In recent decades, challenges such as the health crisis, climate change and technological disruption have led society in general and companies in particular to incorporate new values and redefine the essential skills of their employees. Younger generations expect companies to engage them as participants and protagonists in their own professional development, while at the same time wanting their work to have a positive impact on society. In turn, older professionals make a decisive contribution by securing and preserving business know-how and knowledge in organisations.
For HR professionals, the challenge is enormous: it is not only a matter of recruiting the best candidates for specialised jobs, but it is increasingly necessary to have personalised career plans that contribute to the motivation, loyalty and well-being of all those who work in the company. The talent management paradigm has changed, but what are the new challenges and how can we respond to them?
Ineco developed its roadmap some time ago. The objective is to promote skills development, technical and management training, lifelong learning, languages, innovation and creativity among its professionals while ensuring effective internal knowledge management that is in line with our corporate values of experience, trust and rigour. This is all done with innovation and technology in mind.
More than 150,000 hours of training in 2020
After more than 50 years of history developing highly complex technical projects with the most cutting-edge and avant-garde technologies, the incorporation of new talent into the company and the development of attractive career plans must include a comprehensive training and loyalty programme, as well as appropriate internal knowledge management, as a key strategic aspect.
In 2020 alone, more than 150,000 hours of training were delivered at Ineco to more than 22,000 participants, with a satisfaction level of 8 out of 10, demonstrating the training quality of both the teachers and the teaching content. The professional training plans created at Ineco’s Internal Training School stand out in this respect. This is an investment that the company is committed to as an essential driver for developing the best talent, which is capable of tackling the challenges of the engineering sector.
Ineco, aware of its role as the driving force behind the prestige of Spanish engineering, is also committed to collaborative training and knowledge management environments such as the Communities of Practice, the Ineco Forums and the Specialisation Programme in Railway Operational Safety, which was recently set up in conjunction with the University Carlos III. This course is aimed at professionals in the railway sector and aims to provide a comprehensive insight into the field of safety from key players in the Spanish railway system and its operational safety, who have assisted in the design of the programme (Adif, AESF, Ineco and Renfe).
Scholarships for the development of young talent
Ineco has several programmes focused on discovering talent in universities, providing students with a career plan for joining the company.
Thus, the AYRFE and AYREA programmes are aimed at final-year students in the disciplines of industrial engineering, telecommunications, aeronautics and aerospace. Since their introduction in 2019, a total of 95 students have joined the programmes, 57 of whom have joined Ineco’s workforce and received funding support for the master’s programme.
Aimed at final year undergraduate and master’s degree students in Industrial Engineering and Telecommunications, the 2021 AYRFE programme offers 36 scholarships in the fields of signalling, energy, rolling stock, safety and telecommunications. As a result of the meetings and presentations held at the public partner universities –the Polytechnic University of Madrid, University Carlos III and Rey Juan Carlos University– all the scholarships offered in the first quarter of the year have been filled.
The AYREA programme, aimed at final-year aeronautics, aerospace and telecommunications students, has 28 active scholarships in 2021 in all areas of air navigation: ATM, CNS, GNSS, and U-Space-drones. In addition to the agreements in force with the Polytechnic University of Madrid and the Centre for Advanced Aviation Studies of the US Corporation MITRE, the biennial agreement with the Reference Centre for Research, Development and Innovation in ATM (CRIDA) has been renewed in 2021, which has enabled access to two projects of the so-called ‘SESAR Exploratory Research’: ISOBAR, which addresses the use of Big Data and probability predictions of meteorological phenomena, and NOSTROMO, which develops performance measurement models of the Air Navigation System on a European scale, using artificial intelligence.
On the other hand, Ineco, together with the Spanish Institute of Engineering and the Network of University-Business Foundations (REDFUE), also organises the annual Distinction for Excellence in Internships Competition for engineering students, which awards prizes to three internships undertaken in Spanish companies. This recognition is supported by a series of theory and practice-based courses that help train future engineers and enable them to contribute to strengthening the prestige of Spanish engineering. Following the success of the first edition, the three institutions launched the second call for applications in 2021, which focuses on the search for excellence in business internships. The winning internships will be rewarded with a first prize of 4,000 euros and two runners-up prizes of 1,000 euros for second and third place.
