Skip navigation 
Previous Page
4
NEWS
June/July 2012 www.esb.ie/em
Traineeship Programme for People with Disabilities
ESB, THROUGH IT’S Traineeship Programme for People with Disabilities has received a Leading Employer of Graduates with Disabilities Award from the Association for Higher Education Access and Disability (AHEAD). This Award is in recognition of ESB's contribution towards access to meaningful employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
The Association for Higher Education Access and Disability (AHEAD) is an independent non-profit organisation. It works to promote full access to and participation in further and higher education for students with disabilities and to enhance their employment prospects on graduation. AHEAD provides information to students and graduates with disabilities, teachers, guidance counsellors and parents on disability issues in education through its Willing, Able and Mentoring (WAM) Programme. The success of the WAM programme was celebrated recently in Leinster House where Senator Martin Conway, a founding member of AHEAD, presented awards to leading employers such as ESB, IBM, and Abbott Ireland to name but a few, who continue to support the programme. The WAM programme has successfully placed over 150 graduates with disabilities in work placements over the last seven years. Many of these young graduates have secured full time employment as a result.
Last year ESB Traineeship Programme for People with Disabilities celebrated its 6th year and to date it has provided 66 people the opportunity to gain valuable work experience, improve social skills, build confidence and improve their employment prospects. It has also been disability-inclusive, involving trainees with physical, sensory, cognitive and intellectual disabilities. Equally ESB has gained knowledge and insight into disability awareness through this programme and this has been extremely valuable to us in creating and promoting an inclusive work environment for all our staff in ESB.
The Traineeship Programme was approved for a further 3 years in January 2012 by Chief Executive Pat O’Doherty, and we are presently interviewing for this year’s intake.
JobBridge continues to deliver
THE GOVERNMENT’S jobs initiative, JobBridge, which was profiled in the last issue of EM, is continuing to deliver opportunities in ESB.
With 4,787 people on an Internship throughout the country and 1,796 internships available currently, the initiative is seen as a great success.
ESB has pledged to provide up to 200 internships throughout the company during the scheme’s lifetime (1/7/11 - 30/6/2013). Of the 45 interns throughout the company over 10% have terminated their internships early as they have found paid employment. This undoubtedly fits the purpose of the JobBridge scheme by making people more employable by giving them the opportunity to gain experience in their choice of career.
Taking a snapshot of people that are currently on internships with ESB the vast majority of interns are delighted with the opportunity that ESB has given them in order to gain experience in a Corporate Environment. They have embraced this opportunity to make them more employable and they see this experience as critical in order to develop their careers.
CASE STUDY: SORCHA O’NEILL
Sorcha attended Sancta Maria College, then graduated from DIT with a BSc. in Mathematical Sciences. In September 2010 she commenced an MSc. in Applied Meteorology in the University of Reading in the U.K.
Sorcha’s previous work experience was in the financial industry, mainly customer service or administration roles with three of Ireland’s leading Banks. She worked part-time throughout her degree as a call-center customer service assistant for personal customers until she left in 2010 to relocate to Reading.
“I applied for ESBI’s position as a Forecasting Analyst via JobBridge as I was seeking experience within a mathematically oriented job. The position appealed to me for many reasons including its reliability on meteorological forecasts.”
After her Masters, Sorcha decided not to continue on the route of Meteorologist / Forecaster as she found the work involved a lot of repetition and model validation. Another application of mathematics she found interesting was with the financial markets and this led to her current career.
Sorcha was given a project to write a step-by-step guide on Medium and LongTerm Load Forecasting and to build a model that integrates micro-generation, technology (namely the electric car incentive) and temperature variations.
“I liked the idea of working independently on projects with experienced people available at hand,” says Sorcha who has now secured a position with a company based on her credentials and potential to perform. She feels her experience in ESB helped her sell her ability to carry out research independently and some of that research she focused on is directly related to her new career. “I found ESB a very friendly, relaxed environment with bright and talented employees,” says Sorcha. “It was obvious that ESB facilitated the development and training of their employees which is an added benefit for anyone seeking further education.”
CASE STUDY: CATHERINE HILLIARD
Catherine attended UCD and gained a BA (Geography and Sociology) and a postgraduate Diploma in Education. She also attended the Smurfit School of Business where she completed a Master in Management. Prior to joining ESB on the JobBridge scheme, she has gained some experience having worked in a bank as a lending executive in commercial property lending. She also had some limited teaching experience.
“I chose ESB because it is an established business and I felt I would have a good opportunity to get hands on experience working in a functional area that was relatively new to me,” says Catherine.
Catherine changed career path from banking to education to an IT/projects role. “Starting in BP&IT in Electric Ireland was a new thing for me. I have used computers since I started college but have not got any formal technical type training. I was a little bit daunted by being part of the IT function as I did not have a good understanding of the systems involved. The experience was positive for me as I had support of the team from the beginning and what I was going to be doing was well explained. I have had good exposure across the business from attending meetings both on the contract management side, and with various business functions as a part of SAP release management.
“As a place to start in the organisation this has given me a good overview of how the systems are used by the business,” says Catherine. “I got to use SAP and SharePoint which I had not used before this job. I have also had the opportunity to practice as a PSO for the SAP release management meetings and in dealing with contract management also. I am very grateful for having been given these opportunities. The experience on the whole has exceeded my expectations.
“I believe I would not have secured the job I have without my time in Electric Ireland.
The current market is very competitive and being in a job whilst applying both makes you feel more confident going into the interview and makes you look like a more motivated and hardworking candidate.
The BIPT team at Swift Square made me feel welcome and valued from the start.
I was given a mentor and had weekly meetings to discuss the work I was doing and what would be coming down the line. I was also invited to team meetings and given the opportunity see projects at various stages.
I really value this experience as I feel I have gained a good overview of the project process.
I am hoping to become a project manager in the future.”
CASE STUDY: COLIN FEARN
Colin holds a Degree in Landscape Design, Level 7 and a Post Grad. in GIS (Geographic Information Systems).
He commenced a nine month JobBridge Internship to construct a GIS database with ESBI on 5th December last and while on this scheme he applied for a position as a GIS Technician in the Environmental area which was advertised by ESBI for BCE. The position is a Fixed Term Maternity cover for 7 to 9 months. This role was advertised externally for one week and Colin applied and was successful as he had the necessary GIS, Lidar, Microstation and Mapping experience that the team was looking for.
Colin finished in the High Voltage area on 13th April and took up the position in BCE on 16th. In his exit interview Colin commented; “I gained a lot of experience while working in the OH Line Department and really appreciated the exposure to the diversity of work that the role offered. Overall my experience during my internship in ESBI was extremely positive and I felt the experience gained working in ESBI helped secured employment with ESBI.”
SUMMER COOKING
Health & Habitat
page 35
