10/01/2020 - Careers
For over ten years, Vallourec has been working to expand and develop the careers of our technical experts. This strategic initiative has three main objectives. It ensures that employees’ technical skills are continuously developed, it helps us retain highly skilled employees and it allows us to build bridges with the wider scientific and industrial community.Expanding the scope
While it was originally created for employees in Research and Development (R&D), over the last few years, the program has been expanded to include employees with highly developed technological skills, working in the production environment.Meaningful innovation in an industry like ours should be based on both product and process. If product engineers and process engineers aren’t working together from the beginning, you get to a certain point and realize that the product can’t be made, or is too expensive. Most companies fail not in research, but in development and speed of implementation.
Michael Kan Performance and Technology Director and Level IV Expert
Building a personalized career path
The application process is driven by employees themselves, who can verify that they are eligible for the program online.The program offers many benefits to employees. They become part of a community and are recognized for their skills, for one. It ensures they will be able to continue developing their skills, for another. And it aligns their compensation with their skills. Experts are precious. If we can’t show them a path to an interesting professional life, we risk losing them to the competition. That would be a tremendous loss.
Christian Zinkler Director of Human Resources
Technical experts need dedicated resources to continue their development. If you are on a management track, you don’t have time for your own research, or to work with academic or industry partners or otherwise develop your expertise. This program ensures experts have the time and support to continue developing. Indeed, having a clear development plan is an important part of the program.
Jérôme Peultier Director of Research and Development
Developing core functions and processes
Above all, says Christian Zinkler, Vallourec’s core functions as a manufacturer of steel tubes must be continually developed.This type of recognition, combined with the internal recognition and compensation, helps us retain our highly-skilled employees. With Expert Careers our technical employees know their contribution is valued.
Christian Zinkler Director of Human Resources