhaps predictably, as of
services. The markets
2007 China was Nokia’s largest
business group oversees
supply chains, sales market, followed by India,
“
channels and brand and Germany, the UK and the US
marketing activities.
Finally, Nokia’s corporate development office is the nerve centre of the entire operation,
focusing on strategy and future growth and on integrating the other business units so this
huge company runs smoothly.
Rubber soul
Nokia’s company history goes back to the mid-19th century when it was founded in
1855 in Espoo, near Finnish capital Helsinki. Although it may seem strange for what
is now one of the largest players in the telecommunications market, Nokia actually
started life as a paper mill before being swept up in the growing market for
telegraphs and telephone cables. The Nokia Corporation, founded in 1967, moved
into mobile telecommunications in 1981, when Nordic Mobile Telephone, the first
international mobile phone network, was built.
The 1980’s saw Nokia launch portable phones and the first handheld mobile phone,
the Mobira Cityman, was introduced in 1987. This phone made its mark when then-
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Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev used a Cityman to make a call from Helsinki to his
communications minister in Moscow. The stage was set for mobile telephones to
become a part of everyday communication and in 1992, Nokia took the strategic step
of focusing purely on mobile phones.
Nokias in their hands
By 1998, the company was the world leader in mobile phones. New developments
swiftly followed. The Nokia 7100 handset was not only the Finn’s first WAP handset
but the world’s first. The first 3G phone, the “third generation technology” devices
which allowed the user to download music, make video calls, watch television on
the move and browse the internet, took the markets by storm in 2002. In the same
year, Nokia launched its first phone with a built-in camera, the Nokia 7650 and its
first video capture phone, the Nokia 3650.
When Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia’s former chief financial officer, took over at the top in
June 2006, he immediately set about expanding the company. The very same month, the
merger with Siemens AG was announced. As of April, 2007, Nokia Siemens Networks
became a fully-fledged entity, comprising Nokia’s former networks business group and
Siemens’ carrier-related operations for fixed and mobile networks.
Two brains are better than one
The principle behind merging the businesses was that collaboration often yields
better results. Pooling Nokia and Siemens’ technology and research resources gives
the joint business the means to produce the equipment service providers need. It will
also supply network subscribers with faster, larger transfers of data and mobile
content, which is good news for consumers.
Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo oversaw Nokia Siemens Networks’

decision to invest 100 million euros in that much-talked-about upcoming market,
India, over the next three years. Kallasvuo announced in July 2007 that Nokia was
committed to “building the telecom ecosystem in the country” through its
investment, which has funded various projects including a telecommunications

equipment manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu for wireless network equipment,
new offices across various cities and the expansion of an existing research and
development centre.
Global domination
With its 2007 sales clocking in at over 50 billion euros, Nokia reported an
excellent increase of 24 percent from 2006. Net sales of mobile phones increased
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one percent, net sales of multimedia products increased 34 percent and net sales
Nokia
of enterprise solutions increased an awe-inspiring 101 percent.
Calling China
Perhaps predictably, as of 2007 China was Nokia’s largest market, followed by

India, Germany, the UK and the US. As such, there are plenty of opportunities
to work for Nokia in its strongest markets, especially China and Germany.
According to Forbes magazine, Nokia is number one company in terms of sales
in the fastest-growing global markets, China, Southeast Asia and India.
However, according to the same report, the Finnish giant is also keen to increase
its presence in the US and, of course, on the internet.
They got Twango’d
An interesting recent acquisition by Nokia is that of photo-sharing website

Twango, which it purchased in July 2007. While Twango is one of the smaller
websites compared to Yahoo’s Flickr or Google’s YouTube, what attracted Nokia
is Twango’s innovative technology and suitability of its content for use on
mobile phones and handheld devices. Further evidence of Nokia’s commitment
to the scope of mobile multimedia possibilities came in September 2007, when it
acquired Enpocket, a US mobile advertising firm based in Boston, Massachusetts. The
acquisition gave Nokia the leverage of Enpocket’s excellent partnerships with
advertisers and publishers.
In the summer of 2007, Nokia rolled out its new internet services brand, Ovi,
which includes the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage, music and games services.
Throught this, Nokia hopes it will capture the attention of the key youth
demographic. Another growing market is that of environmentally friendly
commerce. On trend with the increasingly mainstream emphasis on
sustainability, in December 2007 Nokia announced the development of its 3100
Evolve, a mobile phone with bio-covers made from more than 50 percent
renewable material.
A hotline to brainpower
In terms of research and development, due to the amalgamation of Siemens into

the Nokia Siemens Networks business, Nokia’s research and development
spending shot up from 3.9 billion euros in 2006 to 5.6 billion euros in 2007. With
a research and development workforce of 30,415 people, this comprises 27
percent — almost a third — of Nokia’s workforce working in ten countries
around the world.
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GETTING HIRED
Please wait while we try to employ you
With more than 110,000 employees, mostly in Finland but also in more far-flung
corners of the world, Nokia is a great place to start your career, especially if you are
passionate about telecommunications. To see all available jobs, you can either search
for careers by visiting a local country website — China, Denmark, Finland, Germany,
Hungary, Japan or the US — or you can do a “basic job search” and specify field,
location or organisation.
Nokia comes knocking
For students and graduates, the company has numerous opportunities on its
“Careers” website. The company accepts students as part of its workforce at various
points throughout the year, either as part-time or full-time, abroad or in Finland, or
integrated with their thesis project. All student job opportunities can be found online
and applications can be made online. You can register and update a candidate profile
too and be contacted by Nokia when relevant positions arise.
Nokia’s graduate recruitment program is primarily geared towards business or

technical school graduates coming from highly-ranked schools. The ideal degree
subject to have under your belt would include: electrical engineering, electronic
engineering, mechanical engineering, software engineering, computer science,
information technology, telecommunications, physics, mathematics or business,
commerce and management.
Have a hand in the future of the phone
The programme, designed by “world-class experts”, looks for those with business acumen
and relevant technical or industry competence as well as prior international exposure.
Tailored to the individual, it involves the chance to undertake learning in different areas
and pick up new competencies through e-learning, self-directed learning and special
forums in which recent graduates can share experiences with one another. To see Nokia’s
graduate careers options, visit www.nokia.com/graduates online.
Nokia stipulates it is looking for those with leadership skills and an ability to work
in a fast-paced environment. It also places an emphasis on applicants who can show
they are highly-motivated self-starters.
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PEUGEOT CITROËN
75 Avenue de la Grande-Armee French Locations
75116 Paris
France Paris (HQ)
Tel: + 33 (1)40 66 55 11 Aulnay • Poissy • Rennes • Sochaux •
www.psa-peugeot-citroen.com Mulhouse • Sevelnord
Employer Type: Public Czech Republic • Italy • Portugal •

Ticker Symbol: PEUP Slovakia • Spain
(Paris Euronext)
Chairman: Christian Streiff
(FYE: 12/07) Employment Contact:
2006 Revenue: €56.6bn Careers website:
2007 Employees: 207,000 www.psa-peugeot-citroen.com
2006 Employees: 211,700 (Click on “Candidate”)
No. of Offices: 23 (around
Europe)
Divisions
Automobiles Citroën • Automobiles
Peugeot • Banque PSA Finance •
Faurecia • Gefco • Peugeot Citroën
Moteurs • Process Conception
Ingénierie • Peugeot Motocycles
career
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THE SCOOP
n 1974, French carmaker Peugeot bought 38.2 percent of its domestic rival Citroën,
Peugeot Citroën
I increasing this share to 89.95 percent in 1976. The two companies now operate
under shared management as Peugeot Citroën. Peugeot and Citroën retain
separate sales and marketing departments but they share technology and assembly
facilities. The company is currently considered the pre-eminent manufacturer for
reducing production costs by sharing engine development and whole vehicle
development with other car manufacturers.
The group sells approxmiately 3.3 million vehicles worldwide per year, with a 5.2 percent
market share in the global automotive sector. Turnover in 2007 was 60.6 billion euros and
the manufacturer ranks
“
second in European
The company offers
market share, with 13.9
percent. Since the turn of
approximately 550 “
the millennium, it has also gap year internships
proven a dynamic force
overseas. Peugeot Citroën’s priority regions — China, Russia and the Mercosur countries
of South America (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) — saw sales rise from 2006
to 2007 by an average of 16.1 percent.
Inside the machine
In 15 production centres dotted around the globe, 90,000 Peugeot Citroën employees
make 16,000 powertrain components (such as engines, driveshafts, transmission
components) and 14,000 vehicles each day. These centres are divided into four
workshops: stamping, body-in-white construction, paint and assembly.
PSA Peugeot Citroën's industrial base in Europe highlights cooperation with

other auto manufacturers. Overall, it consists of six facilities in France (Aulnay,
Poissy, Rennes, Sochaux, Mulhouse, and Sevelnord), two in Spain (Vigo and
Madrid), and one each in Portugal (Mangualde), Italy (Sevel), as part of a

cooperation agreement with Fiat, the Czech Republic (Kolin), and as part of a
cooperation agreement with Toyota, and Slovakia (Trnava). Aside from the
automobile manufacturing under the Peugeot and Citroën brands, the company
has three other main businesses: Banque PSA Finance, which offers loans and
related services to car buyers, Faurecia, which produces automotive modules
including seats, cockpits, acoustic units and exhaust systems, and Gefco, which
provides vehicle logistics, freight transport and international logistics. None of
these makes much impact on the balance sheet; automobile sales accounted for
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4.45 billion euros of the group’s 5.66 billion euros 2006 turnover, while Banque
added 0.16 billion euros, Gefco 0.32 billion euros and Faurecia 1.16 billion euros.
Streiff at home
Peugeot Citroën’s current head is Christian Streiff, who took the top job of chief
executive in February 2007, after leaving commercial airline Airbus after only three
months. Streiff’s background is less turbulent; he previously spent 26 years at
Saint-Gobain, an international building materials manufacturer. He inherited
Peugeot Citroën in a troubled state. Whilst the company’s international sales have
continued to grow for the past five years, it has been losing market share in
Europe. According to Streiff, “The rhythm of product roll-out was too slow… we
were not in the right segments and the range did not have the right breadth; the
design was missing the vital spark.”
Results bear out Streiff’s comments. European sales of the Peugeot 206, one of the
company’s star brands, plummeted from 2005 to 2006 by 47.3 percent, and a
programme to reduce manufacturing costs of 600 million euros is currently in
place. Peugeot’s closure of its car factory in Coventry in the UK may have caused
2,300 job losses but it saved the company 90 million euros in fixed costs, 60 million
euros of which was then reinvested in the Trnava plant in Slovakia, where
overheads are cheaper.
Baby, you can drive my car
In the face of sluggish sales, Peugeot Citroën has been trying to outclass its
competitors through ergonomic and technological innovation. One thing the group
is good at is high quality car safety, for which it is consistently recognised. As of
November 2007, The European New Car Assessment Programme (EuroNCAP),
which is backed by the European Commission, has awarded 12 of its cars the
maximum five star scores in crash test safety. Out of the group’s 2.2 billion euro
yearly research and development budget, ten percent of it goes towards researching
environmental factors and vehicle and driver behaviour on the roads.
Beep beep, m’beep beep, yeah!
For Peugeot Citroën, becoming more user-friendly comes hand-in-hand with an

increasing concern for the environment. The company is not alone in the automobile
sector in diversifying into greener technologies, but it is making an impact where it
matters. The group has poured money into trying out new engine technologies to
get cleaner combustion, and it is beginning to see results. One of its technologies,
HDi engines, which is “direct injection diesel technology”, has gone down a storm.
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New HDi common-rail engines have been installed in nine million vehicles and
Peugeot Citroën
counting as of early 2008. These hi-tech engines ensure that carbon dioxide emissions
from fuel burning are reduced by approximately 20 percent. HDi engines will also be
included in a range of hybrid vehicles Peugeot Citroën are planning to bring to
market in 2010. The company claims that this advanced technology will do even
better than the “breakthrough” 2006 Peugeot 307 and Citroën C4 hybrid HDi vehicles
in terms of low carbon dioxide emissions.
GETTING HIRED
Plan your journey
To work for either Peugeot or Citroën, first you must choose which category you fall
into: engineers and executives, or technical, sales and administrative staff. In both
categories, the company recruits those “who are enthusiastic about cars.” The first
category covers the following fields: professionals in research and innovation,
production, information systems, purchasing, management and finance,
communications, industrial design, logistics, human resources, and legal. The second
category covers those with technical, sales or administrative skills in these categories.
Visit the company website to check your eligibility.
Competition is stiff, however: in 2006, Peugeot Citroën received more than 61,000
CVs and hired only 1,433 engineers and executives and 1,589 technical, sales and
administrative staff. More than half of these were employed in production and
industrial design. There is a three-step recruitment process which includes
interviews with recruitment officers and operating managers. Once in, new
employees are shown the ropes in one or more of the following areas of
specialisation: engineering, manufacturing, sales and logistics, services — including
research and development and information systems — and management.
The company also offers approximately 550 gap year internships. See the "you are
candidate" page of its website, and select, under "career development", "frequently
asked questions", and then "gap year internship" for more information. It also offers
work-study programmes for students on their way to obtaining a professional
qualification — see the website for more details.
Europe-wide vacancies can also be found on Peugeot Citroën’s website area for
candidates. Under "offers" on the Candidates section of the website, just select
"international".
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PHILIPS ELECTRONICS
European Locations
Breitner Center, Amstelplein 2
1096 BC Amsterdam Amsterdam (HQ)
The Netherlands Austria • Belgium • Czech Republic •
Tel: +31 (0)20 59 77 777 Denmark •Finland • France • Germany •
www.philips.com Greece • Hungary • Ireland • Italy •
Russian Federation • Slovakia • Spain •
Sweden • Switzerland • Turkey •
United Kingdom
The Stats
Ticker Symbol: PHIA (Euronext), PHG
(NYSE) Employment Contact
Chief Executive: Gerard Kleisterlee
2007 Revenue: €26.8 bn www.philips.com/about/careers
2006 Revenue: €26.7 bn
2007 Employees: 159,226
2006 Employees: 121,732
No. of Offices: n/a
Divisions
Philips Consumer Electronics •
Philips Domestic Appliances & Personal
Care • Philips Lighting Company •
Philips Medical Systems • Other
Businesses
career
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THE SCOOP
N
etherlands-based Royal Philips Electronics, commonly known as Philips, is
Philips Electronics
a corporate giant that spreads its tentacles over numerous markets. Though
the company is perhaps best known for its electronic goods, Philips also has
interests in the healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle sectors.
More than just electric toothbrushes
Employing more than 30,000 people, with the majority of these in the US, Philips
Healthcare is responsible for medical equipment such as X-raying and radiography
equipment and ultrasound technology, among other products. The lighting segment
of the group employs 55,000 people and is renowned for producing energy-efficient
lighting possibilities for homes, offices, industrial and roadways. Philips Consumer
Lifestyle is the brand behind many products ranging from televisions and DVD’s to
personal care and baby care products.
From Amsterdam with love
From its base in Amsterdam, Philips stretches out to more than 60 countries, employing
over 159,000 people. From a financial point of view, this giant is also exceptionally healthy,
enjoying sales of more than 26.8 billion euros according to 2007 reports.
Early days of a Dutch giant
Philips was founded in 1891 in Eindhoven, in the south of the Netherlands. It started
as a manufacturer of carbon-filament lamps and quickly rose to the top of this sector
in Europe. As technology rapidly evolved, the company established a research
laboratory in 1914 to stay ahead of the game . By 1918, it was taking baby steps into
diversification, a moment marked by the introduction of a medical X-ray tube.
Deeply immersed in the technological zeitgeist of these years, Philips flirted with the
new media of TV and radio during the 1920s. By the 1930s, it was producing and
selling them on a massive scale, reaching the one million mark for radio units sold by
1932. By the end of the 1930s, Philips had already become a giant, employing over
45,000 people worldwide.
Over the following decades, one invention followed another. The 1980s was somewhat of
a golden era, as Philips’ research department undertook crucial work in the fields of
storage and transmission of images, sound and data. Soon after, digital storage solutions,
such as the laser disc and the compact disc, were introduced. The latter was a technological
milestone that would change the world after its entry into the market in 1982.
185
Trimming away the excess
During the 1990s, the company underwent a restructuring process that scaled down the
number of its business areas. To crown the decade and Philips’ new slimline look, in 1997,
the Dutch gadget wizard was involved in the release of one of the most successful home
electronic appliances ever, the DVD player. The company’s restructuring process ended
in January 2008, when Philips adopted the “three sector” business structure it retains
today. On January 1, 2008, Philips’ consumer electronics and its domestic appliances and
personal care businesses merged into one, its consumer lifestyle sector.
In October 2007, Philips announced its “Vision 2010”. The three consolidated sectors,
healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle, will be pushed by company executives to
become, as Philips says, “people-centric, market-driven global leaders”. By 2010,
Philips is expecting the EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation)
margin of its current business to exceed ten percent through improved margin
management, increased contribution from recent acquisitions, improvement of its
product mix and, of course, as a result of its streamlined structure.
Eco concerns
Along with its revised economic goals, Philips seems hard at work on bettering itself
environmentally. Since 1994, it has been implementing sustainable policies. In 2007,
the company adopted the EcoVision4 program, a series of targets adopted since 2007.
With a 2012 deadline, the EcoVision4 goals include generating 30 percent of Philips’
revenue from environmentally-friendly products, doubling the company’s
investment in “green innovations” to one billion euros and increasing the energy
efficiency of its operations by 25 percent.
Such green concerns aim to take into consideration several aspects of Philips’ products life
cycle, such as energy efficiency during production, eco-friendly packaging, recycling and
disposal of waste increasing product reliability. By 2012, the company is also aiming to
achieve a reduction of its operational carbon footprint by 25 percent.
With a little help from my eco-friends
As another part of its environmental strategy, Philips announced in November 2007

a 1.8 billion euro investment for the acquisition of US-based lighting fixtures
manufacturer Genlyte Group. At the time of the acquisition, Genlyte was the second
largest manufacturer of lighting fixtures and controls in the US, a market in which
Philips was lagging behind. This new venture, making Philips the US market leader,
will catalyse the group’s further growth in the North American market in its other
business areas.
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In March 2008, Philips announced that it would undertake a joint venture in South
Philips Electronics
Africa for the manufacture of energy-saving light bulbs in the country. The
counterpart in this operation will be CEF, a private company owned by the South
African state. The Lesotho b a s e d f a c i l i t i e s w i l l be f u l l y o p e r a t i v e b y
September 2008. This market is particularly appealing to the Dutch
“luminary”, as the South
“
African government has
Along with its revised economic
announced plans to
replace 80 percent of
goals, Philips seems hard at work on “
incandescent light bulbs bettering itself environmentally
in four to six years. The
Dutch giant hopes to reduce this period to three years, as it is scheduled that the Lesotho
factory will be able to manufacture up to 15 million energy-efficient light bulbs per year.
All that glitters ain’t a light bulb
The company’s growth is hardly limited to the energy-efficient lamps sector. Several
acquisitions were announced by Philips in the first half of 2008, most in the health
products sector. The most important was the acquisition of the Brazilian Dixtal
Biomédica e Tecnología, a company specialising in the manufacture of monitoring,
anaesthesia, ventilation and electrocardiogram equipment. The deal was valued at
approximately 1.2 billion euros.
GETTING HIRED
Join the Philips family
Being a large international company, Philips is, unsurprisingly, constantly hiring.

