Fostering opportunities for young professionals: Hatch recognized as a top employer

A delegation of young professionals joined Hatch’s CEO, John Bianchini, for a luncheon ceremony in Toronto today to celebrate the company’s most recent recognition as one of Canada’s Top Employers for Young People. This was the third time Hatch has been included on a "top" 2017 list compiled by Mediacorp, the publicizing company for national and special interest top-employer recognitions and host of the luncheon.

Over the years, Hatch has forged strong relationships with leading engineering programs worldwide to recruit top talent straight from university. Hatch also sponsors 200-plus scholarships at high-ranking schools. “This helps us build our brand within these institutions and attract the best of the best,” says Bianchini.

“Making your organization a good place for young people to start their careers is about more than simply appearing trendy or hip,” says Kristina Leung, senior editor of the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project at Mediacorp. She explains that a judging committee reviews professional development and leadership opportunities for young people, recruitment numbers, and educational support among other benchmarks to select employers for the list.

In the past decade, Hatch has implemented a dedicated Young Professionals (YPs) program that guides recent grads through their first three years with the company. Roughly 70% of the program involves on-the-job training, but there are also networking events and in-class education for engineering, leadership, and business skills.

Selma Akel is a member of the program who was recruited by Hatch while still in university. Akel has lunch with a mentor every month to discuss work goals and life in general. “It’s nice to have someone who went through what you’re going through,” Akel says. “I’m new to [Toronto], too, so it’s nice to have that community with the other YPs and my mentor at work—I felt like I had friends from the very beginning.”