Since it was founded by Alcatel-Lucent in October 2010, which became part of Nokia, and in partnership with various higher-education schools, the @talentEgal association has developed rapidly with a growing number of students being supported by the association each year. This makes us confident that our decision, way back in 2010, to invest in order to recruit candidates with disabilities, people who had graduated from college, and launch a partnership program within the framework of our diversity policy (in terms of a mixed, multi-generational society, disabilities and professional equality), was the right thing to do.
Yet today, young people with a disability are often hesitant to aim for engineering careers or to go for this type of higher education. Our goal is to help them discover roles with us, to encourage them to pursue further study and to support them throughout their journeys to their first step on the career ladder. The association allows us to develop close relationships with target businesses and schools for recruitment that is in line with our company. They also provide the opportunity to build bridges between programs at different schools, to better understand the obstacles and difficulties faced by students during their studies, to develop a significant relationship network made up of students, teachers, parents, disability advisers and various responsible associations. The @talentEgal initiative should help to fight against the obstacles that high-school and college students with disabilities face when pursuing their studies.