Vacancies can be searched according to various criteria, such as country, area of
interest, or experience level. If you don’t find a position that suits you, you can still
submit an open application and fill in an online profile that the company will assess
to see if you fit the criteria for a post. Applications must be supported by a covering
letter. Philips actually shows its candidates how to write an effective cover letter with
a tips page in the “Careers” section of its website.
The hiring Dutchmen
If your application is successful you will invited to a series of interviews, either in

person or over the phone. The company also gives tips for going through this process
successfully on its “Careers” section.
187
For students, the company offers a variety of internships and graduation projects
worldwide in all its departments. These can be searched from the same page as
Philips’ job vacancies. Internships vary in length according to specific divisional
requirements. Though most are unpaid, having the Philips brand printed in your CV
will undoubtedly be a plus when you are looking for a job after graduation. It may
also be a way into a career with the company itself.
For Masters graduates, the company offers a European business course with a focus
in sales and marketing a European business course with a focus on technology. These
courses last three days and are a very effective way of stepping into the company.
This said, places for the course are limited and entry requirements are demanding.
To find out about them, check on Philips’ “Careers” website under “Talent
Recruitment”.
188
PORSCHE SE
Porscheplatz 1 German Locations
D-70435 Stuttgart
Germany Stuttgart (HQ)
Tel: +49 711 911 0 Bietigheim-Bissingen • Essen • Leipzig •
www.porsche.com Ludwigsburg • Munich • Weissach •
Wolfsburg

Employer Type: Public Austria • Baltics • Belarus • Belgium •
Ticker Symbol: POR3 (Frankfurt) Bulgaria • Croatia • Cyprus • Czech
Chief Executive: Dr. Wendelin Republic • Denmark • Finland • France •
Wiedeking Greece • Hungary • Iceland • Ireland •
2007 Revenue: €7.36bn Italy • Luxembourg • The Netherlands •
2006 Revenue: €7.27bn Poland • Portugal • Russia • Romania •
2007 Employees: 11,571 Serbia & Montenegro • Slovakia •
2006 Employees: 11,910 Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • Switzerland •
No. of Offices: numerous locations Turkey • Ukraine • United Kingdom
throghout Germany

Consulting • Engineering • Financial www.porsche.com
Services • Sales and Marketing
(Click on “About Porsche” then
“Jobs & Careers”)
career
190 library
THE SCOOP
Porsche SE
A
n instantly recognisable name worldwide, Porsche is associated with sleek cars,
wealth, luxury design and top performance. Since Ferdinand Porsche produced
his first electric car over a century ago, Porsche’s reputation has steadily risen and
it has long been one of the most revered names in the automotive industry. A tribute to
its excellent craftmanship is that Porsche’s sales figures for the past decade have risen
steadily, peaking in 2007 at 7.36 billion euros. In terms of cars sold, this translates to 97,515
units of all Porsche models sold in 2007, up from 96,794 in 2006, and up from 36,686 units
sold a decade ago in 1997/98, showing very solid growth. With the classic 911 series
holding firm as Porsche’s top selling model, the second generation of Porsche’s all-terrain
vehicle Cayenne also attracts the eye of international markets, bringing in just over a third
of Porsche’s revenue. With the auto wizard’s Boxster series bringing up the rear, the
international presence of the group is enjoying a smooth ride.
Beetle’s about
Despite Porsche’s long-held reputation for excellence in engineering, Ferdinand

Porsche actually learnt his craft at a different car company, Austrian firm Austro-
Daimler, where in 1906 he was made Technical Director. In 1923, he unveiled
his design for the Mercedes Compressor Sports Car, and with that creation
behind him, he went on to open an office in Stuttgart in 1931 to consult on
vehicle engineering and design. The engineering maestro developed the
prototype Volkswagen Beetle along with the first of what was to become a long
line of his own brand of cars, the 365 sports car in 1948. The involvement with
Volkswagen has stretched out through history; Volkswagen owns 30.6 percent of
Porsche as of spring 2008, and Porsche, in return, owns approximately 31 percent
of Volkswagen.
Family fortunes
Ferdinand Porsche died in 1951 and his son Ferry took over the business, which was
growing in size and reputation as Porsche sports cars claimed victory after victory in motor
racing throughout the bulk of the 20th century. In 1972, the company prepared to go public
and officially floated as “Dr. Ing h.c. F. Porsche AG” in 1973. Managing to lead the way in
safety as well as on the racetrack, in 1991, Porsche was the first carmaker in Germany to
introduce airbags for car drivers and frontseat passengers as standard equipment.
Wendelin the wunderkind
In 1993, the man who still helms Porsche took over in the company’s front seat.
Dr Wendelin Wiedeking. Wiedeking, who has a background in mechanical
191
engineering, has steered Porsche into being a steadily successful business during
his long reign at the top. In its 2007 Annual Report, Porsche proclaims its
confidence about the sports car market, with North America an extremely strong
market and sales in upcoming markets such as China and Russia doing brisk
business. In 2007, unit sales in export markets outside North America rose by 9.2
percent from 45,442 units to 49,625. The company also has good news for
graduates, both design dreamers and those who want to get their hands dirty, as
the 1.6 percent increase in employee numbers from 2006 to 2007 was concentrated
in its research and development unit and at its Leipzig plant.
Congestion suggestion
In early 2008, Porsche took it upon itself to oppose the rise of London’s “congestion
charge”, introduced by London’s then mayor Ken Livingstone in order to limit
vehicle access to congested central London. Livingstone’s plans to raise the charge
from eight British pounds to 25 British pounds for high emission vehicles found a
fiery adversary in the German company. Porsche challenged the proposed rise in
court in April 2008, fuelling angry responses from the congestion charge lobby as
well as from green campaigners Friends of the Earth.
With Porsche claiming that the tax is not only unfair but also counter productive
in terms of its environmental impact, it has science behind it — according to a
study by King’s College London, commissioned by Transport for London, a rise
in the congestion charge would raise carbon dioxide emissions in outer London
as drivers take more circuitous routes to their destinations.
While opposing the congestion charge for high-emission vehicles, Porsche is also
making headway in manufacturing lower-emission vehicles. In 2008, the
company planned to present a new line of environmentally friendly cars at the
Geneva Auto Salon. Using an environmentally friendly fuel called E10, the new
line of Cayenne models uses at least 15 percent less fuel than its predecessors.
Porsche has outlined its eco-friendly policy as producing cars that will combine
ahead-of-the-curve driving technology with the most environmentally efficient
technologies available.
Too Porsche to push
In June 2007, Porsche underwent a big structural change, adopting the

supranational European legal status SE, making it a European stock corporation.
This new organisational set-up means that Porsche AG becomes a wholly owned
subsidiary of the holding company Porsche Automobil Holding SE. Numerous
global subsidiaries now exist under the umbrella of this holding company.
192
Porsche SE
In March 2007, Porsche upped its stake of Volkswagen shares to 30.6 percent, triggering
a takeover bid according to German law. A “Volkswagen Law”, however, had been in
place which protected Volkswagen from takeovers by capping shareholders’ voting rights
at 20 percent, whatever the size of their holding. The European Court of Justice struck
down this law in October 2007 and while Porsche is now hopeful that a takeover bid for
Volkswagen is not far off, further changes in the law regarding Volkswagen’s
shareholding structure and voting rights are still needed before Porsche can launch a bid.
GETTING HIRED
Car-eers
Porsche offers a wide range of career opportunities from practical, hands-on technical
jobs to international marketing, sales and finance. Porsche’s website features all jobs
currently available at the company and you can search by level of qualification, job
category and/or region — the majority of jobs are in Germany, the Czech Republic,
Italy, North America, Spain and Portugal. You can apply for a specific position or
send your CV as a speculative application to recruitment@porsche.co.uk.
Sales and finance opportunities are available in Germany, Australia, France, Italy,
Japan, Spain, Portugal and the UK as well as in the US and Canada, while
engineering roles are available at Porsche’s headquarters in Stuttgart, its “nerve
centre” in Weissach, southwest Germany, in the US and in the Czech Republic.
The Apprentice
Porsche runs apprenticeship programmes which combine technical experience with

theoretical training in several European countries, though mastery of the relevant
language is required for successful applicants. Apprenticeships offer intensive courses in
areas of car making such as Technology, Body Repair and Parts. To find out more details
and apply online, visit the “jobs and careers” pages on Porsche’s website.
Ride through the ranks

Porsche has a strategic leadership process in which it monitors employees for
leadership potential. Its training programme includes schemes for younger
employees and for those with their sights set on entering its management team. The
programmes aim to ensure that key roles in the company are filled from within its
own ranks, so once you have your foot in the door, you may be in the front seat before
too long.
193
RENAULT
13-15 Quai Alphonse Le Gallo French Locations
92100
Boulogne-Billancourt Paris (HQ)
France Douai • Aubergenville • Le Havre • Le
Tel: + 33 (1) 76 84 04 04 Mans • Cléon • Batilly • Ruitz •
www.renault.fr Maubeuge

Employer Type: Public Austria • Belgium • Croatia • Czech
Ticker Symbol: RNO (Euronext) Republic • Germany • Hungary • Italy •
Chairman: Carlos Ghosn Luxembourg • The Netherlands •
2007 Revenue: €40.68bn Poland • Portugal • Romania • Russia •
2006 Revenue: €39.97bn Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain •
2007 Employees: 130,179 Switzerland • United Kingdom
2006 Employees: 128,893
No. of Offices: 118+
Employment Contact
Careers web site:
Divisions
www.renault.com
Automobile Design and (Click on “Jobs and Careers”)
Manufacture • Sales and Marketing
career
194 library
THE SCOOP
Renault
O
n a winter’s day in December 1898, Louis Renault took up a challenge to race
his A-type Voiturette up the steep Rue Lepic in Montmartre, Paris. So
impressive was his self-made motor tricycle that Renault drove away from
the race with his first 12 orders. He soon formed the Société Renault Frères, a factory
based in the Paris suburb of Billancourt. In its early decades, it specialised in constructing
racing cars, passenger cars and taxis. During World War I, it diversified into making
trucks, light tanks and aircraft engines. In the 1920s, Louis Renault built a huge factory
on the Île Seguin in Billancourt and moved into making buses, tractors and light
commercial vehicles. The company gradually emerged as a French market leader.
Nationalised in 1945 following World War II, the company then expanded
internationally by way of alliances and takeovers. After severe financial difficulties
in the early 1980s, the company returned to profit in 1987. Renault’s first steps
towards privatisation were taken in 1996.
Driving the distance
Renault has a solid position as a global market leader in car production with a presence
in 118 countries. In 1999, it formed an alliance with Japan’s Nissan and Romania’s Dacia,
giving it a foothold in Asia
“
and Central Europe. In
In its early decades, Renault
2000, it bought out South
Korea’s Samsung Motors specialised in constructing racing “
for 357 million euros, and cars, passenger cars and taxis
in 2001, became the main
shareholder in the Volvo Group, the world’s second biggest truck manufacturer. The turn
of the millennium also saw privatisation loom ever-nearer, with the French government
reducing its share in the company to only 15.7 percent in 2002. Renault has had to report
dropping figures in recent years — in 2007, global net income slid from 2.96 billion euros
in 2006 to 2.73 billion euros. The total number of cars sold is still impressive by anyone’s
count though, hitting close to six million worldwide. More than half of these sales
come from Renault’s alliance with Nissan, which Renault has owned 44.34 percent
of since May 2002.
The group’s activities are organised into two divisions. The automobile division designs,
develops and markets passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. In 2007, this division’s
revenue, at 38.68 billion euros, provided the bulk of Renault’s total revenue. The sales
financing division is the company’s sales and marketing arm, which in 2007 accounted for
two billion euros of total revenue. Including RCI Banque and its subsidiaries, this division
comprises a total of some 60 companies underpinning the group’s international platform.
195
Get out of my dreams, get into my car…
Like many other French companies angling for growth, Renault has set itself a
corporate vision and a timeline in which to achieve it. The company is in the hands
of chairman Carlos Ghosn, previously chief executive of Nissan, where he did so well
in turning around its ailing fortunes that Japanese fans created a comic book in his
honour. Ghosn announced to Renault’s staff that by 2009, he wanted it to realise his
three dreams of “quality, profitability, and growth”. This “Renault Commitment
2009” includes turning Renault’s 2007 flagship Laguna model into one of the three
top-selling automobile models globally in its sector in terms of product and service
quality. Ghosn also wants to achieve an annual operating profit margin of six percent
and shift an additional 800,000 units per year by 2009.
Alongside target-setting, the quality of life of Renault employees was given the once-
over. Renault’s management commissioned an independent assessment of their
staff’s attitude towards
“
Ghosn’s 2009 goals. Of
The Renault-Nissan Alliance 100,000 employees who
allows for synergy between the “ took part in the survey, 91
two companies in all areas percent said they were
proud to work for Renault,
and 85 percent found the
company’s strategy and objectives clear and motivating. Even with this employee
support however, the company in its 2006 Annual Report admitted that the
international car market has become an increasingly challenging environment in
which to operate. Renault has suggested that reaching its targets may be difficult due
to the high cost of raw materials and tough competition from Spain, Germany, Italy
and the UK.
Turning Japanese
The Renault-Nissan Alliance ranked in 2007 as the world’s fourth-biggest vehicle

manufacturer in terms of production volume, behind General Motors, Toyota and Ford.
Before the 1999 merger, Renault was No.11 in terms of global market capitalisation value
and Nissan ranked No.10. The Alliance now comprises the Nissan Group’s Nissan and
Infiniti brands along with Renault’s self-named brand, Dacia and Samsung. Along with
Renault’s part-ownership in Nissan, the Japanese company holds shares in Renault — as
of October 2007, this was 15 percent. The Alliance allows for synergy between the two
companies in all areas of car design, production and manufacture. Such collaboration is
working particularly well, according to Renault, when it comes to exchanging
management techniques. In 2006, the major growth markets for the joint company were
Russia, Colombia, China, the Middle East and Africa.
196
Cruise control
Initially, the merger wasn’t easy. In its early days, cost-efficiency was key and the
Renault
Alliance had to weather some major restructuring. A total of 43 out of Nissan’s 46
products sold in Japan were unprofitable, so three assembly plants were closed
and and 21,000 jobs were cut. Different maangement styles and principles took
time to integrate together, but the Alliance is now a strong global force with a very
bright future. Its board comprises three of Renault and three of Nissan’s executive
vice presidents, and aims to be genuinely collaborative. A major area of
cooperation is purchasing. The RNPO (Renault-Nissan Purchasing Organisation)
was founded in April 2001 to achieve economies of scale. This is done by ordering
large volumes to decrease costs and by developing standardisation procedures
across the board in manufacturing.
Road trip
In 2007, the major locations for Renault-Nissan cross-production were in France,

Spain, Brazil, Mexico and South Korea. Chennai, India, was announced, in February
2007, as a key new site with a 400,000 car capacity. The group produces and markets
a total of 88 different automobiles.
The car’s the star
Renault has proved a winner in recent years both with petrolheads and eco-warriors.
The company has had a team competing in Formula 1 races for 30 uninterrupted years
and has pulled off the rare feat of winning both the drivers’ and constructors’ world
championships in 2005 and 2006. As 2007 didn’t prove as triumphant on the track, chief
executive Ghosn said in interviews that Renault will only stay in Formula 1 as long as
it is in the company’s financial interest to do so.
As a counterpoint to revving up on the racetrack, Renault is gearing up its sustainable

development efforts. Its range of “eco²” vehicles, launched in Europe in 2007, aims
to be environmentally friendly and affordable. “eco²” vehicles emit less than 140g of
carbon dioxide per kilometre and run on E85 ethanol or B30 biodiesel. At least five
percent of an “eco²” vehicle is constructed out of recycled plastic, and at the end of
its life, 95 percent of it can be recycled.
Whilst this is a good start, the future looks even better for Renault in terms of
technological wizardry. The group’s engineers are at work on several projects
such as the new combustion process, Homogenous Charge Compression
Ignition, for petrol engines. Engines with this technology will reabsorb and re-
use a portion of gases burned in combustion. This will produce low levels of
197
soot and nitrous oxide. Renault is also pushing hybrid engine technology, which
lets you drive on an electric motor and produce no emissions as you righteously
cruise the city.
GETTING HIRED
Working for Renault
Renault offers several different routes to getting hired. It has jobs in France, Europe-
wide and worldwide, and hires in the following professions: sales, industrial design,
mechanical and vehicle engineers, researchers, communications professionals,
accounts, legal, human resources and IT. In France, the company seeks to hire young
professionals, experienced professionals and Masters’ students. Fluent French is
needed for all jobs, and eligibility depends on your level of education.
For sales, those with a high school diploma, aged 20-25, can apply for a work-study
programme. For all Renault careers, internships are available for either those who
are still studying or have a Baccalaureate, or a Baccalaureate equivalent with five
years of post-Baccalaureate studying. They last for a minimum of three months.
Those who have technical experience gained from two-to-four years of higher
education can apply for technical positions. Those who have five or more years of
higher education can apply for engineering and executive positions. Incoming staff
undergo a two-year induction which includes a three-week placement in a Renault
factory to learn about vehicle manufacturing and another three-week placement with
the company’s sales teams “in the field” in order to get to grips with the market.
You can use the job search function on Renault’s careers website to match your level
of education up with available opportunities. You can also sign up to receive email
alerts regarding jobs that suit your skills and education. For opportunities outside
France, visit “jobs and careers” on www.renault.com, and you can pick the country
you wish to work in to see what job opportunities are available there.
198
“ The company is in the hands of
chairman Carlos Ghosn, previously
chief executive of Nissan, where he
did so well in turning around its ailing
fortunes that Japanese fans created“
a comic book in his honour.
REPSOL YPF
Paseo de la Castellana, 278-280 European Locations

28046 Madrid
Spain Madrid (HQ)
Tel: +34 91 348 80 00 Denmark • France • Italy • Poland •
www.repsolypf.com Portugal • Russia

Employer Type: Public www.repsolypf.com (Click on the
Ticker Symbol: REP (Madrid, Buenos “Work With Us” link)
Aires, NYSE)
Chief Executive: Antonio Brufao Niubó joinus@repsolypf.com
No. of Offices: Offices in 35 countries
Divisions
Corporate Communications •
Directive Development • DG YPF •
DG Downstream • DG Upstream •
DG GNL • Finance and Corporate
Strategy • Human Resources •
Information Systems • Legal Affairs •
Media Relations • Operations
career
200 library
THE SCOOP
ith modern Spanish-Argentinean origins, Repsol YPF is an
Repsol YPF
W internationally-integrated oil and gas firm that operates in more
than 30 countries, while being a market leader in its home locations
of Spain and Argentina. It is also one of the ten-largest private oil companies in
the whole world.
Repsol YPF came about as a result of a few key economic developments, namely the
creation of the Spanish state-owned oil company (Repsol) in 1987, the end of the
monopoly age in Spain and the liberalisation of the hydrocarbon energy sector in
Spain in the late 1990s. All these factors made possible the birth of this oil company
in Spain, which acquired later, in 1999, the Argentinean oil firm YPF, changing its
name to Repsol YPF.
Refined business
In its evolution, Repsol YPF has passed from being a company dedicated solely to the
refining and commercialisation of oil products in Spain to becoming one of the tenth-
largest international firm integrated into the oil and gas industry. To that end, the
company has incorporated existing brand products into its business, while
maintaining its exploration and production activities, both in Spain and in the rest of
the world. Doing this has enabled the company to introduce new products and
services as well as shift its orientation towards different market sectors.
The firm produces, distributes and trades petro-chemical products directly. This is
Repsol’s main activity, undertaken primarily in Spain, Argentina and Portugal, with
its principal markets being Europe and the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina,
Uruguay and Paraguay). Repsol YPF also develops chemical production lines in Italy,
Denmark and Mexico.
From the oil well to the pumps

By December 2006, Repsol YPF, either directly or through its affiliates, held stakes in
oil and gas exploration and production assets in 25 countries, and was operating in
20 of these. Repsol YPF also holds a 75 percent stake in Canaport LNG, Canada, a ten
percent interest in WSR, a company with assets in Russia, and holds stakes in firms
in Kazakhstan and Liberia.
This multi-brand strategy affects downstream activity encompassing refining,

product commercialisation, LNG and chemicals. Repsol’s varied portfolio is,
according to the company, a direct result of its growing values, as it has learned to
201
assimilate cultural and economic differences. The company prides itself on always
maintaining an attitude of openness and flexibility.
Repsol YPF sells gas under the brands Campsa, Petronor, and Repsol at more than
6,900 service stations in Europe and Latin America. Repsol service stations, Repsol
and Campsa, are associated with the new Repsol company and are identified with
technological innovation. Campsa is a historical brand of longstanding credibility,
while Petronor is a brand with its heart in the north of Spain, where the refinery of
the same name is located.
Drilling for profits
The growth strategy in the coming years for Repsol’s upstream division (its exploration
and production business), the company’s main driving force, is to continue strengthening
and consolidating its positioning in its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) offerings. The
company intends to pursue any profitable opportunity that may arise.
Activities will also continue to focus on organic growth by increasing selective

exploration drilling and the acquisition of new high-potential mining rights. This
strategy also targets growth of traditional resources by maximising the exploration
potential of mature assets already in Repsol’s portfolio. The upstream division also
aims to develop heavy crude oil projects that will be selected by taking into
consideration their profitability potential for the company.
Another Argentinean?
At the end of July 2007, Repsol declared that the company wanted to transfer its
Argentinian subsidiary YPF to the hands of another private Argentinean group. Five
months later, the Spanish firm sold 14.9 percent of its subsidiary to Enrique Eskenazi,
owner of the financial entity Grupo Petersen, in an agreement that stipulated the
Argentinean firm will increase its purchase of YPF to 25 percent, a deal valued in
3.75 million dollars, according to Spanish newspaper Cinco Días.
GETTING HIRED
Energising your career
Repsol YPF offers its employees a chance to build a professional career in the group
through different options such as training, transfers or placements abroad. The training
is offered in technical fields which give the employee functional knowledge and teach
202
specific techniques. The professional exchange programme is for Repsol’s employees to,
Repsol YPF
hopefully, be enriched by the company’s fertile multinational environment.
A good perk at the firm is that employees have the option to request a transfer to
another position within the organisation after two years in the same post. This means
that personnel learn about the various sectors Repsol is involved in while
simultaneously broadening their knowledge of the company’s operations.
Choose your station
At Repsol YPF, hiring occurs on an ongoing basis, so your best bet is to make an open
application by sending your CV to joinus@repsolypf.com or submit an employment
form on the website to
“
get included on the
Repsol is a market leader
database used during the
selection process. Most in its home locations “
opportunities offered by of Spain and Argentina
the company mean
working in Spain. However, new graduates interested in working in other countries
should check the website for more information on international opportunities in any
of the five continents.
In most countries, Repsol YPF offers positions for new professionals, technical
graduates and other recruits, such as those who have received technical training or
have human resources, administration or marketing qualifications. The firm also
provides scholarships and internships in Spain, Argentina and Ecuador, among
others. In Spain and abroad, Repsol collaborates with various universities and
academic institutions to recruit what it hopes are the brightest and best, so keep a
lookout for Repsol at university careers days.
For job vacancies, to find out the requirements for each position, visit the “required
backgrounds” link in the “human resources” section on Repsol’s website. Production
engineers, for example, wanting to work for Repsol in any country should have an
engineering degree and at least five years of experience under their belt. On the other
hand, business development analyst applicants should have a degree in petroleum
engineering, a technical background, strong international experience and strong
communication skills among others. Fluency in Spanish is, unsurprisingly, an asset.
The selection process
Repsol YPF has two different selection processes depending on whether the
candidate has experience or not. Junior candidates need to pass various tests to gauge
203
their technical and general aptitudes. After that, applicants are asked to participate
in a group interview and if they pass this, they are interviewed by Repsol’s human
resources department. There is also a technical interview, where candidates receive
information about the company’s main projects. All this takes place on the same day,
but candidates will have to wait up to approximately 20 days for the results.
The selection process for senior candidates consists of three interviews on the same
day as well. The candidate is interviewed by the human resources department, the
international hiring department and a technical recruiter, so they can compare and
learn more about the aptitude of the applicant and discuss more about job positions
and working conditions at the company. This process lasts two and a half hours and
you can expect to wait for the results up to 20 days.
If you are applying for a post in a different country from where you are based, Repsol
YPF has video conferencing facilities which allow them to interview you wherever
you are. Saving the cost of travelling, this should encourage applicants from all over
the globe.
204
“ Repsol is a market leader in its home
locations of Spain and Argentina as
“
well as one of the ten-largest private
oil companies in the whole world.
ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
65 Buckingham Gate European Locations

