Diversity in Action

Abbott Laboratories enhances its engineering force

A development program is in place for practicing engineers. Students get experience through summer internships

PDP manager Ann Tomlin: "the core elements for leadership."

Stephanie Lyford manages Abbott's summer intern program.

Tyrone Muslim: "one of the best internship programs in the nation."

Two programs at Abbott give recent hires the chance to work in a number of positions and divisions, and offer students valuable engineering experience.

Abbott is a global company that develops new medicines and technologies for healthcare and management. Its products are sold in more than 130 countries and manufactured at more than 100 facilities worldwide. Abbott looks for students and new grads with backgrounds in chemical, industrial, environmental, biomedical, mechanical and electrical engineering.

The Professional Development Program (PDP) was launched thirty-two years ago. "The program was begun in the 1970s to identify opportunities for engineers," explains Ann Tomlin, senior manager of the PDP. "Various departments needed employees with the same skill sets, so we created the program to enable engineers to experience different departments and work with different products in a short amount of time." Participants build their technical skills and their managerial and leadership talents.

Assignments are typically in three different areas. In plant engineering, participants support production. In divisional or corporate engineering, they serve as project engineers to standardize operations and assess policy at multiple sites.

Research and development (R&D) is the third area. Here engineers work as part of a development team, and take a product from R&D through piloting and startup and on into integration and manufacturing. A PDP participant might develop a new blood glucose monitoring system or troubleshoot a vascular stent system.

Each of the assignments lasts six months and can be anywhere in the U.S. where Abbott has facilities. "That's why it's good for entry-level people who aren't tied down," says Tomlin. People can expect to move as many as three times during their two years in the program. Most work at least once at Abbott's headquarters outside Chicago, IL

In some positions, responsibilities pass on to another member of the program; others may involve projects that finish within the six-month assignment period.

"We have had over 800 people complete the program since it started, and we'll have reached 1,000 in the next year," says Tomlin. "Right now we have sixty-six people in the engineering PDP."

Tomlin notes that 25 percent of all PDP participants are now in senior management positions. "We believe that you not only develop a super foundation, but also the right core elements to build a career for leadership."

Abbott looks to hire the best and brightest graduates, including women and minorities, for the PDP. The program currently has 63 percent women and 37 percent minorities. Abbott associates itself with high-ranking engineering colleges, and partners with organizations such as SHPE, NSBE and SWE.

Stephanie Lyford is the senior manager of talent acquisition, and manages the summer intern program at Abbott. The intern program focuses on students rather than graduates. "Its purpose is to develop our candidate pool of highly qualified, motivated individuals for future openings," Lyford says. In 2006, 90 percent of the interns were brought on as full-time employees. Tyrone Muslim was one. He joined the PDP in January 2007.

Muslim has an ME degree from the University of Illinois-Chicago. During college he did four internships at Abbott. He rehabilitated a heating ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system, upgraded a water softening manifold for a boiler feed system, and relocated utilities to a new building, working with contractors and preparing requests for capital expenditures. His final internship was in the diagnostics division.

Muslim notes that one of the main perks of being an intern is a shot at a permanent position with the company. "Right before we left for the summer, we received letters offering us jobs in the PDP. I wanted the PDP, because it gives you a broad view of Abbott as a whole," he says.

Muslim has made friends at Abbott through his internship and in the PDP. He believes both programs cultivate talent and build networks that encourage people to stay. He says, "Most of the people I've come to know and really care about here at Abbott have been other interns who've been hired too."

D/C

Abbott Laboratories www.abbott.com Headquarters: Abbott Park, IL Employees: Worldwide 65,000 Revenues: $22.5 billion Business: Discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics.