Williams is on a “mission” to return to the top of Formula 1 – and at the very heart of that assignment lies the team’s early careers programmes.
Whether it is a graduate programme, an industrial placement, apprenticeships or work experience, the platform to launch a career into F1 with the team based in Grove has never been more accessible.
Add to that a scheme such as the Komatsu-Williams Engineering Academy and the opportunities continue to grow.
Williams can boast nine constructors’ titles and seven drivers’ championships in its storied history, but recent years have seen a drop-off in results and performance.
Now the team is setting about changing its fortunes moving forward and ensuring it can capture some of the most precocious talent available is a key element of the long-term plan.
“We’re on a mission to return to winning championships,” says Williams chief HR officer Ann Perrins.
“The team is growing overall, and talent matters everywhere. When I joined in June last year, we were about 750 people in the team. Now it’s over 1,000.
“Williams has always invested in early careers, and I think one of the most important ways to recognise that, is that actually across all of our early careers’ programmes, it’s more than 10% of our headcount.
Williams has expanded in recent years as it bids to rediscover its glory years
Photo by: Williams
“So it’s pretty significant, and we continue to invest more and more, so it covers lots of different types of role, whether it’s industrial placements for a year, graduate scheme, internships, apprentices.
“There’s different ways that you can come into the organisation from an early careers’ perspective, and we are really serious about how this is going to grow our talent for the future.
“It’s extremely authentic, this belief in future talent, and we really want those people to stay with us on the journey. It’s a genuine investment, even from school age and we don’t want to lose them to other teams.”
Recently, the team received over 20,000 applications for just 80 roles, proof of how desirable jobs in the motorsport industry have become.
That number, though, should not be off-putting to anyone tempted to apply, explains Sasha Prince, Head of Talent & Leadership at Williams.
“Firstly, yes, it is competitive, you do need a certain degree, particularly for certain fields within Formula 1 if you’re going into engineering – that’s unavoidable,” she…
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