London
SW1E 6AT London (HQ)
Tel: +44 (0)207 222 9020 Austria • Belgium • Czech Republic •
www.rolls-royce.com Denmark • Finland • France • Germany •
Greece • Italy • Norway • Poland •
Spain • Sweden
The Stats
Employer Type: Public UK Employment Contact
Ticker Symbol: RR (LSE)
Chief Executive: Sir John Rose www.rolls-royce.com/careers
No. of Offices: offices/service facilities in
50+ countries
Divisions
Civil Aerospace • Defence
Aerospace • Marine • Energy
career
206 library
THE SCOOP
olls-Royce plc, the manufacturer of power systems for four markets — civil
Rolls-Royce plc
R aerospace, defence aerospace, marine and energy — became a separate entity
from its luxurious automotive sister company in 1971. Whilst the car
manufacturer has had a torrid time since then, Rolls-Royce plc has gone from
strength to strength. Posting sales totalling 7.4 billion pounds for 2007, the company
boasts a rock solid customer base which includes 600 airlines, 4,000 corporate and
utility aircraft and helicopter operators, 160 armed forces clients and more than 2,000
marine customers. Added to this roster are energy customers stretching out over 120
countries. The corporate reach of Rolls-Royce extends to 50 countries, with more than
38,000 people working for this famous brand.
Keeping things civil
Rolls-Royce claims its position as the world’s number two engine maker in the civil
aerospace market, with annual sales of four billion pounds, due to its gas turbine
technology. The company powers passenger aircraft ranging from business jets to
enor mou s a i rc ra f t i n
both commercial and
corporate fields. More
than 40 of the world’s top
“ Rolls-Royce has estimated that over
the next 20 years, the global accessible
“
50 airlines have selected market for its products will be
Rolls-Royce engines for worth some two trillion dollars
their Airbus and Boeing
aircraft, including Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines and Nippon Airways. The
Trent aero engine family is the market leader with 50 percent of the new generation
of wide-bodied aircraft, with General Electric and Pratt & Whitney sharing the rest.
In the defence aerospace market, in which the company produces engines for combat
aircraft, helicopters and military transport and tactical aircraft, Rolls-Royce has
something more to boast about. The company declares itself the leading military aero
engine manufacturer in Europe and the number two military aero engine
manufacturer in the world, powering approximately 25 percent of the world’s

military fleet. The three bases of this juggernaut of military aerospace power are
Bristol in the UK, Dahlewitz in Germany and Indianapolis in the US.
Ready for combat
In terms of combat aircraft, Rolls-Royce is playing a major role in Eurojet, a European

engine consortium including MTU Aero Engines of Germany, Italy’s Avio and ITP of
Spain, that produced the EJ200, the engine of the Eurofigher Typhoon fighter aircraft. The
207
Eurofighter Typhoon is a joint effort to produce a leading fighter aircraft and the EJ200 is
its catalyst — engine technology of impressively advanced design. Rolls-Royce has long
provided design, development manufacturing and support work for the EJ200.
The company is involved in numerous other activities in the combat aircraft world.
Included in these is work on the Pegasus, the world’s only operational short take-off
vertical landing engine, called STOVL. The company’s expertise in this engine
technology is being used in its work with Lockheed Martin, the American aerospace
manufacturer, to develop the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet.
The gift that keeps on giving
When it comes to the crunch, Rolls-Royce’s civil aerospace division accounts for over
half of the company’s total revenues, bringing in 4.01 billion pounds in 2007,
including services, with its defence aerospace division ranking second in terms of
income, generating 1.67 billion pounds. The marine division accounted for 1.55
billion pounds of revenue in 2007 and the company’s energy division brought home
558 million pounds in the same year.
Manufacturing: from Derby to Dahlewitz
Rolls-Royce’s manufacturing is based across 20 countries, serving customers in 150

countries. The sites located in the UK, US, Canada, Germany, Finland, Korea, Poland
and China account for most of the company’s manufacturing and assembly
operations for all of its gas turbine, diesel, marine, oil and gas and power generation
products. Germany has become the secondary site for the bulk of the company’s civil
manufacturing, after the UK and its civil aerospace wing was bolstered in 2006 with
the transfer of the V2500 engine production from Derby to Dahlewitz, Germany.
The company has also spread its manufacturing further across Europe through a
series of joint ventures with Spain’s Industrial de Turbo Propulsores (ITP), Europea
Microfusioni and Aerospaziali (EMA) in Italy and IAE International Aero Engines in
Switzerland.
Brains of the world unite
Much of Rolls-Royce’s resources are put into research and development. In 2007, the
company spent 381 million pounds on research and development, a three percent increase
on 2006. This spending is, as Rolls-Royce chairman Simon Robertson proudly announced
in the company’s 2007 Annual Report, “being harnessed in a number of international
programmes”. The hope is that a broad, international platform for investments in new
technologies will keep the company ahead of the pack.
208
Another factor helping keep Rolls-Royce competitive is the global spread of its
Rolls-Royce plc
research and development facilities. By 2007, 32 percent, almost a third, of the group’s
R&D was conducted outside the UK. Out of its network of 29 University Technology
Centres, nine of these are located outside the UK. These are in the US, Canada,
Germany, Sweden, Norway, Italy, India, China, Singapore, Korea and Japan
Green expectations
Rolls-Royce has long been investing in R&D specifically to reduce the

environmental impact of its products. Aviation is often one of the main targets
of criticism when it comes to increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
Rolls-Royce is on the ball in this respect. The company pumps approximately
two-thirds of its research and development budget into reducing the
environmental impact of its products and services. It is intent on coming up with
more environmentally friendly technologies, especially aviation technologies.
Aiming to achieve the long-term environmental goals set by the Advisory
Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE) of reducing fuel burn and
carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent by 2020, noise by 50 percent and nitrous
oxide by 80 percent, the company spends in excess of 60 million pounds each
year on developing more environmentally-friendly engines.
Clear skies over Europe
Europe has come knocking too, with its regulations playing a part in Rolls-
Royce’s environmental strategy. The group is part of the seven year European
“Clean Sky” Joint Technology research project, along with six other major
European aerospace manufacturers: Dassault Aviation, Airbus, Eurocopter,
Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg, Safran and Thales. The project, set up in
partnership with the European Union, is one of the largest European research
projects ever. It aims to radically improve the impact of air transport on the
environment by speeding up the technological breakthroughs that will,
hopefully, make all the difference.
The company’s active support of green concerns can also be seen by its membership
of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme and the Chicago Gas Emissions Trading
Scheme in the US, which it joined in 2002 and 2003 respectively.
Fuelling some changes
In its 2006 Corporate Responsibility Report, the company declared that its priorities
for the next few years included a structured approach to technology acquisition in the
long term, the modernisation of factories and beefing up its aftermarket services
209
division, which that year represented 53 percent of group sales. Rolls-Royce has
estimated that over the next 20 years, the global accessible market for its products will
be worth some two trillion dollars, of which approximately half will relate to the
provision of its aftermarket services.
GETTING HIRED
Start your career in style
Rolls-Royce offers offers a wide range of graduate, undergraduate, internships and

apprenticeship opportunities via its main website. On the website, prospective
candidates can proceed to a relevant country site, choosing from the UK, US, Canada,
China, Germany, Norway or Sweden. With 40 percent of the country’s workforce
based outside the UK, Rolls-Royce offers much potential mobility.
The graduate programme, which requires a 2.1 degree and a relevant Masters
qualification for engineering-specific programmes, is split into two sections. The first,
the “Professional Excellence” scheme is a 12-to-18 month programme involving a
series of three-month rotations in the engineering, purchasing, logistics, commercial
or marketing areas. The second, the “Leadership Development” programme, is a
longer 18-to-24-month scheme, focused, as the title suggests, on developing future
business leaders. Again the programme involves area rotations, but one of which is
an international placement of six months.
Rolling forwards
There are also country specific programmes for graduates, details of which can also
been seen on the group’s careers website. The engineering-specific China programme
is in manufacturing engineering and it is a programme of up to 18 months which
includes stints in the UK and China/Hong Kong.
Applications are accepted via the company’s website initially by questionnaire and
CV, to be followed by an assessment centre for first round successes. With only 160
graduate places available each year, competition is fierce.
For experienced hires, again, one of the seven country-specific sites can be accessed
from Rolls-Royce’s main site. The ubiquitous registration form and CV upload is the
preferred application method, but in addition, the company lists a helpline where
candidates can call for advice in processing their applications.
210
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Momma doesn’t know – but we do!

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ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC
Carel van Bylandtlaan 30 European Locations

The Hague, 2596 HR
The Netherlands Amsterdam (HQ)
Tel: +31 70 377 9111 Austria • Belgium • Bulgaria • Croatia •
www.shell.com Czech Republic • Denmark • Finland •
France • Estonia • Germany • Gibraltar •
Greece • Hungary • Iceland • Ireland •
Italy • Luxembourg • Norway • Poland •
Portugal • Slovakia • Slovenia • Sweden •
The Stats
Switzerland • Turkey • United Kingdom
Ticker Symbol: RDSA, RDSB
(Amsterdam, LSE, NYSE)
Chief Executive: Jeroen van der Veer Employment Contact
2007 Revenue: $318.85bn
2006 Revenue: $355.78bn www.shell.com/home/content/careers
2008 Employees: 104,000
No. of Offices: n/a
Divisions
Exploration and Production •
Gas & Power • Oil Products •
Oil Sands • Chemicals
career
212 library
THE SCOOP
anked as the sixth-largest company in the world in Forbes Magazine’s 2008
Royal Dutch Shell plc

Global 2000 countdown, Royal Dutch Shell plc is also one of world’s most
high-profile and multinational oil companies. The Netherland’s based giant
is one of the largest private sector energy corporations in the world and one of the six
“supermajors” alongside ExxonMobil, BP, Total S.A., Chevron Corporation and
ConocoPhillips, in 2007, Shell scooped a mind-boggling revenue of 355.78 billion US
dollars.
Powering us all
Of joint British and Dutch origins, Shell’s headquarters are in The Hague,
Netherlands, whilst its registered office is in London. From these two bases, it
controls its empire of
diverse upstream and
downstream operations
that span more than 140
“ Shell is more than eager to repair
its image, persuading stakeholders
“
countries. In the UK, Shell of its commitment to corporate
provides approximately social responsibility.
25 percent of the nation’s
gas and 16 percent of its petrol and diesel from its 850 retail sites, all of which flows from
the Stanlow refinery in Cheshire. Shell’s five business divisions are exploration and
production, gas and power, oil sands, oil products and chemicals.
Risen from the ocean floor
The origin of the brand name Shell is surprisingly literal. In 1833, London antique
dealer Marcus Samuel founded an import business to sell seashells to British
collectors. Whilst collecting seashells in the Caspian Sea area, he realised the
potential in exporting lamp oil from the region. It didn’t take long for the market
to grow massively, with Samuel’s company pioneering the bulk import of oil,
making use of the Suez canal for the first time in 1892. The company merged with
its competitor Royal Dutch Petroleum in 1907 to form the Royal Dutch Shell
Group. By the end of the 1920s, it was the world’s leading oil company. The 1973
Oil Crisis forced Shell into a policy of diversification, and the company began its
explorations into other forms of energy.
Under one shell
For much of its existence, the group was a dually listed company, the two holding
companies being the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company of the Netherlands and Shell
213
Transport and Trading Company plc of the UK. Under this arrangement, the two
companies jointly owned all operating companies in the group, with the interest in
subsidiaries divided 60/40 in favour of Royal Dutch. In 2004, the company
announced its proposal to merge Royal Dutch and Shell Transport and Trading into
one entity, Royal Dutch Shell plc.
Lining up with the others
This arrangement was approved by investors in both companies in June 2005, with
the new single company worth 120 billion pounds (219 billion dollars). This new,
more transparent structure was widely welcomed as it brought the group’s
organisation into line with other private sector oil companies.
Shell shocked
Over recent decades, some of Shell’s activities have been rocked by controversy. One
area of concern has been health and safety. A number of incidents over the years
have led to criticism of Shell’s record, especially the poor state of the company’s
North Sea platforms. The company was fined 900,000 pounds following the deaths
of two workers on a North Sea platform in September 2003. To be fair to Shell, the
company has consistently attempted to improve its records, making safety a priority.
Its goal is zero fatalities and accidents.
Green concerns
Another headache for Shell has been criticism of its environmental record —
seemingly something no energy company can avoid. Prominent cases for Shell
include the planned disposal in 1995 of the Brent Spar oil production platform in
British waters. Organisations such as Greenpeace organised a media campaign
against the plan to sink the platform, which the company eventually abandoned.
Shell is open about its failings, with an archive of information about the Brent Spar
decommissioning available to the public. What’s more, the company first made its
commitment to sustainable development back in 1997, as part of “The Shell General
Business Principles”, the core values of the company. In 2005, former Shell chairman
Lord Oxburgh publicly declared global warming a “disaster” and encouraged
governments to provide a regulatory framework to encourage greenhouse gas
reduction.
Life on the other side of the Equator
A challenge for Shell in 2008 has been the security of its operations in Nigeria. The
Niger Delta region has become a major source of petroleum resources for the
214
company, with Nigeria now one of the leading OPEC nations. However, ethnic
Royal Dutch Shell plc

groups such as the Ogoni protested against Shell’s oil fields in their country. Even
armed groups attacked. In June 2008, the Nigerian government asked Shell to leave
its oil fields in Nigeria’s Ogoniland by the end of the year.
Take a walk on the greener side
Shell is more than eager to repair its image, persuading stakeholders of its
commitment to corporate social responsibility. Numerous initiatives such as the
global LiveWIRE youth entrepreneur programme prove the company’s commitment
to CSR. One of the key signs of the energy giant’s concern is that it has, since 1990,
committed to a 60 percent reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions. And when it
comes to further greening, Shell’s 2007 Sustainability Report has sketched out plans
to increase responsibility for biodiversity, limit fresh water use and prevent oil spills.
What’s the alternative?
Clearly, alternative fuels feature in the way forwards for Shell. The company is eagerly
investing in the development of alternative fuels, such as biofuels, gas to liquid fuel (GTL),
cleaner diesel made from natural gas and biomass, and hydrogen. For these purposes, the
company announced a series of partnerships in 2007, one being with US company Codexis
for the development of “super enzymes” which convert biomass into high-performance
fuels at an impressively high rate of efficiency. Another partnership, called Cellana, is
with HR Biopetroleum, a Hawaii-based algae biofuels company. Cellana involves the
construction of a plant in Hawaii where algae is grown to produce vegetable oil that can
be converted to biofuel.
The global economy hots up
Just as important, however, is the outlook on the financial side. In 2007 and 2008,
oil prices increased and stayed robust due, primarily, to political tensions in the
Middle East and Nigeria, a shortage of non-OPEC supply, and OPEC supply
restraint. Future demand for petrochemicals is expected to increase in line with
the growth in the global economy, particularly in line with the speedy growth of
the Asia Pacific region.
Shell sees the future energy industry as still being centered around a combination of
oil, gas and coal, with more oil production from unconventional resources such as oil
sands. The company has declared that managing the environmental and the social
impact of energy use and production will remain a priority, and that, as ever,
partnerships with governments and national oil companies will play a key role in
deciding the future shape of the industry. Judging by Shell’s track record, whatever
challenges arise from this, the company will easily weather them.
215
GETTING HIRED
Cracking that Shell
As befits a multinational behemoth, Shell offers a wide range of roles for potential
employees. These are divided into technical roles (eg. geology/geophysics,
petrophysics, production technology, process engineering, asset maintenance
engineering, project/facilities engineering, reservoir/petroleum engineering, well
engineering) and commercial roles (finance, commercial midstream/upstream,
contracting and procurement, human resources, information technology, sales and
marketing, supply and distribution, trading). All roles can be seen on Shell’s “jobs &
careers” website, where you can do a job search and investigate job requirements in
more detail.
Getting the hang of it
There are three main ways into Shell for students. After completing an online
application form, sending off your CV and completing two questionnaires to assess
your suitability for working at Shell, you can either attend a Shell recruitment day,
which involves exercises, presentations and a group discussion to assess your
potential for business or technical leadership. Or, you can take up Shell’s Gourami
business challenge, a week-long residential event which might lead to the offer of a
full-time position. Finally, you could take an internship. If you’re in the final two
years of your undergraduate course, you can join Shell for eight weeks up to a year.
Details are available on Shell’s website under “joining us as a student”.
The majority of internships take place in your country of residence. In the UK, for
example, Shell offer internships for penultimate-year students throughout the year,
as well as year-long industrial placements for non-final year students. Check
application deadlines on the website.
Looking for oil?

