ICWES15 - Finding, Recruiting, and Retaining Women Engineers for National Security R&D Positions. Presented by Ms Janet L Williams, Sandia National Laboratories, United States and

Finding, recruiting, and retaining women engineers for national security

R&D positions

Presentation for ICWES 15

July 20, 2011July 20, 2011

Janet L. Williams, Manager, and Michael M. Kline, HR partner

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of

Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Threats fromother nation states

Traditional strategicnuclear threats

Threats fromnon nation states

Other threats: natural disasters, climate change, energy supplyThreats of

tech surprise

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Addressing Our Evolving National Security Environment is of the Greatest Importance

People and Budget (As of October 15, 2010)

Mechanical engineering 16%Electrical engineering 21%

Other engineering 15%

Other fields 12%

Computing 16%

Chemistry 6%Math 2%

Other science 6%Physics 6%

Nuclear Weapons

Defense Systems & AssessmentsEnergy, Climate, & Infrastructure Security

International, Homeland, and Nuclear Security

FY10 operating revenue$2.3 billion

13%13%

31%

43%

On-site workforce: 11,677 Regular employees: 8,607 Gross payroll: ~$898.7 million

Technical staff (4,277) by discipline:

(Operating Budget)

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A massive challenge:

• Recruiting, hiring, and retaining highly qualified, exceptional candidates for our national security positions– Requirements for most technical positions

• MS or higher in engineering, primarily electrical, mechanical, computer science, or computer engineering fields

• High academic achievement• US Citizenship• Able to obtain a high level security clearance

First challenge: finding US Citizens

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*Excerpted from Engineering by the Numbers, by Michael T. Gibbons, American Society of Engineering Educators, 2010

46% of MS degrees awarded in the US went to foreign nationals

Next challenge: finding diverse candidates

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*Excerpted from Engineering by the Numbers, by Michael T. Gibbons, American Society of Engineering Educators, 2010

Only 22% of these degrees were awarded to women

Final challenge: finding the right disciplines

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*Excerpted from Engineering by the Numbers, by Michael T. Gibbons, American Society of Engineering Educators, 2010

Women are least represented in the disciplines we seek

How to address these issues?Look at the numbers

• Many more graduates with Bachelor’s degrees (78K, vs 43K MS degrees)

• Much higher percentage of US citizens at BS level (94%, vs 54% of MS graduates)

• Similarly low percentages of minorities and women, but greater numbers means more candidates overall

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These numbers suggest that finding and developing BS grads would be easier than recruiting MS grads

Master’s Fellowship ProgramCritical Skills Master’s Program

• Identify and hire outstanding BS candidates in their final year of studies

• Send them to a top rated graduate school of their choice

• Pay for tuition, books, expenses, and include a living stipend

• Upon graduation, pay them commensurate with MS new hires

• Require service to Sandia equal to the amount of time spent in graduate school

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Measures of success

• Approximately 600 participants since 1970• High percentages of females (35%) and minorities

relative to the available discipline pool• Retention rates* slightly lower than SNL at large,

BUT– Many still at Sandia, or recently retired

– Many in leadership positions, from manager to Executive VP.

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*Five-year retention rates are approx. 4 in 5 participants

Mining talent from top schools – Science and Engineering Expo

• First deployed in 2006 to bring in top MS and PhD candidates in a variety of areas

• Candidates invited on site as a group for 2-3 days

• Introduced to Sandia at an opening function, often a social or dinner prior to interviews. – At least ½ day for round-robin interviews by multiple

managers in a central location, jokingly referred to as “speed dating”.

– Tours are conducted for at least ½ day.

– PhD candidates are usually invited to give seminars on their thesis topics.

• Can be tailored to target specific minority groups, schools, or organizations.

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Recent successes

• AISES – American Indian Science and Engineering Society– Invited 19 top recruits attending a local minority

engineering conference on site– Sandia extended ten offers and received eight

acceptances to date.

• Targeting top schools– Invited 13 top technical MS and PhD candidates from

across the nation (UT-Austin, Purdue, and the University of Florida)

– Extended twelve offers and received eleven acceptances.

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Critical success factors

• Corporate overhead funding and support• Organizing efforts provided by HR• Participation by line organization technical

managers• Leveraging of established recruiting relationships

at top schools and annual conferences

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Conclusions

• These special recruiting programs have been and continue to be key factors in our ability to recruit top talent in a competitive job market.

• Even in years of budget challenge, they have been preserved as key to our future talent pipeline.

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Questions?