What it does: Makes technology
Staff stats: 127,000 globally
The good bits: Working on cutting-edge technology
The not so good bits: Work that’s too challenging or not challenging enough
Hiring grads with degrees in: Engineering, Maths, IT & Computer Sciences; Finance, Accounting, Economics & Business Administration
What’s now a multinational conglomerate producing consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems started off as the Honeywell Heating Specialty Company. It was founded in a tiny town in Indiana in 1906 by Mark Honeywell to produce a ‘mercury seal generator’ he’d invented to make heating systems work better.
The company merged with or acquired other companies in the heating business in its early decades. By the 1930s, it was branching out, both geographically and with its product offering. During WWII, it assisted the US military with several engineering and manufacturing projects. In the post-war period, it continued to produce military technology while moving into a range of other areas, such as the burgeoning computer industry. This allowed it to expand globally.
It has gobbled up many other companies and expanded into many different fields in recent decades.
Honeywell is now organized into four business units. These are Honeywell Aerospace; Home and Building Technologies (HBT); Safety and Productivity Solutions (SPS) and Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies. Honeywell has long been one of the largest and best-known tech businesses in the world. It’s a Fortune 100 company and had revenues of US$39 billion in 2016.
Like most US companies, Honeywell is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In practice, this means job applicants are evaluated without reference to their “age, race, creed, colour, national origin, ancestry, marital status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, nationality, sex, religion, or veteran status”. The company has a diverse board of directors and a Women’s Council “to drive projects that focus on the development and retention of female leaders”.
In recent years Honeywell has not made political contributions to political parties or individual politicians. It does, however, support policies that encourage “safety, security, energy efficiency, and clean energy generation”. Nearly half of the company’s revenue is linked to helping facilitate energy efficiency.
The company complies with all relevant laws and regulations in the countries in which it operates. It also requires staff to adhere to a rigorous Code of Business Conduct. It runs educational programs around the world to encourage students to consider STEM careers. It encourages staff to donate to the Honeywell Humanitarian Relief Fund. This provides direct assistance to the victims of natural disasters.
There’s no ‘I’ in either team or Honeywell, so you better be the type who enjoys group projects. Fortunately, the corporate culture is friendly, so you should find it easy to work effectively with colleagues during the day as well as enjoy socializing with them out of hours. You’ll be required to work hard but not expected to put in ridiculous hours.
Like many tech companies, Honeywell believes “people are the ultimate differentiator”. It goes to great lengths to attract top-performing students by offering undergraduate and MBA internships, apprenticeships, and early career (i.e. graduate) programs.
If you want to position yourself for a grad role, you’d be well advised to apply for an internship. This is one of the main ways the company assesses an individual’s “potential fit and performance as a future full-time employee who can get meaningful work done for our customers”. Internships, which can last up to six months, involve participating in real-world projects and interacting with senior staff. You can apply for one here. When applying for an internship or early career program, you can expect to have to fill out an online application and complete online cognitive ability testing, do a video interview, attend an assessment centre and do one or more face-to-face interviews with Honeywell staff.
If you want to score an internship or grad position with Honeywell, you’ll need to demonstrate you embrace its 8 behaviours. They are:
The foundation of Honeywell is Integrity and Ethics, Supporting Diversity, and Workplace Respect.
The Asia-Pacific, particularly China and India, is a huge growth area for Honeywell. In this part of the world, it is looking for “top talent [in] sales, marketing, engineering, and software with an emphasis on individuals with experience in aerospace, oil and gas, security, safety, and other relevant industries.”
If you do make it into an early career program, you’ll be given high-quality work assignments, be mentored by senior leadership, and receive training and on-the-job experience relevant to your career goals over the course of two years.
This may vary depending on what stream you’re in but you can expect to earn a competitive salary. There are discounts on Honeywell products, as well as other retail items.
Honeywell is “a pay-for-performance culture, with differentiated rewards for our top performers”. If you need the training to perform more effectively, the company offers “programs that allow us to develop leaders from within”. Being a global, multi-business organization, the career opportunities really are great, so if you are interested in working overseas or in other parts of the business later in your career, you will very likely have the opportunity.