As for graduates, the company doesn’t run a generic graduate recruitment scheme,
instead offering role-based recruitment. Technical graduates, however, should apply
online, where you can select the role you wish to apply for. If your application form
stands out, you will be invited to an interview and a recruitment day. Be warned, at
these, Shell’s recruiters are are on the lookout for evidence of your technical skills in
particular. Shell also looks for intellectual, analytical and creative ability, enthusiasm,
resilience and confidence, and interpersonal skills. More details about how to get
picked for a graduate role at Shell are available on its comprehensive website.
216
RWE GROUP
Opernplatz 1 German Locations
45128 Essen
Germany Essen (HQ)
Tel: +49(0) 201 12 00 Locations throughout Germany
www.rwe.com

Company Type: Public Locations throughout Europe
Ticker Symbol: RWE.DE
Chief Executive: Dr Jürgen
Großmann
2007 Employees: 63,439 www.rwe.com
2006 Employees: 68,534 (Click on “Career”)
No. of Offices: numerous locations
throghout Germany
Divisions
RWE AG • RWE DEA • RWE Energy •
RWE Innogy • RWE Npower • RWE
Power • RWE Supply & Trading • RWE
Systems
career
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THE SCOOP
RWE Group
W
ith its population of more than 82 million, Germany consumes its fair
share of the world’s energy resources. As the country’s second-largest
utilities provider, RWE is the force that generates much of this power.
A huge company with operations in some of energy’s key sectors, RWE comprises
several sub-divisions. RWE AG is the multi-utility parent company to seven further
companies: RWE Power, RWE DEA, RWE Innogy, RWE Supply & Trading, RWE
Energy, RWE Npower and RWE Systems.
These companies’ core businesses are the generation, transmission, sale and trading of
electricity and gas. RWE racks up approximately 20 million customers for its electricity
business and ten million for its gas operations. With a 2007 revenue of 42.51 billion euros,
and a workforce topping 60,000, RWE might not be Germany’s number one utility
provider by revenue — that title goes to E.ON, but it is not far behind.
Bursting with energy
RWE’s umbrella company, RWE AG, based in Essen, is the small nerve centre of the
group, responsible for strategy development, planning, finances and communications as
well as being the lynchpin for the group’s human resources development. The largest of
RWE AG’s offspring,
“
RWE Power, produces
RWE’s umbrella company,
lignite — brown coal — to
generate electricity, along RWE AG, based in Essen, is the “
with nuclear fuel and gas nerve centre of the group
power. RWE Npower is a
UK energy provider, with approximately six million British customers switched onto its
electricity, gas and renewable offerings. The group’s explorers have a home in RWE Dea,
which produces gas and oil, with a major focus on Europe and North Africa, which is
then sold and traded by RWE Supply and Trading. The latter company was formed in
April 2008 by the integration of two former RWE companies, RWE Gas Midstream and
RWE Trading, and it is responsible for RWE’s non-regulated gas activities and its energy
trading in Europe.
RWEnewable
RWE’s answer to the future of renewable fuel resources is RWE Innogy, which plans
and builds renewable energy generation facilities around Europe, in particular wind
power, biomass and hydroelectric power plants. The previous version of RWE
Innogy is RWE Energy, the group’s energy network for continental Europe,
219
stretching over 12 regions and bringing in revenues for the group of 28.1 billion in
2006, supplying 15.8 million customers with electricity and 7.7 million customers
with gas. Last but not least, RWE Systems is the backbone of RWE’s whole huge
operation. The 3,000 employees in RWE Systems perform IT, management
consulting, facilities management, accounts, and real estate management, among
many other services, for the rest of the group.
The gold and the green
With the liberalisation and ever-increasing internationalisation of the world’s energy

markets, all energy companies have to make careful plans for the future. RWE is no
exception. Competition, efficiency and sustainability are the buzzwords the industry is
awash with. While RWE is adamant on reaching its target of five percent growth per year
until 2012, it has also set itself the target of more than tripling its installed renewable energy
generation capacity and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 40 million tons by
the same time. An increase in profits along with an increase in using renewable sources
is tricky to pull off, since renewable energies can be less cost-effective than traditional
fuels. RWE is, however, clearly on top of the need to move to renewables as traditional fuel
sources become more scarce in coming decades.
Energy flows
In 2008, RWE announced its intention to plough further into Eastern Europe and the
Meditterranean by establishing a local company in Turkey, planning expansion in
Greece and into new South-East European markets. The expansive group also intends
to further explore its options in Russia. In February 2008, RWE became the sixth
company backing the proposed Nabucco pipeline to bring gas from the Caspian
region to Europe, joining companies from Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and
Turkey. The Nabucco pipeline is set to supply gas from Azerbaijan and possibly Iran,
Iraq, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to the European Union. According to The
Financial Times, RWE is willing to invest one billion euros in exploration and
development and infrastructure-building for Caspian gas.
Expansion comes hand-in-hand with increasing workforce numbers — in 2007,

RWE grew by 1,714 employees, a third of whom were employed in Germany.
Activities aren’t just focused on expansion though. The group divested major
subsidiary, UK water company Thames Water, in 2006, for 7.2 billion euros. The
reason for this was so that RWE could focus on the European electricity and gas
markets. On a similar note, in November 2007, RWE postponed the IPO of its
American Water business due to unfavourable market conditions in the US. The
IPO was announced in 2005 but has faced administrative delays in the US. It was
set to go through in mid-2008.
220
GETTING HIRED
Careers with RWE
RWE offers numerous career paths to students and graduates, looking to sweep up the
RWE Group
brightest and best engineers and scientists and business, economics and law scholars. Just
like many other German companies, RWE has an exceptional array of opportunities for
school-leavers, taking on approximately 1,700 school-leavers in its wide variety of offices
and industrial jobs. Those who are looking for vocational training to get to grips with the
latest engineering and energy technologies are advised to check out the “career” link on
the RWE website and look at the information given in “From school to RWE”.
University students are well-catered for at the sprawling group. In 2007, RWE had
approximately 1,900 interns and theses students come through its doors and hired
approximately 350 graduates, with 300 of these on various training schemes. Range
is what should be highlighted — as the company says: “the job prospects that will
open up for you in the RWE Group are as varied as our business units”. While RWE
readily accepts applications from a diversity of academic backgrounds, most of its
new trainees have an engineering degree, such as architecture, construction, mining,
chemical, electrical, mechanical engineering, communications and data technology or
production and process engineering.
Two specific Germany-based graduate trainee schemes are offered — RWE Systems
and the International Graduate programme. Both are excellent ways to swim quickly
up the RWE stream. The RWE Systems scheme lasts 18 months, involves numerous
projects and challenges including a nine month basic training phase and a nine month
professional training phase in a core business area. Training activities are tailored to
suit your individual development plan and each trainee is assigned a mentor in the
specific field they work in. More information is available on the RWE website.
Pack your suitcase
The International Graduate programme, according to RWE, promotes “entrepreneurship

and intercultural competence”. Seeking graduates with an interest in management tasks

and excellent examination results, the programme offers the chance to change workplace
within RWE every three to four months. You need to be fluent in English and German to
apply, have relevant work experience and have studied or worked abroad for at least six
months. Applications can be made online and there is an online test to do if you fit RWE’s
requirements. The process doesn’t stop there, with interviews at the RWE headquarters
in Essen being the next stage, with immediate individual feedback promised. The
application period for this scheme is typically March to May, so keep your eyes on the
RWE Careers website for more details.
221
SAAB AB
P.O. Box 703 63 European Locations
SE- 107 24
Stockholm Stockholm (HQ)
Sweden Austria • Belgium • Bulgaria • Czech
Tel: +468 463 0000 Republic • Denmark • Finland • France •
www.saabgroup.com Germany • Hungary • Ireland • Italy •
Latvia • Lithuania • Luxembourg • The
Netherlands • Norway • Romania •
Switzerland • Turkey • United Kingdom
The Stats
Ticker Symbol: SAAB (Stockholm Stock Employment Contact
Exchange – OMX Nordic Exchange)
Chief Executive: Åke Svensson www.saabgroup.com
2007 Revenue: 23,02bn SEK Click on “Career”
2006 Revenue: 21,06bn SEK
No. of Offices: locations in 60 countries
around the world.
Divisions
Aerostructures • Aerosystems •
Aerotech • Aircraft Leasing • Avitronics •
Barracuda • Bofors Dynamics •
Communication • Grintek • Microwave
Systems • Space • Surveillance Systems •
Systems • Training Systems •
TransponderTech • Underwater
Systems • Combitech • Gripen
International
career
222 library
THE SCOOP
he Saab brand is familiar the world over as an innovative car manufacturer,
SAAB AB
T so you could be forgiven for not knowing that the company’s business lines
extend beyond the motorway. Though they started out as one and the same,
the Saab name is shared today by two separate business entities, Saab Automobile AB
and Saab AB. Saab Automobile AB was spun off in 1990 to focus solely on car
production and has, since 2000, become subsumed into US automotive giant General
Motors as its Swedish subsidiary. SAAB, however, still works on an enormous range
of products and services, from aircraft engineering to military systems.
Off-road
As of 2008, Saab AB comprises three business segments: systems and products,

aeronautics and defence and security solutions. Out of the firm’s 2007 total revenue of
23,02 billion SEK, defence and security systems was responsible for 36 percent, systems
and products reaped the same amount and aeronautics brought in 28 percent.
Saab starts its engines
Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Saab) was founded back in 1937 as a Swedish national
military aircraft manufacturer intended to help the war effort. Post-war, Saab chose not to
dismantle. Instead, the company decided to branch out to car production, picking 15 of its
best engineers to put their aviation expertise into its first vehicle prototype, the Saab 92-
001, a Beetle-esque model with front-wheel drive and a two-stroke engine.
The company would go on to be an early adopter of many automotive improvements

we now take for granted, including the turbo engine, seatbelts as a standard feature,
windshield wipers, split side-view mirrors and electronic brake-force distribution.
After Saab’s automobile manufacture unit was launched, the company diversified. In
the 1960s it played a major role in the emergence of Sweden’s computer, missile and
space industries. It is primarily in the latter two of these industries that Saab group
has, in the 21st century, made a major name for itself.
Saab-solutely Swedish
Continuing to extend its engineering expertise, in the late 1960s Saab merged with Swedish
truck manufacturer Scania, but this merger broke apart in 1995. The turn of the millennium
saw a key hook-up, with Saab acquiring the Swedish defence group Celsius for
approximately five billion SEK. This created what was heralded as “the leading Nordic
defence company”. At the time, British military equipment manufacturer British
Aerospace (BAE) owned 35 percent of Saab, which it had purchased after Saab listed on
223
the Swedish Stock Exchange in June 1998. Both Celsius and BAE helped Saab through
close cooperation with them and their expertise. Since then, Saab has been doing its best
to be at the forefront of military systems and related engineering in the Nordic region.
Getting a Gripen
Saab’s aeronautics programmes are particularly key to maintaining a leading position
in the global engineering stakes. Whilst it has a strong civilian aeronautics base,
providing aerostructures and subsystems to such companies as Airbus and Boeing,
it is in military aircraft
“ Though they started out as one

and the same, the Saab name is shared
“
technology that Saab
really shines. One of the
main pillars of its business
today by two separate business entities, is its Gripen programme.
Saab Automobile AB and Saab AB. Gripen is, Saab claims, the
w o rld’s mo s t mo de rn
fighter aircraft in operational service. In 2006, Saab clocked up some big orders for it,
including the Swedish Air Force’s request for a major upgrade of its Gripen systems,
a ten year contract from the US army, the delivery of five Gripen jets to Hungary in
May and Pakistan’s confirmation of an 8.3 billion SEK order for Saab’s airborne
surveillance system in June 2006.
Alongside these countries, Gripen is currently used in Norway, South Africa and the
Czech Republic and in early 2008, the Thai government sealed a deal with Saab for
a defence package. The Swedish Defence force renewed its order in 2007 by
requesting an upgrade of 31 Gripen aircraft at the very latest standard; the request
also included a programme which demonstrates the future of these aircraft, showing
off Saab’s strengths as engineers.
To infinity and beyond
Future versions of Gripen will feature stronger engines, a new modular avionics
system, longer range and a completely new type of radar developed in collaboration
with French aerospace firm Thales. The technology Saab and Thales are developing
is called the AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar, which uses many small
antenna elements to create a larger radar antenna which performs many functions.
Compared to previous designs, this is a big step forward.
A clear outlook?
The group’s goals for 2008 were to reach five percent organic growth and an
operating margin of ten percent. In 2007, the group scored four percent organic
224
growth with an operating margin of 11.3 percent. With 65 percent of sales coming
SAAB AB
from markets outside Sweden, Saab is focused on beefing up its revenues in all areas
of operation, globally, in the short-term future. The company claims its edge is in the
development and integration of aircraft systems — hence its Gripen programme —
but its other offerings are just as impressive.
A capable company
Under its division called “capabilities”, Saab’s extended engineering range

encompasses numerous cutting-edge technologies. Its command and control
offerings for civil security, land, air and naval operations range from infrastructure
protection products to maritime surveillance systems. The group builds complex
systems for communications, sensors and electronic warfare usage such as combat
vehicle protection products. It also makes space equipment, unmanned systems for
air and underwater applications and weapons. Saab has numerous contracts to its
name for all these products, both domestic and international.
Keeping itself at the heart of Sweden’s industrial complex, in early 2008, Saab struck
a deal to supply a custom-designed surveillance system for Sweden’s Ringhals
nuclear power plant.
GETTING HIRED
Summer with Saab

Saab has great opportunities for students who are looking to intern or arrange their
thesis in partnership with an engineering company. Every year, the firm takes in
hundreds of temporary employees from high schools, colleges and universities. In
particular, the Swedish engineers offer four-to-eight week summer work placements,
mainly for Swedish students. To apply for these, you will need excellent Swedish
and the application, which you can find online, should be filled out in the February
before the summer you wish to intern. You’ll hear by that April whether you’ve been
successful in gaining a place.
Saab standard
In terms of thesis placements, Saab provides great integration with working on the
frontline of “the latest of technological developments”. All opportunities in your field
of study and others, can be found through Saab’s “vacancies” link, if you select
“thesis project” as your employment type. However, if you can’t find a thesis subject
225
that suits you, Saab recommends contacting the human resources department in the
business unit of interest to you directly.
Each year, Saab organises a Swedish Championship in Technology, which attracts

engineering students from all over Sweden. More information about the
Championship can be found under the Student link in the Careers section of Saab’s
website. The company also visits university and college career fairs worldwide. The
event calendar under the “student” section of the “careers” website shows when and
where the company is recruiting next.
Saab advertises all its positions under the “vacancies” link on its careers website,
where you can also register and update your CV and personal profile. If you do not
see a suitable job position advertised, spontaneous applications can be uploaded to
a CV database.
226
“ The turn of the millennium saw a key
hook-up, with Saab acquiring the
Swedish defence group Celsius for
approximately five billion SEK, creating
“
what was heralded as “the leading
Nordic defence company”.
SCHINDLER GROUP
Zugerstrasse 13 European Locations

6030 Ebikon
Switzerland Ebikon(HQ)
Tel: +41 (0) 41 445 30 60 Austria • Belgium • Croatia • Czech
www.schindler.com Republic • Finland • France • Germany •
Greece • Hungary • Ireland • Italy •
Luxembourg • Netherlands • Norway •
Poland • Portugal • Romania • Russian
Federation • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain •
The Stats
Sweden • Turkey • United Kingdom
Ticker Symbol: SCHP (SWX)
Chairman: Alfred N. Schindler
2007 Revenue: 13,875m CHF Employment Contact
2006 Revenue: 11,106m CHF
2007 Employees: 45,000 www.schindler.com
2006 Employees: 43,679 (Click on "Careers")
No. of Offices: 1,000 locations
worldwide
Divisions
Elevators • Escalators • Moving Walks •
Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) • Consumer
Electronics
career
228 library
THE SCOOP
nyone who has taken an elevator to avoid climbing ten flights of stairs,
Schindler Group
anyone who has run up an escalator when rushing to catch a train, or
anyone who has regarded a moving walkway at an airport as a blessing
when travelling, all, probably, have something in common: they have
appreciated the world-class Swiss engineering of Schindler Group. Schindler is
the world’s second-largest elevator and escalator manufacturer, with
approximately 45,000 staff worldwide. Its parent company, Schindler Holding
Ltd, listed on the Swiss stock exchange, comprises two core businesses. The first,
elevators and escalators, was responsible for 63 percent of sales in 2007. ALSO,
a distribution and logistics company, specialising in information and consumer
technology and consumer electronics, is Schindler Holding Ltd’s other main
business interest.
Schindler’s Lift
As of 2008, Schindler manufactured and provided services for elevators and escalators
through a network of subsidiaries and branches spanning 130 countries over all continents.
This network includes
“
production sites and
There is even more room for
research and development
centres in Europe, China
manoeuvre in Asia as the Middle Eastern “
and North and Latin market opens up for Schindler
America. So what kinds of
elevators does Schindler produce? The group works in five key segments: residential
elevators, commercial elevators, high-rise elevators, freight and special elevators and
finally, marine mobility systems.
In terms of its escalators and moving walks, Schindler divides its products into four
segments. These are: commercial escalators, public transport escalators, inclined
moving walks and horizontal moving walks. The latter are specifically designed for
airports and shopping malls where passengers with trolleys or hefty goods can glide
smoothly and safely from one destination to the next.
Schinder at your service
Along with all these ways of getting from A to B, Schindler makes sure it is on hand
with tools for modernisation when those elevators, escalators and walkways start
getting cranky. Such services range from minor improvements to full system
replacement, either independently or in conjunction with the remodelling or
refurbishment of a building.
229
Chocolate, cuckoo clocks … and lifts?
The story of Schindler begins in the same place as the story of scores of quality chocolatiers,
clock manufacturers and prestigious banks do: in Switzerland. In 1874, two men by the
names of Robert Schindler and Eduard Villiger established a joint partnership called
Schindler & Villiger and opened a mechanical engineering workshop in Lucerne, where
they produced various machinery and lifting equipment.
Year after year, the company grew. In less than 20 years, it had manufactured water-
driven and hydraulic elevators. In 1892, the year that the company built its first
electric elevator, Villiger left the partnership. Schindler carried on with the business
under the name Robert Schindler, Machinery Manufacturer. As soon as the 20th
century kicked off, Alfred Schindler, Robert Schindler’s nephew, took over.
Expansion started apace and continued through the following decades. Today, the
company is helmed by another Alfred Schindler, the grandson of the first Alfred.
American dreams
The company entered the North American market in 1979 with the purchase of the
Ohio-based Haughton Elevator Company. Initially, the company re-branded as the
Schindler-Haughton company; however, after acquiring the elevator and escalator
division of Westinghouse Electric — one of the biggest manufacturers in the industry
at the time — Schindler significantly increased its presence in the massive US market.
After the acquisition, the company rebranded its US operations as Schindler Elevator
Corporation, which is based in Morristown, New Jersey.
International heights
In 2006, Schindler acquired a 25.5 percent stake in Hyundai Elevator Co.Ltd in South
Korea. At the time, Hyundai Elevator Co. was the second-largest elevator and
escalator manufacturer in South Korea and had numerous subsidies reaching out to
Asian markets. In October 2007, Schindler announced at a press conference that it
was to take the collaboration with Hyundai Elevator Co. a step further. The
companies are setting about establishing joint working teams. This would make sense
as Asia is already a booming market and Schindler already has a presence in all major
Asian countries.
Complementing its burgeoning interest in Asia, in May 2008, Schindler partnered

up with a Mumbai-based computing company, Patni Computer Systems Ltd, in
order to develop and test services for Schindler’s double-deck elevator. The Indian
research and development team is creating complex algorithms and simulators of
elevator designs for Schindler’s future technological use.
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Raising its game in India
In May 2008, Schindler launched its best-selling elevator lines, the Schindler 3300
Schindler Group
and the Schindler 5300, in both India and China. Schindler is looking to capture a
huge chunk of these enormous — and still growing — residential and commercial
markets. According to India’s Economic Times, Schindler knows how to make a lift
that hits the spot in environmental terms. Its lifts are said to be “environmentally
friendly, energy efficient and operate at low expenses”.
Asian attractions
There is even more room for manoeuvre in Asia as the Middle Eastern market opens up
all the more for Schindler. A significant mid-2008 acquisition is a 49 percent stake in a
Qatari elevator firm, set up by a member of the Gulf state’s ruling family. Another notable
contract signed at around the same time is one to supply and service 299 elevators for a
new city of more than 400,000 inhabitants, to be built on the sands near Cairo, Egypt. The
city is due to be completed in 2010 and Schindler technicians will be based permanently
on site to look after the elevators. The Schindler 3300 is likely to be used for the project, a
collaborative effort between three top US architectural firms, which is said to be a “city of
international standards”. Schindler has already worked on mobility systems for El Rehab,
another city development near Cairo.
To round off Schindler’s adventures in Asia in early 2008, the company has also been
enlisted to provide more than a hundred escalators and elevators for Beijing’s 2008
Olympics. According to Schindler, its installations were chosen for their reliability
and ability to cope with huge volumes of traffic. Schindler has been a key presence
in China during recent years, having provided mobility to some of its major
landmarks. These include the ICC Tower, which is Hong Kong’s tallest building; the
China World Trade Centre in Beijing, which is the city’s tallest building, the new
American Embassy in Beijing and Nanjing’s Greenland Tower Phase II, China’s sixth
highest building.
GETTING HIRED
Give your career a lift
Schindler’s opportunities for student and graduates are diverse. The company offers
numerous opportunities to students including internships and summer jobs. As for
graduates with degrees in engineering, whilst they can search the Schindler job
boards for vacancies, they can also apply directly to the fast-track Schindler Career
231
Development Program (SCDP). This is a six-year, on-the-job management training
program that includes chances to work internationally for up to two years as well as
professional guidance.
The SCDP has three tracks, for engineers, for those who want to work in field
operations (sales and marketing) and finally, business administration. The starting
point for the engineering track is to have a relevant Masters’ degree and less than
two years of experience. Engineers will start as technical assistants, but the standout
point of the SCDP at Schindler is that you have the opportunity to experience a
rotation in another function so you pick up skills in different business areas. More
information, including details on how to apply, can be found on Schindler’s website.
Calling all architects
Schindler is active in urban planning and architecture collaborations with

universities. In 2008, the group received a record number of participants for its third
Schindler Award for Architecture, “Access for All”. The competition has run every
two years since it was launched in 2003, which was the European Year for People
with Disabilities. The goal of the competition was to inspire Europe’s future architects
to design buildings and cities that are accessible to all. In 2008, applications were
received from 95 schools of architecture from 22 European countries.
232
SCHLUMBERGER
Le Palatin 1 European Locations

1 Cour du Triangle
92936 La Defense Cedex La Defense (HQ)
France Austria • Bulgaria • Croatia • Czech
Tel: +33 1 7112 2000 Republic • Denmark • Georgia •
www.slb.com Germany • Greece • Hungary • Ireland •
Italy • Morocco • The Netherlands •
Serbia and Montenegro • Spain •
The Stats
Turkey • Ukraine • United Kingdom
Company Type: Public
Ticker Symbol: SLB (Euronext, London,
Amsterdam, SWX, NYSE)
Chief Executive: Andrew Gould Employment Contact
2007 Revenue: $23.28bn
2006 Revenue: $19.23bn www.slb.com
2007 Employees: 80,000 (Click on "Careers")
No. of Offices: not available
Divisions
Artificial lift • Cementing •
Coiled tubing • Completions •
Consulting and Data Services •
Drilling • Formation Evaluation •
Integrated Project Management •
Production Optimisation •
Seismic Services • Software •
Stimulation • Well Testing
234 career
library
THE SCOOP
chlumberger (pronounced “schlumberjay”), is one of the world’s largest
Schlumberger
S oilfield services companies, supplying technology, project management and
information systems to the oil and gas industry. The firm is comprised of two
primary business segments: Schlumberger Oilfield Services and WesternGeco.
Oilfield Services offers a wide range of products and services that support industry
exploration and refining operations, while WesternGeco is the world’s largest seismic
company, providing advanced seismic technologies.
Hey, Hey, Schlumberger
Schlumberger’s core business, oil field drilling, is vulnerable to the energy industry’s
boom and bust cycle and depends upon the accessibility of available reserves. It is
therefore of key importance for the company that it stays at the forefront of
technological developments, in order to improve reservoir performance and reduce
technical risks.
Schlumberger’s principal offices are in Paris, France, The Hague in The

Netherlands and Houston, US, where it has been headquarted since
1940. Employing 80,000
“
people of 140 nationalities,
Schlumberger’s core business, oil
the company’s wide
reach goes beyond its
field drilling, is vulnerable to the energy “
recruitment policies. In industry’s boom and bust cycle
2007, approximately 76
percent of Schlumberger’s revenue was derived from activities outside the US, with
similar figures for the p r e v i o u s t w o y e a r s . Schlumberger’s products and services
range from geophysical services, such as seismic services, to well testing for oil reservoirs,
integrated project management and consulting and data services.
Here’s the drill

In 1912, Conrad Schlumberger came up with the revolutionary idea of using

electrical measurements to map subsurface rock bodies, a breakthrough in the
process of oil exploration. Conrad and his brother Marcel opened their first office
in Paris in 1920. In 1923, the brothers began conducting geophysical surveys in
Romania, Serbia, Canada, South Africa, the Belgian Congo and the US. Later that
decade, they incorporated their business and formed Société de Prospection
Electrique, the pre-cursor of Schlumberger Limited. Since then, over the decades,
Schlumberger has introduced one technological advance after another.
Its breakthroughs have been numerous and include the first computerised
235
reservoir analysis system, the use of geo-steering to plan the drilling path in
horizontal oil wells and the oilfield services industry’s first long-term reservoir
monitoring system.
Looking ahead
Schlumberger declared a 21 percent increase in revenue from 2006 to 2007, fuelled by

strong demand for oilfield services. Pre-tax operating income in 2007 for the group
was 1.06 billion US dollars, 31 percent higher than in 2006. Year-on-year growth rates
reached 31 percent in the Middle East and Asia, 30 percent in Europe, the CIS and
Africa and 29 percent in Latin America. North American figures, however, remained
unchanging from 2006 to 2007.
The company expects several trends to characterise Schlumberger in 2008 onwards.

