Hiring & Advancement
- As a senior attending Howard University, Alaina Tarver (pictured here on the right with her mentor Marlon Mayfield) participated in Abbott's internship program. Now a full-time Abbott employee, she credits the program with giving her a life-changing opportunity.
Ninety-seven percent of interns said they were very satisfied with the program; and 44 percent have chosen permanent positions at Abbott.
Commitment Across the Career Lifespan
Global competition for talent is intense. Robust hiring, advancement and leadership development programs at all levels help our employees realize their individual potential as well as ensure we attract and retain the best talent for our growth.
Entry Level
A number of hiring and development programs are available to help employees begin their careers, starting with the Abbott internship program, a major source for highly motivated employees. In 2007, we increased our hiring of interns by 39 percent over 2006, 53 percent of whom were women and 38 percent of whom were minorities. Our two- or three-year Professional Development Programs allow employees to gain diverse experiences by rotating through four or five assignments within the company, including in our international affiliates. These programs have proven to be a leadership pipeline, with nearly one quarter of alumni going on to senior leadership positions at Abbott. In 2007, we hired 125 people into Abbott through the programs, a 95 percent increase over 2006. Of these hires, 46 percent were women and 39 percent were minorities.
Abbott maintains aggressive goals for the recruitment, hiring and retention of women and minorities. These goals are included in the performance assessment of our managers and leaders and affect their compensation. In the United States, we seek to achieve placement of up to 50 percent women, and 25 percent minorities, in management positions. Additionally, one-quarter of our preferred search firms (10 of 41) are minority-owned.
University Relations
Part of our diversity and inclusion efforts focus on recruitment of entry-level talent through campus initiatives and university partnerships. We continued our outreach to minorities and women through various organizations at schools in the areas of engineering, information technology, finance and MBA programs. These partnerships included: Minority Commerce Association, Black Business Students, Wellesley College Business Leadership Council, Howard Hometown Engineering Scholarships and the Latino Association for Business Students, among others. Internationally, we implemented new recruiting programs in our affiliates in Ireland and China, and we continued our partnerships with international centers of learning in Europe, Latin America and Pacific-Asia.
Intern Intake Growth Strategy
In 2007, 39 percent of interns became Abbott employees, an increase over the 30 percent intake of 2006. The total number of interns in our program increased to 294 in 2007, up from 205 the previous year.
