How to attract, grow engineering talent? It looks a lot like this program
Oct. 13, 2022
This paid piece is sponsored by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.
Most are right out of college, taking on their first full-time job, when they’re hired in Henkel’s Prism program.
For the next year, they will embark on a leadership development track designed to expose them to multiple areas of the business while setting them up for future growth and success.
Project manager Chris Allen leads one track of that program, focused on developing talent in operations and supply chain.
“Our track has grown rapidly over the last few years,” he said, adding two of his 10 associates are based in the company’s expanding Brandon facility.
Allen will offer insight into the company’s program as part of the fifth annual WIN in Workforce Summit, which runs from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center.
He will join a panel titled “Workforce Reimagined,” featuring manufacturing and tech companies sharing their best practices for talent development. His fellow panelists are Heather Rowson-White, representing Amazon, and Melanie Wiegert of United Surgical Partners International.
Henkel, a global leader in adhesives, sealants and functional coatings and a leading manufacturer of well-known consumer brands, is in the midst of a 35,000-square-foot expansion in Brandon that will bring state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities.
It also will require skilled talent, such as new hires recruited from South Dakota School of Mines for the Prism program.
“The majority of their Prism experience involves rotating through departments and functions, and working on real, value-added projects,” Allen said. “They rotate through areas such as engineering, quality, safety, material management, and production scheduling and planning.”
The associates also spend time outside their home facilities, traveling to Henkel’s North American headquarters and visiting their peers’ locations. Within Allen’s track, many of them have chemical, mechanical or industrial engineering education.
“We’re really looking for candidates fresh out of school who have had some internship experience in manufacturing and engineering,” Allen said. “We’re looking to bring them into the organization and give them a robust first-year experience learning all the functions and groups within the organization and then set them up with a good foundation to deploy into full-time positions.”
Other tracks within the Prism program focus on sales engineering, application engineering, product development and business analytics. Each has a dedicated leader and is supported by site directors at the individual locations.
“Last year’s class deployed 100 percent of the class into full-time positions,” Allen said. “They’re at their locations and working on projects and driving results, and it’s been really encouraging to hear how much better prepared they were for those positions.”
Beyond the Prism program, Henkel invests in career-long development for its team. The company’s online learning hub offers a variety of ongoing training. An internal “Focus on You” campaign encourages employees to set aside 30 minutes in their workday each week, whether it’s through an online course, mentoring session or networking.
Allen, who has been with Henkel for eight years, has earned his Six Sigma green belt through Henkel and has participated in leadership development training along with a program to help him understand the company’s broader financials.
“Henkel is such a strong example of a company that is investing in multiple ways to support talent development at every stage of the career, and it’s seeing how that commitment pays off,” said Denise Guzzetta, vice president of talent and workforce development for the Sioux Falls Development Foundation. “We can’t wait for our business community to learn more at the upcoming WIN Summit.”
Register today
The Sioux Falls Development Foundation is an approved recertification provider for the Society for Human Resource Management, and human resources professionals who attend WIN can earn nine professional development credits.
Tickets are $89 for in-person attendance, which includes lunch and snacks, and $20 for virtual attendance. Group discounts are available. Contact [email protected].