Growth in land activity outside North America will remain strong and seismic
exploration services will continue to be in demand worldwide on land and offshore,
as, Schlumberger says, “the industry gears up for an extended exploration phase”.
New hotspots
Each year, Schlumberger identifies and awards internal projects which have
demonstrated superior performance when measured against the criteria of
teamwork, innovation and business impact. In 2007, 365 projects were submitted by
the Schlumberger technologies and geomarket regions for the Performed by
Schlumberger Award. In 2007, an operation support center initiative won the award.
The operation support center sounds impressive — it enables drilling operations to
be directed remotely by experts. The level of drilling efficiency achieved remotely
by the combination of engineering and expertise is, according to Schlumberger, a
“paradigm shift” in how exploration and production is carried out. There were, as of
the end of 2007, 45 Operation Support Centers up and running around the globe,
connected to two training centres offering virtual training.
New digs
In 2005, Schlumberger announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters from

New York to Houston, Texas, in the second half of 2006. The company’s chief
executive and rew Gould, said that the move sought to capitalise on closer proximity
of its headquarters to crucial engineering and operational facilities. Schlumberger
has long had a presence in Houston, where its North American operations have been
coordinated since 1934. At the time of the announcement, Schlumberger ran multiple
operational locations and technical engineering facilities in the Houston region,
employing around 8,000 people.
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While Schlumberger’s headquarters are in the US, the company’s presence in its
Schlumberger
European home is becoming ever stronger, as many of its acquisitions are based in
European oil hotspots such as Russia and Norway. In 2006, Schlumberger acquired
Ødegaard A/S, a Danish firm which makes advanced surface seismic data inversion
software and Reslink, a Norway-based supplier of engineering applications and
products for sand control and management.
Siberia is where it’s at. Seriously.
European acquisitions continued at a steady pace in 2007 with the completed takeover of
Siberian geophysical and wireline logging company Tyumenpromgeofizika, boosting its
capabilities in the all-important Siberian market. The group consolidated its Siberian
presence by opening up a training centre in Tyumen, West Siberia by way of an
investment of approximately 100 million dollars, which provides training in the Russian
language for Schlumberger field engineers and specialists.
Acting seedy
Schlumberger’s green fingers look toward schools rather than gardens. The
Schlumberger Excellence in Education Development (SEED) program, founded in
1998, connects its employees with ten-to 18-year-old students in “developing
communities.” According to the company’s web site, “the program offers young
people a tangible opportunity to participate in the economic and social advantages
afforded by access to new knowledge and technologies.” SEED works via four
components. First, a school network program provides financial and technical
assistance to link disadvantaged schools in economically developing countries to the
internet. Second, an online science centre brings together Schlumberger scientists
and engineers with ten-to 18-year-olds worldwide. Third, collaborative projects
where SEED facilitates cooperation between school children around the world and
fourth, jointly, educational programs are offered through the initiative.
GETTING HIRED
Waking you from your Schlumber-ger

As Schlumberger says, the next generation of energy scientists will focus on how to
secure energy supplies while reducing carbon emissions. The challenge to find
talented engineers who can help achieve this is something the company takes
seriously. Schlumberger is a frequent visitor to university campuses, with the
237
intention of recruiting the brightest and best young engineers to work for it. Just as
an example to show the company’s intent, in 2007 its human resources
representatives made more than 1,100 trips to approximately 275 universities in 50
countries. The company has long had an international outlook and recruits from
universities worldwide.
The University Ambassador Program builds Schlumberger’s relationships with

professors and students in numerous universities through initiatives such as research
funding and work experience programs. The group is proactive when it comes to
diversity both in terms of culture and gender, with a specific program in place, for
example, for high-potential female candidates for future senior management
positions. This is definitely a company that watches out for its employees’ futures.
Schlumberger is looking out for those with a “pioneering attitude” and is keen to
recruit field engineers, research and development scientists and engineers,
manufacturing, supply chain and logistics professionals, software engineers, petro-
technical graduates and business consultants, among other opportunities. All
Schlumberger’s recruitment opportunities, including its internships, can be viewed
on its dedicated Careers website. For most jobs, eligibility criteria include a Bachelors
or Masters degree in a relevant discipline.
Recent graduates enter into a fixed step training program that lasts approximately 40
months. Afterwards, you will have the option to build a career in operations
management, technology, human resources, marketing and sales and other
disciplines. The company also offers its employees the flexibility to move between,
as its website says, “functions, technologies and geographies”.
OUR SURVEY SAYS
Life at the high-end

When it comes to hiring, an employee in the firm’s Paris office described the
interview process as involving “three to four interviews for partners, led by the most
senior members of the team. For “non-partners,” there is a one day session which
combines introductory interviews with working on case studies. This is led by both
partners and managers.”
The consulting aspect of the firm’s work received glowing reviews from insiders.
“Schlumberger Business Consulting is a mix of excellent consultants coming from the
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best consulting firms and others in the field” said a former partner at the firm. “This
Schlumberger
creates a unique culture — there is excellence, with a focus on getting a sustainable
impact on client performance, combined with a very hands-on approach. It’s a “get
it done” culture.”
The same source testified to Schlumberger’s diversity, noting that “profiles at

Schlumberger are much more international than those I saw in other strategy firms
— there were nearly ten different nationalities on one of my latest projects.
“Projects and lifestyle are very international” one Paris-based source told us. There’s
a lot of travelling and commuting, which might be a problem for those who prefer
to work in their home country.”
Overall, sources deemed the firm’s business model as “particularly supportive of

excellence, seniority and expertise.” The praise continues, with one former employee
at Schlumberger listing access to “high quality information and expertise uncommon
at other firms,” as the qualities that make Schlumberger “a true high-end firm,”
especially when it comes to its consultancy business.
Among the perks of working at Schlumberger, staff listed stock options and a decent
bonus, of approximately 20 percent of base salary, dependent on time spent abroad.
239
SIEMENS AG
Wittelsbacherplatz 2 German Locations

D-80333 Munich
Germany Munich (HQ)
Tel: +49 896 36 00 Opportunities available throughout
www.siemens.com Germany

Employer Type: Public Germany (HQ)
Ticker Symbol: SIE (FSE, NYSE, XTRA) Austria • Belgium • Bulgaria • Croatia •
Chief Executive: Peter Löescher Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia,
2007 Revenue: €72.45bn Finland • France • Greece • Hungary •
2006 Revenue: €66.49bn Ireland • Italy • Latvia • Lithuania •
2007 Employees: 398,000 Luxembourg • The Netherlands •
2006 Employees: 371,000 Norway • Poland • Portugal • Romania •
No. of Offices: numerous locations Russia • Serbia & Montenegro •
throghout Germany Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden •
Switzerland • Turkey • Ukraine •
United Kingdom

Energy • Healthcare • Industry www.siemens.com
(Click on “Jobs & Careers”)
career
240 library
THE SCOOP
robably best known as one of the world’s leading makers of mobile phones,
Siemens AG
P Siemens is an electronics and electrical engineering giant headquartered in Munich,
Germany. With operations spanning industry, energy, telecommunications and
healthcare, Siemens maintains a presence in more than 190 countries, with its huge range
of products and services spanning the construction of industrial plants to state-of-the-
art clinical imaging systems for healthcare professionals to visualise the molecular biology
of diseases. Such a varied product range requires a large staff, and the company employs
just under 400,000 staff, 126,000 of which are based in Germany, with another 106,000
scattered throughout the rest of Europe. The Americas are home to about 91,000 with
another 66,000 in Asia, and the final 10,000 work in Africa and the Middle East. In its
home country, Siemens has permeated the most — Siemens technology generates half the
electrical power in Germany, and every second traffic light in the country is made by the
company.
From humble beginnings
Siemens began in 1847, when German engineer Werner von Siemens co-founded a
telegraph company that raked up some impressive claims to fame in the 19th century.
It installed the first long-distance electrical telegraph line in Europe, and built the
world's first electric railway in 1879 and the first electric streetcar in 1881. In the early
20th century, the company grew rapidly, forming a Japanese subsidiary in 1923, and
launching its electrical appliances unit and introducing the first cardiac pacemaker
to the world in the 1950’s.
All synapses firing
The 1960’s saw Munich's first electronically controlled telephone exchange come to
life in 1962 and the founding of Siemens AG in 1966. By the 1980’s, the company was
still ahead of the curve in terms of technological innovation, building the first 64-kbit
memory chip in 1981, and it kept the ball rolling in the 1990’s by developing the
Synapse 1, the world’s fastest neurocomputer, in 1992. In 2001, Siemens was listed on
the New York Stock Exchange. The company has fast expanded in the past decade,
particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, where, by 1997, it had 45,000 employees,
approximately 70 joint ventures and 60 plants.
Siemens: the electrical chameleon
Part of Siemens’ growth strategy has long been the diversification of its various
industries. In the early 1990’s, for example, the largest European company in the
241
computer industry, Siemens-Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG (SNI), was formed,
which later, in 1999, became swallowed up into Fujitsu Siemens Computers AG. In
the late 1990’s, Siemens stretched its wings by buying former US electric and utilities
company Westinghouse’s fossil power plant activities. This helped Siemens make
its mark in the US, leading to its NYSE listing.
Between 1999 and 2008, Siemens kept building through acquisitions and partnerships,
but it kept itself streamlined through shedding companies whenever necessary, such as
its semiconductor business. In 2001, the group merged its nuclear activities with those
of the French company Framatome, which became Areva in 2006, but the nuclear love-
in has been problematic recently, since France has wanted to consolidate its nuclear
activities domestically, but Siemens still wants a stake of Areva.
More recently, Siemens has undergone some restructuring. As Europe’s largest

engineering firm, under new boss Peter Löescher, appointed in July 2007, Siemens
has scaled down from 14 unwieldy divisions, turning its focus onto industry, energy
and healthcare exclusively. The Financial Times has suggested Löescher’s strategy
might take a leaf out of one
of his previous employers,
“ The autonomy of Siemens’

global subsidiaries may be reined in by “ General Electric’s, book, and
make Siemens “faster, less
complex and more focused”
new chief executive Löescher
by concentrating on its
most autonomy that many
of Siemens’ businesses enjoy in 190 countries worldwide may be reined in as Löescher
plans on creating a more regional, networked structure. Likely changes also include
Siemens’ labour force being trimmed, and its power transmission operations being scaled
back to be replaced by a greater focus on its more higher-margin products.
Siemens' bribery blues
Scandal hit the company, however, in November 2006, when German prosecutors
uncovered bribery operations at the multinational corporation stretching back to the
late 1990’s. Despite the fact that Germany outlawed bribery payments in 1999 (up to
that point, they could be considered business expenses), the charges contended that
Siemens AG continued making payments for security and telecom contracts
everywhere from Saudi Arabia to Argentina. The November arrests of six Siemens
employees, including a former board member, were bolstered by evidence that the
payments had been approved by higher-ups. Siemens itself began an investigation
and, after calling in outside auditors, found that 1.3 billion euros worth of suspicious
transactions had been conducted since 2000, hidden through multiple levels of
encrypted accounting changes and personal payoffs.
242
Ultimately, the company was fined 201 million euros in October 2007 for its
Siemens AG
indiscretions. In the wake of the scandal, new chief executive Peter Löescher, has
emphasised that the group’s focus lies in maintaining its good performance as global
economic conditions get tougher. Löescher was the first outsider appointed to the
top spot in the company’s 160 year history.
The geeks have the answers
Siemens funnels much of its annual turnover back into research and
development. In 2007, the company invested a total of 3.4 billion euros into
research and development, which has 32,500 dedicated employees, of which
17,500 are software engineers, working in 150 locations in 30 countries
worldwide. The company boasts the top spot for ownership of active patents in
Germany and made 7,900 inventions in 2007.
Siemens is also engaging with some large-scale global issues, such as the population
explosion and increasing urbanisation in all countries. Calling these issues
“megatrends”, the company aims to use its expertise in infrastructure, healthcare
and energy to deal with problems such as future water supply and the fact that global
energy demands are likely to increase by more than 40 percent in the next 25 years.
Its sectorial experience, in industry, energy and healthcare, make the company well-
positioned to come up with answers to these worldwide problems.
In 2007, already making inroads in using technology to change energy trends,

Siemens partnered with MAN AG to pilot a diesel electric hybrid bus in the
German city of Nuremberg. The prototype used up to 25 percent less fuel than
conventional buses. In 2010, this bus should become the first series-produced
hybrid bus in Europe.
Bangalore and so much more
Siemens One was a partner in the construction of Bangalore International

Airport, which opened 2008 and which will receive 15 million passengers
passing through per year by 2015. Siemens One’s contributions to the project
were the IT systems, boarding bridges, baggage handling systems, airfield
lighting, building management and fire detection. Other such global projects
include the design and construction of eight sets of 250km/hr high speed trains
to go from Moscow to St. Petersburg in conjunction with Russian Railways, and
Siemens Healthcare products for the detection and treatment of breast cancer,
including imaging methods such as ultrasound, mammography, and magnetic
resonance tomography (MRT) — methods for early detection which are
becoming more and more important.
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GETTING HIRED
Careers with Siemens
With 35 offices and 74 plants in Germany, and numerous sites worldwide, Siemens
offers a wide spectrum of possibilities for students, graduates and experienced
professionals. International jobs can be viewed on the “jobs and careers” link, on the
“international job openings” page. You can search by “job family”, “region”,
“experience level”, or “business field” — the latter comprises automation and control,
corporate functions, financing and real estate, information and communications,
lighting, medical, power and transportation.
For graduates, other than applying for jobs, the company offers the Siemens Graduate
Program — a two year international scheme designed for future managers. For those
interested in applying to work in Germany, you need international experience,
excellent German and English, and have a university-level degree in engineering,
science or economics with top marks. To participate from abroad, you need to be
working for a Siemens subsidiary and enter into the scheme from there. The group
also has a Finance Excellence Program, for which information can be seen on the
Graduate Recruitment website.
Siemens offers a range of programmes for students across the globe looking to dip
their toes in company waters. The scholarships and projects that are available are
predominantly for engineering, science and technology, and business and
management graduates. More details are available on the Siemens careers website.
244
“ In 2007-08, Siemens underwent heavy
restructuring. Under new boss Peter
Löescher, Europe’s largest engineering
firm scaled down from 14 unwieldy
“
divisions, turning its focus to industry,
energy and healthcare exclusively.
TELECOM ITALIA S.P.A.
European Locations
Piazza Degli Affari 2
Milan Milan (HQ)
Italy Holland • France • Germany
Tel: +39 02 85951
www.telecomitalia.com
Employment Contact
www.telecomitalia.com
The Stats htpp://telecomitalia.easycruit.com
Ticker Symbol: TIT (Milan, NYSE)
Chief Executive: Franco Bernabè
No. of Offices: n/a
Divisions
Domestic market operations •
International activities • Technology
and operations • Wholesale activities
career
246 library
THE SCOOP
ith more than a hundred years of history to its name, Telecom Italia
Telecom Italia S.p.A.

W stands proud in 2008 as an international group dedicated to
telecommunications and multimedia. The company has a strong
presence in 83 markets outside Italy and operates in eight countries, mainly in
the Mediterranean region and South America. Unsurprisingly, this
telecommunications giant has a commanding presence in the Italian market,
supplying more than 30 million mobile lines in its home country. Another string
to its bow is being the country’s leading broadband operator, operating close to
eight million broadband access points as of June 2008. Abroad, Telecom Italia
has a strong presence too, including 32.5 million mobile lines in Brazil and more
than 2.5 million broadband users in Germany and Holland.
The group’s core strengths are in providing fixed line phone services, fibre optic
networks for wholesale customers, broadband internet services, national and
international mobile telecommunications, and digital and analogue technology
for television. Telecom Italia closed 2007 with 31.29 billion euros in revenue, an
ever-so-slight rise on its 2006 revenue of 31.28 billion euros. Its EBITDA was 11.6
billion euros, a slight fall from the previous year, which came in at 12.84 billion
euros.
Component parts
The Telecom Italia Group is divided into Telecom Italia, in charge of fixed-line
telecommunications, Alice, which provides broadband internet services, TIM, in
charge of mobile telecommunications, Telecom Italia Media, which distributes
multimedia content through the brands La7, MTV Italia and APCOM, TI Lab,
specialising in telecommunications research, and Olivetti, which provides
information technology systems for offices.
You can call me Al-ice

When it comes to fixed-line services, Telecom Italia has some strong statistics to boast
about. It maintains a domestic network of 3.7 million kilometres of fibre optic cable
and trunk, alongside 51,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable in Europe, which the group
calls its “backbone”. The company can even boast that its Med Nautilus submarine
cable ring in the Mediterranean basin handles more than 50 percent of international
call traffic between countries in the region. As for jumping on the exponentially
growing internet bandwagon, Alice, Telecom Italia’s broadband company, has
chosen integration as its way forward, offering its customers a mind-boggling variety
of internet connection packages.
247
Take a little bit of Italy with you
Every ex-state owned telecommunications company has the benefit of a legacy of
customer loyalty, through there having been no other options. But in a competitive
market, all companies have to work harder to secure their slice of the pie. Telecom
Italia is doing well in retaining customer interest. Its mobile services division has
been particularly successful as of Spring 2008, taking nearly 40 percent of the
domestic market share.
In terms of its media services, the group also has an extensive reach, putting a host
of multimedia content offerings at customers’ fingertips. Networks controlled by
Telecom Italia include MTV Italia, the La7 network, which shows entertainment,
sports, news and current affairs, and multimedia wire agency APCOM, which
partners with the Associated Press in providing news content worldwide.
From typewriters to telecom
The current incarnation of Telecom Italia emerged in 1994 after the Italian Post and
Telecommunications Ministry approved a plan for the five companies who operated
in the domestic telephone industry to merge. These companies, SIP, Iritel, Italcable,
Telespazio and SIRM, rolled into one, Telecom Italia, in September 1994. Shortly after,
subsidiary TIM was founded in 1995, and by 1998, the Italian telecommunications
industry was completely liberalised.
Merging and emerging

Just before the turn of the millennium, Olivetti, famed for its sleek-looking
typewriters, launched a successful takeover bid for Telecom Italia share capital. The
company went through major restructuring over the next few years, involving
numerous mergers and much share-buying activity. Concurrently, innovative
products were being rolled out to keep on capturing market share and get customers
used to latest technologies. In October 2005, TIM, the mobile telecommunications
subsidiary, was fully integrated into its parent company, and shortly after, the
company’s internet activities were merged into Telecom Italia too.
The company has barely stopped for breath in the past few years, continually beefing
up its European and international operations. In early 2007, for example, it acquired
AOL Germany’s internet business. In October 2007, the Italian giant modified its
share structure so that Telco S.p.A, an investment consortium of five companies —
Spain’s Telefónica and Italy’s Generali, Intesa Sanpaolo, Mediobanca and Sintonia
(the Benetton Group) — took ownership of 24.5 percent of Telecom Italia’s share
capital, which they bought for approximately 4.1 billion euros in cash.
248
“TI, phone home”
Telecom Italia S.p.A.

