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 organised 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.
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 organisation, 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.
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 socialising with them out of hours. You’ll be required to work hard but not expected to put in ridiculous hours.
Our company invents and manufactures technologies that address some of the world’s most critical challenges around energy, safety, security, productivity and global urbanization. We are uniquely positioned to blend physical products with software to support connected systems that improve buildings, factories, utilities, and aircraft, and that enable a safer, more comfortable and more productive world. Our solutions enhance the quality of life of people around the globe and create new markets and even new industries.
Honeywell understands that identifying and nurturing top talent at the undergraduate and graduate levels is critical to meeting our business needs and growth plans. Wherever you are in your academic career, we emphasise continuous learning and provide numerous opportunities to improve your skills and grow your experiences with us.
Our 2-year graduate program offers a unique opportunity to launch your career in a diverse and inclusive global organisation. From the variety of challenges, experiences and responsibilities to choose from, to the endless discoveries to be made about who you are and what you are capable of – Honeywell enjoys a friendly, diverse and supportive group of experts from around the world to ensure you are not alone.
The purpose of the Honeywell graduate program is to build a pipeline of fantastic talent for the future and fast track development. This is achieved by providing challenging and meaningful assignments with great learning opportunities, together with a planned and supported development program. You will develop your technical, soft skills and business acumen throughout your time as a Honeywell graduate.
You will be supported during your graduate role via: our graduate program alumni, your manager, peers, technical experts, buddies, mentors and the program manager
Your development is key: the 2-years will see you develop across technical, personal and soft-skills and also business acumen – there is a 2-year program you will be involved in with your graduate peers, whilst also being involved challenging and meaningful work assignments.
Honeywell Building Solutions
Honeywell Building Solutions installs, integrates and maintains the systems that keep facilities safe, secure, comfortable, and productive and energy-efficient. We work with a variety of customers on exciting buildings across leisure and entertainment, justice and corrections, and premium commercial.
Graduate Roles: Graduate Project Engineer, Graduate Service Engineer, Graduate Sales Engineer, