Qatalum has begun its Summer Internship Program 2012, running from the 26th of June for the duration of one month.
The program is designed to positively engage with Qatari students, taking 30 candidates from Qatari universities and schools and matching each with a training ‘mentor’ from Qatalum’s staff. They will guide them through Qatalum’s different departments, processes and corporate ethos.
The program is intensive. After an initial addresses from the CEO, , trainees are introduced to their coaches and mentors. The first days of the course was taken up with an intensive technical, casthouse and power plant HSE induction, and then management skills training. The last half of the programme consists of on-the-job training, with trainee and mentor working in close contact within the mentor’s field of expertise.
As well as being paired with a subject expert mentor, students also work with a training supervisor, responsible for materials preparation, scheduling, department assignment, progress reporting and following-up.
The benefits of mentorship to the trainee are clear, including easier induction to organisational culture, improved self-confidence, improved coping with the formal and informal structure of the organisation, skills development and harnessing mentors’ expertise by learning on the job.
Tom Petter Johansen, Qatalum’s CEO, explained the program’s purpose, in particular, “The most successful companies realise the value of human capital - investing in the next generation of talent and encouraging them to join their company. So for us, the program’s purpose is two-fold, to present opportunities for the brightest students to be part of Qatalum’s knowledge based project when they finish their studies, but also to make sure we are meeting our community responsibilities,” he said.
“As a proud Qatari company, we want to support the country and its people, mentoring of students by experienced professionals is one of the ways we can positive contribute”.