As Telefónica owns 42.3 percent of Telco, it has its hands on approximately ten
percent of Telecom Italia. Speculations have been coming thick and fast in the
media as to whether Telefónica’s indirect stake in Telecom Italia has paved the
way for a merger between the two firms, both ex-monopolies in their respective
domestic territories. As of mid-2008, these speculations still abounded. Either
way, both companies have benefited from cost savings from the investment,
especially in terms of joint development and purchasing strategies. Such savings
have come in handy given that Telecom Italia has been hit by burdensome
regulatory measures from the Italian government.
One possibility for further consolidation between the two is in Brazil, where both
companies have hefty market shares. Telefónica, as of early 2008, had 27 percent
of the wireless market in Brazil, and Telecom Italia’s TIM Participacoes SA was
in second place with 25 percent. However, Brazilian market regulators may well
prevent any mergers between the two companies in this booming market.
Wherever you roam, you can’t escape your iPhone…
In May 2008, Telecom Italia announced it had closed a non-exclusive deal with US
technology giant Apple, allowing the telecommunications firm to take the iPhone to Italy
together with Vodafone.
With this partnership,
Telecom Italia looks to
profit from Apple’s
“ This telecommunications giant
has a commanding presence,
“
technological wizardry,
supplying more than 30 million
which has excellent appeal mobile lines in its home country
among consumers, and
will guarantee new avenues of revenue. Whether anticipated by Telecom Italia or not,
Apple has announced it is planning to expand its music download business, allowing
iPhone users to download tracks over carriers’ data networks, a move which would
certainly benefit the telecommunications and multimedia giant.
GETTING HIRED
Landing that Italian job
Graduates and professionals interested in working for the Italian telecom titan must
be fluent in Italian to apply for any of its positions in Italy. While Telecom Italia’s
249
website offers basic information in English, you won’t be able to work for the
company in its home country without fluency in Italian.
TI recruits those with technical degrees in fields spanning engineering, electronics,

information systems, statistics and economics, though it also has a predilection for
law graduates too. Those who have a degree in these fields can apply for six or 12
month internships (called ‘stages’) too. For more information, visit the company’s
careers link on www.telecomitalia.com. Applicants need to be in their final year of
an undergraduate degree and, of course, need excellent Italian language skills. New
graduates can peruse vacancies by logging onto http://telecomitalia.easycruit.com,
where you can upload and submit CVs for vacancies that match your experience and
education level. You can also send an open application which will be kept on a
database, and you will then be informed if your application matches any job
openings.
Call them up for thesis help
Telecom Italia regularly accepts undergraduate and graduate students preparing for
their masters’ degrees to work there in tandem with their academic thesis. To apply
for this opportunity, you need to select the TI division or subsidy you are interested
in working in and contact human resources with your study project, curriculum vitae
and a letter of recommendation from your supervisor.
250
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TELEFÓNICA S.A.
Gran Vía, 28 Locations in Europe
28013 Madrid
Spain Madrid (HQ)
Tel: +34 91 584 09 20 Austria • Belgium • Czech Republic •
www.telefonica.es Denmark • France • Germany •
Holland • Ireland • Italy • Poland •
Portugal • Slovakia • Sweden •
Switzerland • United Kingdom
The Stats
Ticker Symbol: TLF (Madrid) Employment Contact
Chief Executive: César Alierta
2007 Revenue: €8.9bn www.telefonica.es
2007 Employees: 248,487 (Click on “About Us” and then on
2006 Employees: 235,000 “Employees”)
worldwide
Divisions
Business Management • Corporate
Development • Finance and Corporate •
General Finances • Human Resources •
Infrastructure and Information • Legal •
Logistics • Marketing • Purchasing •
Real Estate • Strategy, Budgeting and
Control • Systems • T-Gestiona
career
252 library
THE SCOOP
Telefónica S.A.
I
f there were one word to describe Telefónica’s operations in Spain, it would be
ubiquitous. As a huge and highly competitive international company, Telefónica
has a firm grip on the European and Latin American mobile phone markets and a
burgeoning presence in other regions. In fact, so large is Telefónica’s empire and
market share that it’s fair to say the company has an uncontested monopoly over the
Spanish telecommunications sector.
Untangling Spain’s telephone lines
Created at the end of the 19th century, Spain’s telecoms adventure began with a royal
decree in 1884, which established a state-run telephone services monopoly. Two years
later, in 1886, the industry was liberalised, as it was realised growth would be faster
that way.
Soon, with a lack of uniformity causing crossed wires all over the sector, the Compañía
Telefónica Nacional de España (Spanish National Telephone Company or CTNE) was
established to provide
“
common criteria for the
Globally, Telefónica is among the
provision of telephone
services. Another royal
biggest telecommunications groups in Brazil,“
decree signed by King Argentina, Chile and Peru.
Alfonso XIII in 1924
authorised the CTNE to reform and extend national telephone services. At the time, there
were fewer than 80,000 telephones in the whole of Spain, of which only 28 percent were
state-operated.
Among CTNE’s first challenges was the Herculean task of standardising and
organising the nation’s telephone service. Huge technological advancements
allowed it to do so, and then to begin to expand its reach. By 1965, CTNE had
become the leading company in Spain with 100,000 shareholders, 20 billion
pesetas of share capital and a workforce of 32,000. The five millionth telephone
was installed in Spain in 1971, just four years before Telefónica’s CTNE’s 50th
anniversary.
Just a quick call

Activity sped up from then on, with the ten millionth telephone being installed in
Spain in 1978. Once a new company name had been established in 1985 — Telefónica
de España, S.A. — it didn’t take long for the New York Stock Exchange to call. The
company began trading on the NYSE in 1987. By the beginning of the 1990s,
253
international expansion was going on at a brisk pace, with Telefónica’s businesses
and services finding, in particular, a profitable platform in Latin America.
Telefónica phones home
With a dominant position in the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking world,

Telefónica’s key strategy has been to consolidate and build upon its position as a
leader among providers in these core markets, rather than expand to new markets.
The figures speak for themselves. As of 2007, in Spain, the firm has more than 16
million landline connections, 4.9 million data and internet connections and
approximately 22 million mobile telephone customers. Globally, Telefónica has more
than 190 million customers and the group is among the biggest telecommunications
groups in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru.
European conquest
Although the Spanish telecommunications group is huge in Latin America and wants
to continue to boost its presence in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking markets,
it is also eyeing up other European markets. In this regard, 2006 was a good year for
Telefónica, as it made a nifty 17.7 billion pound acquisition of a rival British firm,
O2. According to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, to date, this is the highest price
a Spanish company has ever paid for an acquisition. Thanks to this purchase,
Telefónica has been able to kickstart its northern European conquest in the region’s
two biggest telecommunications markets: Germany and the UK. Though it is now
operated by Telefónica, O2 has kept its name and its own management.
Getting its wires crossed
The group’s operations span 19 countries and are organised into three geographic
areas: Spain, Latin America and the rest of Europe. There are other divisions across
the company that offer alternative telecommunications services as well. Telefónica
España’s main activity is to provide landline, cellular and internet access through
four different companies: Telefónica Móviles España — known as Movistar —

Telefónica Empresas, Telefónica Soluciones and Terra.
In Europe, outside Spain and Portugal, Telefónica operates through O2 in the UK, Cesky
Telecom in the Czech Republic and Telefónica Deutschland in Germany. The Latin
American market is also crucial for the maintenance of Telefónica’s major player position
in South America through its subsidiaries Telefónica Móviles (Movistar) and Telefónica
International. In total, as of 2007, there are 260,405 Telefónica employees in Spain, 14,326
throughout the rest of Europe, and 131,968 employees throughout Latin America.
254
Introducing technology
As with the majority of big Spanish companies, Telefónica takes social responsibility
Telefónica S.A.
seriously, investing in numerous social and cultural activities. For instance, it has
created Fundación Telefónica, which promotes the use of technology in schools. The
foundation works on projects in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela
and Morocco. Telefónica’s Arte y Tecnología (art and technology) organisation
manages artistic, historical and technological heritage projects for education and
cultural purposes.
Got sunstroke?
In the summer of 2007, the European Commission fined Telefónica 151.8 million
euros for abusing its dominant position in the ADSL market between 2001 and 2006,
according to the Spanish newspaper Cinco Días. The commission claimed the
company charged its rivals excessive prices for use of its infrastructure and that it
allowed too little opportunity for competition.
The fine was the highest sanction the European executive has ever issued to a
telecommunications operator. However, at the end of October 2007, the Spanish
Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade lodged an appeal to the European Court of
Justice to cancel the fine.
GETTING HIRED
Global feeling
In 2006, Telefónica spent a hefty 54 million euros on training its employees. The
telephone team received a combined total of 11 million hours of training that year,
an increase of 16.4 percent compared to 2005.
The telecommunications giant also has a corporate university in Barcelona, which

acts as a meeting point for its Spanish, European and Latin American professionals
to learn about and discuss the latest industry trends. In 2006, the company created a
new professional development module based on the corporate skillset framework
shared by all the group’s businesses.
Telefónica is one of the 50 industrial titans listed in the Dow Jones Global list, which
reflects the globalisation of international companies in the wake of mergers and the
creation of mega-corporations. In 2007, Telefónica employed more than 248,000
255
people worldwide. Unlike many Spanish firms where employees are mostly from
the native country, the group has hired more than employees in South America and
almost 15,000 from the rest of Europe.
A promising programme
The telecommunications company offers a corporate programme for young

professionals, known as JAP (Jóvenes de alto potencial). The programme’s
curriculum allows ambitious young employees to try their hands at various
challenges by department rotation and specific training with a mentor. For students
who haven’t finished their degree but want to get involved in the company, work
experience, scholarships and hands-on training for younger students are offered —
see Telefónica’s website for further details. The group has cooperation agreements
with education centres, universities and business schools, so those interested should
contact the careers centres at their academic institution.
Telefónica also offers a limited number of international internships depending on specific

particular business demands in its various global locations. To find out more, submit your
CV and a cover email with any questions to MBAinternships@telefonica.es.
MBA magnetism
Telefónica offers great opportunities to graduates with MBA degrees, in departments

spanning sales, marketing, technology, research and innovation, business
development, strategy, finance and human resources. Interested applicants will be
pleased to know that the firm provides a range of resources and opportunities to
help them develop their careers around the world. The company’s MBA management
development programme provides students with career opportunities that move
them through a range of countries and businesses, providing professional proximity
to senior executives and the chance to learn from the leadership of top-notch
colleagues.
To be eligible for these opportunities, you should have at least three years experience
in a professional setting, be able and willing to be mobile and/or relocate, and

possess a passion for other languages and cultures. You’ll also need to speak both
English and Spanish to a high level. Interested candidates should email an initial
enquiry to MBAcareers@telefonica.es.
More information about these programmes and about Telefónica’s subsidiaries that
take part in them can be found on www.telefonica.es, clicking “about Telefónica”
and then on the “employees” link.
256
THALES GROUP
45 rue de Villiers French Locations

Neuilly-sur-Seine
Cedex 92526 Neuilly-sur-Seine (HQ)
France Aix • Aubagne • Brest • Blagnac •
Tel: +33 (0)1 57 77 89 41 Bordeaux Le Haillan • Brive la gaillarde •
www.thalesgroup.com Brétigny sur Orge • Buc • Cergy
Pontoise • Cannes • Carquefou •
Châtellerault la Brelandière •
Chateaubourg • Chatou • Cholet •
Châtellerault la Brelandière • Colombes •
The Stats
Elancourt • La Ferté Saint Aubin •
Employer Type: Public Fleury-Orleans • Guyancourt •
Ticker Symbol: HO.PA Lambersart • Laval • Limours •
(Euronext) Malakoff • Massy • Meudon-la-forêt •
Managing Director: Denis Ranque Moirans • Pessac • Orsay • Rouen •
2007 Revenue: €12.29bn Rungis • Saint Héand • Sophia Antipolis •
2006 Revenue: €10.26 bn Toulon • Toulouse • Valence • Vélizy
No. of Offices: present in 50 countries
European Locations
Belgium • Germany • Italy • The
Netherlands • Spain • United Kingdom
Divisions
Aerospace • Air Systems • Land and
Joint Systems • Naval Security Solutions
Employment Contact
and Services • Space
www.thalesgroup.com/Careers/
jobs-offers.html
career
258 library
THE SCOOP
amed after Thales (ca. 624 BC – 546 BC), the Greek philosopher generally
Thales Group
acknowledged to be the founder of science, Thales Group develops complex
information systems for three markets: aerospace, defence and security.
Commonly known as “mission critical” information systems, Thales’ products are
sold to both military and civil clients in six linked departments: air and aerospace,
government and enterprise, joint forces (integrated land, air and naval defence
infrastructure), land, naval and maritime, and space. As of 2007, the company
employed more than 68,000 staff, including 22,000 researchers, in more than 50
countries across the globe.
They’re such airheads
Aerospace is one of Thales’ key strategic businesses, and the company produces
aeronautical equipment, mission electronics, airborne surveillance and security
systems for air forces,
“
aircraft manufacturers
The company is increasingly
and airlines. Specifically, “
it produces command breaking through that
and control radar, weapon final frontier, space.
and detection systems
and air traffic management systems for the armed services, NATO, civil aviation
authorities and airports. The company is also increasingly breaking through that final
frontier, space. The products it makes for space agencies and commercial satellite
operators, among others, include navigation and communications equipment, radar
systems and optical observation technologies.
Planet earth is blue…
Thales’ Space HQ, along with its subsidiaries in Belgium, Spain, France and Italy, is
at any one time working on numerous projects. For anyone with an interest in
geophysics, the Jason-2 spatial oceanographic satellite is a good example of how

Thales’ products might appeal to the imagination. The Jason-2 satellite processes
detailed meteorological data to give scientists a more accurate look at oceans and a
better understanding of climate change.
The Jason-1 satellite, which was designed in cooperation with NASA, has passed over the
same points on Earth every ten days for the past five years, tracking the slightest changes
in wind speed, wave height and average sea level. This has helped climatologists and
meteorologists analyze the impact of global warming and understand the origins of events
259
such as El Niño. The Jason-2 satellite will be placed in the same orbit as Jason-1. It features
experimental technology which Thales is hoping will enable more accurate measurements
near coastal zones, lakes and rivers. It launched in August 2008 in California.
Spreading its wings

The Jason-2 satellite is one of many of Thales’ scientifically advanced projects, but it
is not only the company’s aerospace technology that should be spotlighted. Aside
from its advanced aerospace and space systems, Thales distinguishes itself in making
technologies of similarly baffling complexity for land and naval use. Its main area of
expertise for these is information provision for land and sea-based military warfare.
Robot wars
Some of Thales’ 21st century offerings include the design of programmes for the DGA
(the Délégation Générale pour l’Armament, the French defence procurement
agency). These include
“
such impressive-sounding
Thales has built up a reputation
of wide-ranging technical “ concepts as the “FIST
(Future Integrated Soldier
expertise in its sectors Technology)” programme,
which is an integrated
fighting system for dismounted individual soldiers, and the “Watchkeeper
tactical ISTAR (Intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance) system”
for unmanned air vehicles. The latter was designed as part of an 800 million pound
contract with the UK’s Ministry of Defence.
Somebody’s watching you
Take note — Thales’ security division is increasing in both scope and significance.
The company crows that there is no downtime when it comes to security, ominously
declaring “security and safety systems are no longer options: they make up the
backbone of our infrastructures.” Thales has its fingers in many pies on the security
front. Its projects range from devising a system to secure the Eastern Latvian border
using command and control software and intrusion sensors to supplying the
Algerian state-owned energy company Sonatrach with security for 500km of its gas
pipelines, which includes detection systems and video surveillance.
How did they get there?
Thales is a fairly new corporation, rising to its position of prominence in the

aerospace, defence and security sectors through building up a reputation of wide-
260
Thales Group
ranging technical expertise. The company initially resulted from a merger between
Compagnie Générale de Télégraphie Sans Fil (a broadcasting pioneer in France, as a
key player in the development of short wave, electro-acoustic and early radar and
television systems) and Thomson-Brandt (an electronics business). Its earliest
incarnation, Thomson-CSF, was as a power generator and transmitter. In the 1970s,
the company focused on silicon semiconductors and medical imaging systems. By the
1980s, it shifted its industry focus onto electronics. In the 1990s, it adopted a policy
of pushing external growth, making many, mostly Europe-based, acquisitions.
Just before the turn of the century, things got complicated. The French government
oversaw mergers of the electronics businesses of Alcatel, Dassault Électronique and
Thomson-CSF, and of the satellite businesses of Alcatel, Aerospatiale and Thomson-
CSF. This put the majority of Thomson-CSF into private ownership, and gave it the
capital injection it needed to expand worldwide, gaining footholds in South Africa,
Australia, South Korea and Singapore. The name Thales was adopted in late 2000.
New adventures
Following September 11, 2001, Thales beefed up its focus on technologically advanced
defence products. It pursued what it calls its “multi-domestic” development policy,
acquiring control of various global defence and aerospace subsidiaries. In 2007, Thales
bought 25 percent of French naval company Direction des Constructions Navales Services,
a move which will boost its investment resources for naval intelligence systems. And as
of 2007, Thales UK is Britain’s second-largest defence contractor.
The Alcatel connection
Thales is part-owned by telecommunications company Alcatel-Lucent, who has a 20.9

percent stake, and the French state, who lays claim to 27.2 percent. The rest of the
company is publicly owned. Alcatel-Lucent’s involvement in the company stretches
to more than just shareholding — it also shares its telecoms technology research with
Thales. To this end, the two companies opened a joint research laboratory, the Alcatel-
Thales III-V Lab, on the École Polytechnique campus near Paris.
Designed for up to 550 researchers to work in, and costing 60 million euros, the centre
focuses on software engineering and the somewhat esoteric fields (unless you work
in them, of course) of optoelectronic and microelectronic components for use in
telecommunications, defence, security and space. Thales’ research and development
pursuits receive an annual investment of 2.2 billion euros and develop approximately
300 inventions per year. Thales research and development has 15,000 patents to its
name and more than 30 co-operation agreements with universities and public
research laboratories in Europe, the US and Asia.
261
GETTING HIRED
Come on in
Unsurprisingly, Thales’ workforce is highly skilled — 60 percent are engineers. So

while it hires across the usual range of corporate careers, such as management,
customer support, finance, HR, legal and communications, it comes into its own for
those who are looking for careers in systems engineering. To find out more about all
careers offered by the company, visit: www.thalesgroup.com/careers.
Job opportunities with Thales can be perused by clicking the “job opportunities” link
on the main careers page. The “job search” box allows for opportunities to be
narrowed down in a number of ways: country of operation, region, specific site,
divisions, activities, professions, contracts (this is where you can search for
internships), or by years of professional experience.
Thales emphasises its commitment to helping its employees move between career
paths. Actively encouraging such movement, it produces the “itinerary” guide which
shows its employees how to move between different professions — for example,
between sales and management. The company has a huge variety of jobs available,
especially in research and development and systems engineering. It supports
employees in moving between jobs where skillsets overlap. Further details are
available on the “itinerary” download from Thales’ careers website, where all
company jobs, and how to move between them, are described. Thales also offers
many different training courses at its Thales Université, which has sites in France,
the UK and the Netherlands, to assist its employees with career development.
Thales offers the possibility of doing a PhD in conjunction with its research teams in
France, the UK, The Netherlands and Spain. The company asks interested students
to apply online with a CV. Thales works with researchers in the following areas:
complex systems engineering, information processing and fusion, computer
architecture and software development environments, internet security, application
of computer modelling, simulation and signal processing systems, and microwave
and photonics components and systems development. To find out more, visit
www.research.thalesgroup.com.
262
“ Following September 11, 2001, Thales
beefed up its focus on technologically
advanced defence products. The company
crows that there is no downtime when it
comes to security, ominously declaring
“security and safety systems are no
longer options: they make up the“
backbone of our infrastructures.”
TOTAL S.A.
Head Office French Locations

