SEAT held its Kickstart Challenge today, an event where the company gave students in their final year of university or postgraduate studies the chance to demonstrate their talent, with the aim of selecting professionals to join the Kickstart programme. Over 120 young people, of the more than 360 who took interest in the event, showed their skills by performing several dynamics, solving specific challenges around the future of mobility in areas related with technology, business or the digital world.
The Kickstart Challenge has been designed to evaluate talent in action based on a novel methodology that adds value, both to the candidates and the participating SEAT tutors, in order to connect with talent via a unique experience using a disruptive format. Those selected will vie for a spot in Kickstart, a programme for trainee Bachelor and Master students involving a 6 to 12 month stay in several areas of SEAT.
With the Kickstart Challenge, SEAT aims to detect future leaders of mobility in different fields of study, with a value contribution that is multidisciplinary and unique, and is looking for profiles such as ‘Tech Lover’ (student of Engineering, Technology, Sciences, Maths or similar), ‘Digital Ninja’ (with knowledge of Big Data, Data Science, UX, Digital Marketing) and ‘Business Genius’ (student of Business Administration, Economics or related disciplines). For the Kickstart Challenge, groups were formed based on candidate profiles for them to work on real cases that adapt to their educational background.
SEAT Head of Talent Acquisition Oliwia Puppel pointed out that “the automotive industry is undergoing a transformation and requires professionals with a multidisciplinary Profile with a special emphasis on new technologies. Initiatives such as this enable us to approach new talent in a different way. Having the best trained and most motivated professionals is the only way for us to look to the future with confidence, tackle the transformation of the sector and position ourselves as a benchmark employer.”
An event with a disruptive, inspirational format
University students demonstrate their talent in the Kickstart Challenge.
SEAT aims to strengthen its position as an innovative, benchmark employer through this inspirational event, as the Kickstart Challenge goes beyond talent acquisition to become an experiential meeting. It was organised in collaboration with TRIVU, the talent ecosystem that SEAT has worked with on other innovative initiatives related with human resources. According to TRIVU founder and CEO Pablo González, “Motivating talent nowadays is essential. In Spain we have great professionals, generations of young people full of energy and knowledge that we can learn a lot from as they successfully steer us through this digital transformation. Companies such as SEAT help bring traditional businesses and new talent together and the Kickstart Challenge is an example of how this is achieved.”
The event was structured around four major sections. In the first one, called ‘Visioning & Speeches’, lectures provided insight into the experience of other participants in the programme, as well as the latest trends in technology, with the goal of inspiring the candidates to come up with innovative solutions.
Another component of the programme was a first-time ‘Speed Dating’ session, where 120 people engaged in successive interviews at the same time to give tutors and the Human Resources team at SEAT the chance to get to know all the participants. This was a key point in the event to create a participatory, collaborative atmosphere of trust.
One of the key aspects of the Kickstart Challenge are the Workshops, which specialise in different subjects related with the future of mobility called #StopsOfTheFuture. These workshops represent some of the areas where kickstarters will be working during their stay at SEAT after being selected according to their profile and preferences: Project Management, Connected Car, Sales, E-Commerce, Factory 4.0, Business, the Internet of Things or People. They all feature a hacking session centred on solving a challenge related with the areas of specialisation, as well as a team building dynamic to explore the participants’ soft skills as opposed to their technical knowledge.
With initiatives of this type, SEAT strengthens its commitment to youth employment and to training future professionals so they can successfully tackle the challenges posed by the working environment.