2 place de la Coupole
La Défense 6 Paris La Défense (HQ)
92400 Courbevoie Amilly • Beauvais • Chateaudun •
France Chateau-Gontier • Dijon • Donges •
Tel: +33 1 47 44 45 46 Dunkerque • Etrepagny • Gif-sur-
www.total.com Yvette • Gonfreville-l’Orcher • Grand-
Quevilly • Grandpuits • Harfleur •
Le Havre • Lacq • La Tour de Salvagny •
Liancourt • Lyon • Mardyck •
Montargis • Mourenx • Nanterre •
The Stats
Neuilly sur Seine • Pau • Le Peq •
Employer Type: Public Rouen • St Etienne • St-Ouen
Ticker Symbol: FP (Euronext), TOT L’Aumone • St Priest • Strasbourg •
(NYSE) Verneil en Halatte
Chairman: Thierry Desmarest
2007 Employees: 96,400 European Locations
No. of Offices: Present in 130 Austria • Belgium • Czech Republic •
countries Denmark • Germany • Greece •
Hungary • Italy • Luxembourg • The
Netherlands • Norway • Poland •
Portugal • Romania • Slovakia • Spain •
Sweden • Switzerland • United
Divisions
Kingdom
Scientific Division • Upstream •
Exploration and Production •
Gas and Power • Downstream •
Refining and Marketing • Trading and Employment Contact:
Shipping • Chemicals
www.careers.total.com
career
264 library
THE SCOOP
ulti-billion dollar energy conglomerates like Total, the world's fourth-largest oil
Total S.A.
and gas company, hold the key to whether or not we’ll be living by candlelight
and travelling on horseback in the coming decades. So with almost a century of
experience under its belt, it’s worth giving a few thoughts to its future strategies. Such
companies face two main challenges: having to diversify into sustainable energy
technologies, and stakeholder pressure to continually improve profit margins. Total has
declared its commitment to both. In fact, you could say it’s totally committed.
This French company was founded in 1924 as CFP — Compagnie Francaise des
Pétroles. A producing field was discovered near Kirkuk in Iraq by the Iraq Petroleum
Company in 1927, and T o t a l w a s o n e o f i t s original shareholders. In 1929, the
company was listed on
“
the Paris Bourse and in
Total was founded in 1924 and
1933 it opened a refinery
at Gonfreville, not far
in 1929, the company was “
from the coastal town of listed on the Paris Bourse.
Le Havre in northwest
France. The 1930s also saw Total branch out its Middle East explorations to Dubai. The
name Total was given to all company activities in 1954, and this change in branding
accompanied expansion into new distribution markets, furthering its global reach.
Hungry for oil
The 20th century has seen the Total empire steadily expand and increase its access to
oil and gas fields worldwide. The Sahara proved to be a major resource for the group
when it discovered oil and gas fields in Algeria in 1956. In 1991, it listed on the New
York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and in late 1998/early 1999, it bought 94.3 percent of
Belgian oil company Petrofina in a share swap deal. This turned TotalFina into the
sixth largest oil company in the world and the third largest in Europe. It also allowed
it to expand into further deep offshore exploration in locations such as Angola and
the US. Another merger followed hot on its heels — in 2000, Total merged with
French oil company Elf Aquitaine to create TotalFinaElf, one of the few genuine
behemoths in the global energy industry. Total now flaunts an impressive set of
statistics, including the second largest market capitalisation on the Paris Bourse and
in the Eurozone (136.1 billion euros at December 2007), approximately 570,000 French
individual shareholders, and 2007 sales of 158.5 billion euros.
Total’s main activities divide into three segments — Upstream, Downstream and
Chemicals. Upstream covers the exploration and production of oil and gas. In 2007,
265
its average daily production of hydrocarbons was 2.39 million barrels of oil. The
company has set itself the target of increasing production of hydrocarbons by more
than five percent per year from 2006-2010. Downstream covers refining, marketing,
trading and shipping, while Chemicals includes the production of base chemicals
(petrochemicals and fertilisers) for industry and the consumer market. The
departments providing support for these energy teams are ethics, legal, strategy and
risk assessment, insurance, finance, human resources and corporate communications.
Digging deep
In recent years, like all major oil and gas companies, Total has been pawing every
untouched corner of the earth hoping to alight upon more of nature’s bounty. It has
also been consolidating in the resource-rich countries where it has had a presence
for years, particularly Nigeria, Angola, Libya, Algeria and Norway.
The Congo is a perfect example that shows how Total has expanded its business
operations over the decades, balancing growth with social responsibility. The
company has been operating there since 1928, when the French discovered that
underneath the country’s tropical rainforests and wooded savannas lay substantial
mineral resources just waiting to be mined.
Recently, Total’s funds and knowledge have been funnelled into groundbreaking
"frontier technology" to make the most of the Congo’s deepwater and ultra-
deepwater resources. In 2008, the company is mining at unprecedented water depths
of 2,000 metres below sea level at the offshore Mer Très Profonde Sud location.
Similar operations are taking place in other areas that are just as well-endowed,
including Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroon and onshore in Mauritania.
The profitable is political
Respecting people and the environment is an absolute priority for Total. As Total’s
“Community Initiatives and Local Development” report says, as a major economic
player, Total has “special responsibilities”. The group anchors local development
issues in three key commitments: developing the local production base, tailoring and
formalising its community involvement and contributing to the development of local
communities. In the Congo, for example, the recruitment of locals is aimed for
wherever possible, with safety training for employees high on Total’s list of priorities.
Also in the Congo, the group contributes to education funding, aiming to expand its
offers of scientific and technical training options available for native Congolese in
order to train up future engineers. Total’s involvement extends to investing in
sustainable microprojects in Djeno, a village near one of its oil terminals. Community
dialogue and villager participation underscore these projects.
266
On the scientific front, one of Total’s explicit priorities is to step up the development
Total S.A.
of Liquid Natural Gas (LNG), an energy source that is less polluting and more easily
transported than uncondensed natural gas. The French giant is also investing heavily
in renewable resources including biomass (plant matter and biodegradable waste
used as fuel), photovoltaic solar energy (using solar cells to convert sunlight into
electricity) and wind and water energy.
GETTING HIRED
Bringing in talent
Total has an exciting range of careers on offer to all nationalities. All the jobs it hires
for are listed on its website’s careers page, www.careers.total.com. Approximately
4,000 subsidised internships and sandwich placements are offered each year to
anyone with two or more years of higher education. Internship details are listed in
French on the careers website.
The company has no traditional graduate trainee scheme, but it is always actively
recruiting. Total’s careers pages list all opportunities — at the time of writing, there
were 645 openings available. While engineering and IT boffins will find numerous
positions available, Total also has many opportunities for non-graduates and non-
scientists, particularly in finance and sales. The group also offers approximately 100
Volunteer for International Experience and 20 Volunteer for International Scientific
Experience schemes, open to EU citizens aged 18–28. These positions can place you
in any of Total’s worldwide offices. Despite their title, these are not voluntary but
paid schemes, lasting from six months to two years. Through them you can gain
experience in a range of areas, including geosciences, drilling, processes, operations,
research and development, finance or human resources. You also get a chance to
obtain a permanent position at the firm.
What’s the drill?

The V.I.S. scheme differs from the V.I.E. scheme in that you work on one of Total’s
research projects. These are jointly conducted by its research and development
centres in Europe, North America and Japan, along with university research teams
worldwide. The duration of this scheme is 16 months.
Total also welcomes unsolicited applications — you need to create an account on the Total
careers website in order to make unsolicited applications online. Your account can also be
used for applying to other suitable jobs the energy powerhouse may offer in the future.
267
THYSSENKRUPP
August-Thyssen-Straße 1 German Locations

D-40211
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf (HQ)
Germany Bochum • Dortmund • Duisberg •
Tel: +49 211 824 0 Hamburg
www.thyssenkrupp.com

Employer Type: Public Austria • Belgium • Bulgaria • Finland •
Ticker Symbol: TKA (Frankfurt) France • Denmark • Greece • Hungary •
Chief Executive: Ekkehard Schulz Italy • Ireland • Liechtenstein • Poland •
2007 Revenue: €51.7bn (FYE: 09/07) Portugal • Romania • Slovakia • Spain •
2006 Revenue: €47.1bn Sweden • Switzerland • The Netherlands •
2007 Employees: 191,350 United Kingdom
2006 Employees: 187,586
No. of Offices: numerous locations
throghout Germany
Employment Contact
www.thyssenkrupp.com
Divisions (Click on "Career")
Elevator • Stainless • Steel •

Technologies
268 CAREER
LIBRARY
THE SCOOP
Thyssenkrupp
ne of the giants of global industry, ThyssenKrupp is both a family
company and a sprawling conglomerate. Its longtime chief executive,
Ekkehard Schulz, once described it as “halfway between a family
company and a listed one”. While its main business has been, since the 19th century,
steelmaking, a closer look at the German group will reveal that approximately only
a third of its revenues come from steel production. The rest comes from its other
businesses, which include making car parts, ships and elevators.
With 2007 sales of 51.7 billion euros, up ten percent from 2006, and more than 190,000
employees in steelmaking, stainless steel production, capital goods production —
such as car and manufacturing plant parts — elevator making and industrial services
provision, ThyssenKrupp can rightly be considered a towering presence in the
industrial world.
Men of steel
ThyssenKrupp has a strong presence in every major continent, but a large proportion of its
employees remain in Germany — in 2006/7, almost 85,000 of its 190,000 employees were
based in the steel titan’s home country, the majority of them in Duisburg, Bochum,
Dortmund, Düsseldorf and Hamburg. The company’s origins date back to 1811, when
Friedrich Krupp established a cast steel making factory in the German town of Essen. By 1847,
this company, Krupp, provided transport companies with the equipment to build railways.
Friedrich Krupp bought up iron ore mines and coal deposits all over the German
countryside and established a shipping company in Rotterdam in 1873 to prompt
overseas trade. As Krupp expanded, some 20 years later, August Thyssen, a smelter
based near Duisburg, set up an iron and steel mill. Thyssen was to become a leader
in iron and steel production, and by 1913, Thyssen’s company was outranked in
domestic production only by Krupp. It would take until 1999 before these two rivals
would unite.
What is war good for?
Already established as the 20th century kicked in, the World Wars saw Krupp and
Thyssen turn to defence. In 1913, Thyssen started producing armaments such as
artillery shells, and Krupp made guns for World War I, increasing its production to
more than five-fold its pre-war level. Eventually, politics got the better of both
companies. Fritz Thyssen, who was the chairman of what was, at that point, named
Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG, tried to escape to Argentina rather than support the Third
269
Reich. His assets were confiscated by the state, and it was only in 1952 that August
Thyssen-Hütte AG, a new company, was able to be formed and the company again
found its feet in the modern world.
Krupp’s wartime fortunes were similar, with its production strategies orchestrated
to suit National Socialist economic and military needs. In 1945, after most of Krupp’s
plants had been severely damaged in the war, Alfried Krupp was taken into custody
by the US and in 1948 was sentenced to a military tribunal, but released soon after.
It was in 1953 that Krupp was able to successfully resume normal service.
Strong as iron ore
Post-war, both steelmakers went from strength to strength. The united global giant
of today has its foundations in each individual firm’s astute expansion strategies
throughout the latter half
“
of the 20th century. Both
A large proportion of companies did their best
ThyssenKrupp’s employees “ to broaden their product
remain in Germany range. In 1957, for example,
Thyssen took a majority
stake in Deutsche Edelstahlwerke AG, the largest stainless steel maker in Germany at the
time. Krupp focused on expanding its plant engineering and mechanical engineering
resources, and the 1970’s was a heyday in this respect, as the company acquired numerous
plants and factories throughout Germany. In 1974, 25.01 percent of the capital stock of
Krupp was bought by the state of Iran, increasing its value significantly.
Going up
The final decades of the 20th century saw both Thyssen and Krupp diversify into more
specialist areas of production. In the 1990’s, for example, Thyssen took a step up into the
elevators market, buying Dover Elevators (USA), a market leader in hydraulic elevators
in the US, in 1998. Then, after dancing side by side for more than hundred years, the union
of these two German goliaths finally came in March 1999, after a co-operation agreement
between the two, over the production of flat steel, was resoundingly successful.
The merger instigated an ambitious restructuring programme, focusing the new group
around five core activities: steel, automotive, industries, engineering and materials &
services. Streamlined and consolidated, expansion became key. The über-group bought
the Raymond steel plant in India for 4.12 billion rupees, marking its entry into India’s
growing cold-rolled and electrical steel market. It also took on a Chinese joint venture,
in 2001, with a new stainless steel plant in Shanghai. This venture had actually started
in 1999 and had become fully fledged in 2001 as Shanghai Krupp Stainless Co, and
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included a 40 percent stake owned by the Shanghai Baosteel group, one of China’s
Thyssenkrupp
largest specialist steel manufacturers. At that point, China was having to import 70
percent of its flat-rolled stainless steel, so the new plant, with an annual capacity by
2005 of 268,000 tons, was well poised for success.
While 36 percent of the group’s sales come from its home country, the 21st century
has seen ThyssenKrupp continue to expand, opening up more projects in Europe,
the Middle East and Asia. While in 2006, the group missed out on the acquisition of
Canada’s Dofasco, a steel company, which Luxembourgian steel group ArcelorMittal
won instead, ThyssenKrupp had things going on elsewhere.
Just one example happened in May 2007, when Uhde, a technology company within
ThyssenKrupp Group’s Technologies segment, struck a deal with the Egyptian Agrium
Nitrogen Products Co. to build a fertiliser complex consisting of two ammonia plants
and two urea plants, costing approximately 1.2 billion dollars. The plant is scheduled for
completion in 2010. In October 2007, the group repeated the trick by securing a deal to
supply engineering and supply services for a similar plant in Saudi Arabia.
Other work includes a biodiesel plant complex in Krabi, Thailand, which will
produce biodisel and fatty alcohol from palm oil, and the installation of 318 elevators,
escalators and moving walkways in Beijing and Quingdao for the 2008 Olympic
Games in China.
GETTING HIRED
Test your metal
The group is well placed to offer opportunities in a variety of technical and

technological fields to students of different ages. It is a great place to learn a trade —
in 2007, it counted approximately 4,290 trainees in Germany, working as, for
example, draftsmen, IT systems engineers, laboratory assistants and foundry
technicans. Large numbers of trainees are also taken on, with 1,171 places given in
2006/2007 at ThyssenKrupp’s 38 apprentice training shops and 95 specialised
training centres throughout Germany. Vocational training is best applied for by
contacting the relevant subsidiary directly.
Steel your nerves
ThyssenKrupp’s individual subsidiaries offer technically-oriented and commercially-

oriented internships for higher education students. There is no central placement
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scheme, and conditions such as pay vary from subsidiary to subsidiary, so
applications should be made directly to the one you wish to work for. All contact
details are on the ThyssenKrupp careers site under “Jobs”. Foreign internships
should also be applied to directly at the relevant subsidiary, and a good command
of the language of your host country is necessary.
As far as dissertations go, ThyssenKrupp does provide support with dissertations in

subjects that complement the group’s many activities. No central database exists, so
applying to the subsidiary of your choice is the most direct way to find out whether
you can be accepted to work there as a dissertation candidate.
Finally, both the group and its subsidiaries offer 12-month graduate trainee
programmes. The main group’s programme focuses on gaining experience in one
main department or operation, though there are opportunities to branch out
elsewhere. The group believes in giving trainees “as deep an insight as possible” and
training programmes are tailored to individuals, so the time spent in them varies.
The group aims to provide trainees with permanent employment after the
programme, and approximately 300 graduates are recruited yearly — usually, 25
percent economics grads and 75 percent engineering grads. Bear in mind that
applying to work with ThyssenKrupp in Germany requires fluent German.
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VINCI
1 Cours Ferdinand-de-Lesseps French Locations
92500 Rueil-Malmaison
France Rueil-Malmaison (HQ)
Tel: +33 1 47 16 35 00 Alsace • Aquitaine • Brittany •
www.vinci.com Burgundy • High-Normandy • Island-of-
France • Languedoc-Roussillon •
Lorraine • Low-Normandy • Mayotte •
The Midi-Pyrénées • North-Pas-de-
Calais • Pays de la Loire • Poitou-
The Stats Charentes • Provence-Alpes-Côte
d’Azur • Rhône-Alpes
Ticker Symbol: DG (Euronext)
Managing Director: Yves-Thibault de Silguy
2007 Revenue: €30.4bn (FYE:12/07)
European Locations
2006 Revenue: €26bn
2007 Employees: 142,500 Albania • Austria • Belgium • Cyprus •
2006 Employees: 128,433 Czech Republic • Denmark • Finland •
No. of Offices: more than 100 Germany • Greece • Hungary • Ireland •
Italy • Latvia • Lithuania • Luxembourg •
Macedonia • Monaco • Norway •
Poland • Portuga • Romania • Russian
Federation • Serbia • Slovakia •
Divisions Slovenia • Spain • Sweden •
Eurovia • Vinci Concessions • Switzerland • The Netherlands •
Vinci Construction • Vinci Energies Turkey • Ukraine • United Kingdom
Employment Contact
Careers website:
www.vinci.com/vinci.nsf/en/
careers.htm
career
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THE SCOOP
inci is a French company with its roots in the 19th century, albeit only just.
VINCI
Founded in 1899 by engineers Alexandre Giros and Louis Loucheur, a
century later the company occupies the impressive position of being the
largest construction group worldwide. With 142,500 employees as of December 2007,
Vinci finances, designs, builds and manages infrastructure for everyday use, from
motorways, airports and car parks to schools, hospitals, housing and offices.
Grand designs
The huge Vinci Group is divided into four companies. Vinci Concessions focuses on the
design, engineering and construction of transport infrastructure such as bridges, tunnels
and airports, usually through contracts and public-private partnerships. Vinci Energies
implements the design,
“
engineering, operation
Vinci emerged through a
and maintenance of IT
interfaces and energy complex history of mergers “
infrastructure Europe- and acquisitions
wide. Eurovia is the
Group’s road and motorway building and maintenance wing. It carries out urban,
industrial and retail development projects and is one of Europe’s major roadworkmaterials
producers, with 210 quarries, 445 production plants and 134 recycling units to its name.
Finally, Vinci Construction is probably at the heart of the company’s work, bringing the
company’s building, civic and hydraulic engineering knowledge together with its
technical know-how. Responsible for most of the group’s large-scale projects, Vinci
Construction has a strong global presence, particularly in Europe and Africa.
Vinci’s current structure emerged through a complex history of mergers and acquisitions.
Some of the companies it has now integrated have origins that stretch back further into
French history than Vinci itself. For example, Mors, an electricity installations company
which since 1984 has formed part of Vinci’s energy and information division, Vinci
Energies, was founded in 1851. Sainrapt et Brice, a construction firm that since 1981 has
been under the wing of Vinci Construction, was created in 1852. Overall, Vinci Group
consists of 40 companies in 100 countries worldwide.
Deconstruct this!
Vinci’s most prominent division, Vinci Construction, is the biggest contributor to

Vinci’s revenue, with 2007 net sales figures of 13.65 billion euros, and it is the French
market leader in construction. This construction colossus came into existence through
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the 2007 merger of Vinci’s two main construction businesses, Sogea Construction
and GTM Construction. With a presence in mainland France consisting of 370 centres
dotted throughout the country, and a network of international subsidiaries, Vinci
Construction is the strong foundation of the group — pun intended.
Vinci Construction Grands Projects is the company’s well-respected international

construction arm which works on major projects worldwide. These include the Naga
Hammadi Dam in Egypt’s Nile Delta, a towering white dam which has occupied
Vinci’s engineers since 2002. It is one of nine dams that the company has constructed
worldwide since its inception, and just one instance of the range of projects
undertaken. Other examples include hotels in Bratislava, Prague and Hanoi, the
"Granja Julieta" and "Morumbi" stations on the São Paulo Metro and airport terminals
in Karachi and Casablanca.
Making major concessions
Vinci’s involvement in the built landscape extends to the roads we take to get to the
buildings the company has constructed. As of 2007, the Vinci Concessions division,
which manages outsourced infrastructure, had concessions on 4,300 kilometres of
roads and motorways in France, 550 domestic car parks, and joint management of
two domestic airports, Grenoble-Isère and Chambéry-Savoie. Globally, the division
also oversees some important infrastructure projects, including the busy SR91 express
lanes in Los Angeles, the bridge across the Severn River between England and Wales
and the Siem Reap and Phnom Penh airports in Cambodia. It is also under contract
to run the Stade de France, the 80,000 seat stadium created in 1998 for France’s
Football World Cup, until 2025.
Energise me!
The company’s energy division has its fingers in several pies from power supply
networks to transport information systems, from mechanical engineering for industry
to climate engineering provision for the service sector. The way Vinci manages to
provide expertise in such a wide range of energy-related fields is through
decentralisation. Its six energy brands, Actemium, Axians, Citéos, Graniou, Omexom
and Opteor, work autonomously to a large extent. Each has its own website
(including recruitment portal), and together they comprise a total workforce of 27,000
people, employed at offices across 20 countries.
King of the (concrete) jungle
The man overseeing this huge conglomerate is Yves-Thibault de Silguy, a lawyer by

training and a former economics advisor to the French government. Having served
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on the European Commission with a responsibility for economic, monetary and
VINCI
financial affairs, de Silguy was chief executive of French energy giant Suez before
moving to Vinci in 2006. He headed the company’s bid to increase its revenues to 30
billion euros by 2009. Figures shot ahead of target in 2007, when the group’s net sales
figures hit 30.42 billion euros.
Building relationships
The company’s emphasis is not only on financial targets. It claims to be primarily

motivated by making sure its employees are satisfied and feeling challenged by their
jobs. To this end, its human resources division ran an advertising campaign in the
French press and television with the slogan: “Real success is the success you share”.
Two of its key initiatives in achieving this vision are first, to hire and train people up,
particularly those without qualifications, and offer them long-term contracts; and
secondly, to encourage employees to become company shareholders. By the end of
2006, 62,000 Vinci employees owned 8.4 percent of the group’s capital. Share options
are not a bad idea given Vinci’s impressive progress, with returns approximating 28
percent annually since the turn of the millennium.
GETTING HIRED
Joining the Vinci crew
Vinci operate so many companies that a potential employee could be forgiven for initially
not knowing where to begin. Fortunately, it’s easy, as all recruitment questions start at
the same place — Vinci’s careers portal: www.vinci.com/vinci.nsf/en/careers.htm. This
site is primarily dedicated to careers with Vinci in France and it is in French, so advanced
or fluent French language skills are needed to navigate it. Beyond this, the recruitment
process is decentralised, so your first decision would be which Vinci subsidiary company
you wish to work for. The next step is to go to that company’s recruitment website to
review its job opportunities.
Enter the labyrinth
Vinci offers numerous internships and job contracts available for those whose
education and work experience profiles match the job criteria. The company
emphasises its willingness to take on applicants with varying levels of experience
and education, and the importance of giving relevant training to all. Masonry and
construction diplomas can be obtained whilst working at Vinci, for example. Some
of the jobs you’ll see offered throughout all the group’s subsidiary companies are
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construction manager, materials engineers, project manager, financial and legal work
and technical officer, along with plenty more.
There is no graduate scheme at Vinci as such, but all employees, graduates and non-
graduates alike, are given appropriate training when they arrive and throughout
their career with the company. All new employees take part in “Welcome to Vinci”
days which are dedicated to discovering the group in-depth. Training for specific
professions includes company schemes such as the provision of management skills
seminars at “l’Académie Vinci” for management trainees. For more details on what
training is available, visit the subsidiary website for which you are interested in
working.
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VOLKSWAGEN GROUP
Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft German Locations

VHH 11. floor
P.O. Box 1849 Wolfsberg (HQ)
D-38436 Wolfsburg Berlin • Dingolfing • Eisenach •
Germany Landshut • Leipzig • Munich •
Tel: +49 5361 986 622 Regensburg • Steyr • Wackersdorf
www.volkswagen.com

Germany • Italy • Spain • United
Ticker Symbol: VW (Frankfurt, Berlin,
Kingdom
Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg,
Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart, Xetra, SWX
Swiss Exchange, LSE, Luxembourg, TSE).
Chairman: Prof. Dr. Martin
Winterkorn Employment Contact
2007 Revenue: €108.9bn www.vw-personal.de
2007 Employees: 329,305
2006 Employees: 324,875
No. of Offices: Locations in 150 countries
Divisions
Automotive • Financial Services
career
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THE SCOOP
he world’s fourth-largest car manufacturer, after Japan’s Toyota and the
Volkswagen Group
American manufacturing giants General Motors and Ford, Volkswagen
AG is based in Wolfsburg, Germany and has an undeniably impressive
global footprint. In 2007, the group had a 9.8 percent international market share,
rolling out 6.2 million vehicles, a considerable increase on its 2006 total of 5.7
million vehicles. The German carmaker‘s success may have something to do with
both design and reputation. You know what you’re getting with a Volkswagen —
if you want a safe, sturdy car that will get you where you need to go, this is the
company that makes them.
Getting in with the Volk
As of 2008, the Volkswagen group consists of 175 group companies, operating 48

production plants in thirteen European countries and a further six countries in the
Americas, Asia and Africa.
In total, worldwide, more
than 329,305 employees
produce close to 25,400
“ In Brazil, Russia, India and
China, ‘the thirst for “
vehicles which are sold in mobility is enormous’
more than 150 countries.
The group’s impressive 2007 revenue was 108.9 million euros, which was a slight increase
on 2006’s turnover of 104.9 million euros.
What makes a Volkswagen car? More than just the sturdy design you’d instantly
associate with the company. The Volkswagen group actually comprises six main
brands: Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, Skoda, SEAT, Bentley and Volkswagen
Commercial Vehicles. Volkswagen group is more than just car manufacturing,
though. Alongside the car brands, the group’s financial services division consists of
a variety of services, from dealer and customer financing to leasing, banking and
insurance activities and fleet management.
Utilitarianism or flower power?
Volkswagen literally means “the people’s car” when translated from German, and the
carmaker is still considered “cool” by its young fans. Few people would dispute that
the popularity of Volkswagen’s iconic Beetle model car in the 1960’s and 1970’s firmly
cemented the German carmaker’s place in popular culture and in design history.
What the Mini was to Britain in the 1960’s, it can be said the Volkswagen Beetle was
to the rest of the world — a compact and economic car with mass appeal.
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The success of the Volkswagen brand and its designs over the decades has enabled
VW to transcend the car-buying masses (hence, being the “people’s car”) to being a
more quality mid-range carmaker. Notably, the Volkswagen Group purchased the
fellow German luxury car brand Audi from competing German car manufacturer
Daimler-Benz, makers of the Mercedes-Benz, in 1964, perhaps influencing VW
towards a more high-end direction — many of the Audi engines, and much of its
engineering, is used across VW vehicles.
Boom in the USA
The popularity of VW vehicles in the US and Canada throughout the decades has
steadily grown. Despite enormous competition from US and Japanese carmakers in
the world’s largest car market, VW has always done well in the US. In 1988, thanks
to the introduction of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between
the US, Canada and Mexico, VW was able to transfer much of its North American car
manufacturing operations to Mexico, where it has since benefited from lower labour
costs and the economic benefits of free trade across the borders of its biggest market.
Gearing up for more
Not content with having a high proportion of the global market, Volkswagen has its
eye on the top spot. Calling itself “the world’s most fascinating car manufacturer”,
Volkswagen’s chief executive Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, previously chairman of
Audi, also has as a 2008 goal the domination of the car market. In the group’s 2007
Annual Report he stated Volkswagen would be rolling out 20 new models within 36
months. Of particular interest to the company are SUV’s, pick-up trucks and vans,
with Volkswagen intensifying its manufacturing of these vehicles over the coming
years. The group expects that demand will predominantly come from countries that
are on the up such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, where Winterkorn says “the
thirst for mobility is enormous”.
Breaking the (Volkswagen) Law

Volkswagen has had to deal with a few bumps in the road lately. A 50-year old law
called the Volkswagen Law, created soon after the end of World War II, forbids any
takeovers of the VW Group. Porsche, a shareholder of VW with a 31 percent stake in
it, fought this law through much of 2007 and in October 2007, it was overturned by
the European Court of Justice. It was decided by the ECJ that the law “restricted the
free flow of capital in Europe”. The German government, however, has refused to
revoke it, and the German state of Lower Saxony wanted to salvage a provision in it
that gives it a blocking vote to protect workers from layoffs. With Germany having
offered a new draft of the law in January 2008, the battle continues into late 2008,
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especially as Germany’s new law still allows Lower Saxony to block a takeover.
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen has more than 80,000 employees in the region, so however frustrating
it might be for Porsche, the Volkswagen Law is hardly illogical.
Journey to the East
VW is, like the rest of the industrial world, turning to Asia both for sales and
manufacturing. The plan is to match the returns achieved here already by main
competitors, the Japanese carmakers Toyota and Honda. In 2008 in India, where
Volkswagen’s passenger car sales increased by 16 percent from 2006 to 2007, Volkswagen
is focusing on launching more cars on the burgeoning market. The group is also opening
new plants, such as one in Pune in western India, which will open in late 2008. According
to reports, Volkswagen is hoping to garner at least a ten percent market share in India by
2015. The company is known for its ability to make cars that suit the preferences, tastes and
price ranges of buyers in a wide variety of markets and it has no qualms about testing
products in India in order to find the perfect fit for the country’s huge market.
VW goes eco-friendly
Volkswagen is considering how to combine and direct its technological

developments to meet environmental concerns. As of 2008, it has the lightweight
Volkswagen Polo that uses diesel technology and better tires to provide better
fuel economy. Numerous other initiatives are underway too — the company is
investing in second generation biofuels and in alternative drivetrain
technologies, such as hybrid engines, fuel cells or plug-in electric systems. The
company has also introduced the up! concept car, which it touts as ‘reviving the
Beetle legend” — the car is a compact, zero-emission van which harnesses sun
energy through solar panels in its roof and is powered by electricity or a high-
temperature fuel cell. Expect more such clever inventions to come hot on the
heels of this in the near future.
GETTING HIRED
Whether you’re a student, just about to graduate from university or have some
professional work experience, Volkswagen offers a vast range of career opportunities
throughout Germany and the rest of the world. Jobs at the company are divided by
brands, regions and divisions, so you need to decide exactly where you want to work.
At Volkswagen AG, the company’s central unit, you can explore a dedicated human
resources website and look at specific opportunities for trainees, students, graduates
and expert professionals.
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Workin’ for the ‘wagen
For students, Volkswagen offers internships lasting between six and eight weeks but
occasionally the company offers longer ones, to last between 12 weeks and six
months. You need to check the Volkswagen AG human resources website for further
details. German fluency is expected and applications can be made online three to six
months before you want to start working. Your application should express your
motivation and expectations of the internship and why you want to work in
whichever department you pick. You can do an internship abroad too and there are
downloads available on Volkswagen’s website explaining how to intern outside
Germany for the company. Special arrangements can be made for PhD students, who
need to make an online application detailing their PhD research interests.
For graduates of universities, business schools and professional schools, Volkswagen

offers a top-notch training programme. The departments it recruits for are: research
and development, production and logistics, sales and marketing, organisation and
systems, press and communications, procurement, quality assurance, human
resources, controlling, or finance and investor relations and law. In terms of your
academic background, the mammoth corporation is fairly open. While engineers,
especially those trained in mechanical, automotive and electrical engineering, will
find a wealth of opportunities, those with more diverse backgrounds will find just as
many interesting career paths at Volkswagen. The company also does enormous
amounts of training and offers huge support with professional development.
STiP up to it
Another possibility for wannabe Volkswagen recruits is the StiP scheme, which
integrates practical studies with work experience at the company. If you are studying
any of the following: business administration, economic sciences, electrical
engineering, vehicle structure development, computer science, mechanical
engineering, mechatronics, material sciences, logistics or economic engineering, this
scheme might suit you perfectly. The scheme offers the chance to work towards your
degree whilst gaining a certificate of proficiency in a practical skill. To apply for it,
you need to be interested in technology and cars, have good grades and speak
excellent German. Applications can be made online — see Volkswagen’s human
resources website for further details.
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“ Volkswagen has introduced the up!
concept car, which revives ‘the Beetle
legend”. This car is a compact, zero-
emission van which harnesses sun energy
“
through solar panels in its roof and
is powered by electricity.
VOLVO GROUP
SE-405 08 Locations in Europe
Gothenburg
Sweden Gothenburg (HQ)
Tel: +46 31 66 00 00 Austria • Belarus • Belgium • Bosnia
www.volvo.com and Herzegovina • Bulgaria • Croatia •
Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia •
Finland • France • Germany • Greece •
Hungary • Iceland • Ireland • Italy •
Latvia • Lithuania • Macedonia • Malta •
The Stats
Employer Type: Public Portugal • Serbia-Montenegro •
Ticker Symbol: VOLV B (OMX Nordic Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain •
Exchange) Switzerland • Turkey • Ukraine •
Chief Executive: Leif Johansson United Kingdom
2007 Revenue: 28.54bn SEK
2006 Revenue: 25.88bn SEK
No. of Offices: n/a www.volvo.com/group
(Click on "Careers")
Divisions
Mack Trucks
Nissan Diesel
Renault Trucks
Volvo: 3P • Volvo Aero • Buses •
Business services • Construction
equipment • Financial services • Group
real estate • Information technology •
Logistics • Parts • Penta • Powertrain •
Technology • Technology transfer •
Treasury • Trucks •
career
286 library
THE SCOOP
R
emember that scene in the 1990 Dudley Moore film Crazy People, where the
Volvo Group
psychiatric-patients-turned-advertising-executives come up with the slogan
“Volvo: boxy but good?” Puns aside, it generally isn’t for their design that
Volvo cars are most appreciated. If anything, Volvo is synonymous with reliability.
In this respect, the Swedish group reflects its product, with a solid position in the
global automotive market and steady sales in recent years. In 2007, Volvo’s sales rose
by ten percent from 2006.
High roller
As of mid-2008, Volvo (which means “I roll” in Latin), operates in 185 countries, has
production facilities in 19 countries, and employs over 100,000 people. The company
is a leading manufacturer of trucks, buses and construction equipment as well as
marine equipment (Volvo Penta), aircraft (Volvo Aero), and engines for use in
industry. The group spent the 20th century developing from a small local industry
into one of the world’s largest manufacturers.
Since the company‘s best known business, automobile making, was sold to US-
based automobile maker Ford Motor Company in 1999 for 6.45 billion US dollars,
Volvo has turned its full focus onto its remaining units, particularly its trucks
division. Volvo Trucks is the second-placed truck manufacturer both in Europe
and globally.
On a roll for 80 years
The Volvo Group’s origins go back to 1927, when its first car rolled off the production
line at the first Volvo factory on the island of Hisingen, in Gothenburg. The global car
market boomed as the 20th century got underway and Volvo confirmed its status in
the prestige market with its 700 series of cars. Introduced in 1982, the 740 and 760,
with aesthetics that updated Volvo’s traditionally severe, if solid, box-shaped cars,
captured the public imagination.
In 2000, the company proceeded with several large structural shifts. It set up a
financial services division with the intention of providing its clients with
customer financing and insurance services. In 2001, Volvo then invested some of
the proceeds from its pre-millennial divestment of its car division to Ford Motor
Company, into its truck manufacturing business. The Swedish group also
acquired the US-based Mack Trucks and French firm Renault Trucks in a deal
worth 1.6 billion dollars. This move made Volvo the biggest global producer by
sales of heavy-duty diesel engines.
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Constructing an industry
Aside from its sturdy interest in trucks, Volvo is the second biggest manufacturer of
buses worldwide, and a big parts supplier for the construction industry, by way of
its production of excavators, on-site trucks and crane trucks. The company also
considers itself to have set a benchmark in the naval and industrial fields due to the
quality of its engines, ranging from generators to train propulsion systems. When it
comes to expansion, in 2007, Volvo set its sights on Japan, acquiring Nissan Motors’
truck division Nissan Diesel. This gives it an excellent platform for growth in the
Asian region.
Volvo gets its wings
As if its domination of the heavy vehicles world wasn’t complete, the group is also
a big player in the aeronautics domain. An estimated 80 percent of the aircraft in
circulation as of 2008 have Volvo components (combustion chambers, for example)
within them. Volvo also designs and builds aircraft for the Swedish Air Force.
Roll over credits
As of mid-2008, Volvo kept “rolling” forward successfully, mostly — and possibly

predictably — towards the east. As part of the company’s strategy for its Asian
markets, in May 2008, the trucking giant signed an agreement with New Delhi based
Eicher Motors Ltd. The
deal saw Volvo buy 8.1
“ An estimated 80 percent of the

aircraft in circulation as of 2008 have
“ percent of Eicher Motors
for approximately 1.84
billion kronor (198 million
Volvo components within them.
euros) in order to hold a
50 percent stake in a new
joint venture, VE Commercial Vehicles. The venture operates all of Eicher Motors’
truck and bus operations, Volvo’s Indian truck sales business and its service network
for trucks and buses. At the time of the deal, Volvo Trucks Asia chairman, Par
Ostberg, told Indian business newspaper The Hindu that India was the fourth most
important truck market worldwide.
One of the company’s primary strategies is to “chase” growth in its main markets, and it
counts Asia among these, the other two being Europe and North America. The ambitious
manufacturer’s focus on beefing up its Asian operations has proved astute, considering it
has had to face lowered demands in the North American truck market in 2007 and 2008.
The group also had to weather an internal crisis in February 2007, in which trade union
United Auto Workers (UAW) called a strike in Volvo’s plant in the US state of Virginia that
288
lasted almost two months. According to Volvo, the strike paralyzed production and
Volvo Group
caused 2007 earnings potential in that quarter to drop by as much as 250 million kronor.
A new three year agreement with the workers was, however, reached by mid-March.
Rolling in the green

As part of the company’s green concerns, in April 2008 Volvo presented two trucks
which operate on fuel-saving hybrid technology. These trucks combine traditional fuel
sources with clean electric power. Estimated to use up to 20 percent less fuel, these green
gods of the truck world are said to cut carbon dioxide emissions by approximately the
same amount. Reducing carbon emissions in its vehicles by 50 percent is one of the
company’s chief green goals, according to its 2007 Sustainability Report.
GETTING HIRED
Keeping you happy
During 2007, Volvo’s workforce shot up to more than 100,000 employees. The
majority of these are based in Sweden, France and the US. According to the
company’s 2007 Sustainability Report, an impressive 86 percent of Volvo’s employees
were satisfied with their careers in the company. Those interested in signing up to
Volvo group or one of its subsidiaries should check out the group’s careers link:
www.volvo.com/group/global/en-gb/career.
Roll on board
Volvo is determined to have good collaboration and exchange relations with schools
and universities. It offers a wide range of internship positions, thesis integration work
and graduate programmes with an international reach. The website’s “careers”
section details the criteria needed to make an application as an intern or to do your
thesis at Volvo, and the experience you will get. As far as graduate programmes go,
there are several to pick from. The newest is the international graduate programme,
which runs for 12 months including a three month stint abroad. Graduates are picked
for a specific position in one of the group’s companiesand the programme includes
training sessions in Sweden, China and France.
In order to apply, you’ll need fluent English and a bachelor’s or Masters degree in
engineering science, computer science, business administration or logistics, along
with a valid work permit to work where the programme will base you. Check the
company’s website for more details.
289
Its other graduate training schemes are Volvo Aero, the Volvo construction
equipment international graduate programme and the Volvo Trucks development
programme. Volvo Aero recruits those with a Masters degree in engineering and a
willingness to focus on aeronautical engineering. The Volvo construction equipment
programme is a 14 month programme for graduates in commercial and technical
fields such as finance, engineering, product development and who want a career in
construction equipment engineering. Finally, more information on the Volvo Trucks
development programme can be found on the company’s website.
290
ABOUT THE EDITOR
About the Editor

Eleanor Lee is an Associate Editor at Vault Europe. She has a first class BA in
English Literature from Oxford and an MA in Political Theory from University
College London.
293
As a responsible publishing company,
Vault works with printers who source materials
from well managed sustainable forests. This helps
protect our environment.
We aim to grow our business while minimising our impact

on the environment.
We encourage our readers to download and read electronic versions

of our guides available via our website www.vault.com.
We are also proud to have installed the Vault Online Library at over 1,000
universities worldwide. With the Online Career Library, students are
able to download electronic versions of our guides as part of their job
search. This helps reduce the printing and shipping of our guides.
By leveraging the latest technology, we aim to contribute

responsibly to the world around us.
The Vault Europe Team

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THE VAULT GUIDE TO THE TOP

is made possible through the generous support of the

Top Engineering Firms

© 2009 Vault.com Ltd

the express written permission of Vault.com Ltd.

ISBN 13: 978-1-58131-603-2

A Guide to this Guide 3

Électricité de France 112

VINCI plc 274

About the Editor 293

A GUIDE TO THIS GUIDE

A Guide to this Guide

Departments and Divisions: The firm’s major divisions.

R imagination and technical know-how. Today, it has blossomed into a vastly

Eli Lee, Editor

he European engineering sector is worth close to 3,000 billion euros,

T employing nearly 20 million EU citizens and is comprised of approximately

On the bright side

“ The European engineering

Combating the crunch

activity. In addition, annual output grew by around seven percent in volume,

The State of European Engineering

The problem can be traced to the number of graduates completing engineering-

Oil and gas: cyclical industries

Only ten European outfits made a recent BusinessWeek ranking of innovative

Smaller engineering companies in Europe have profited from supplying the

The State of European Engineering

had dropped 20.3 percent in the course of two years.

“ Engineering has an absolutely

The search for renewable energy sources and development of infrastructure is a

The State of European Engineering

However, protectionism is notoriously rife when it comes to cross-border energy

Protectionism aside, a new cross-border European energy powerhouse may well

The Vault Guide to the

54 rue la Boétie European Locations

n recent years, the telecoms industry has undergone a huge technological

Back to the old school

The company streamlined and expanded simultaneously, creating a foothold in

Back to the older school

Back to the future

The road to hell

Alcatel-Lucent expects to focus on its next-generation upgrades of wireless and fixed-

Still on the lookout

141 rue Rateau European Locations

he world of French conglomerates is often more closely-knit than it would

More power to them

Faster than the speed of freight

Do the locomotion with me?

Off the rails

“ Despite its bright-looking future,

Are you gonna go my way?

You can’t always get what you want

The truth is in the Vault:

• Access “insider info” on interviews, culture, compensation and hours.

• Read employee surveys.

• Browse our video career library.

• And much more!

Berkeley Square House European Locations

798819 avenue de la Liberté Employment Contact

Bars and Fencing • Automotive •

rcelorMittal is the world’s number one steel producer and a true

Over and over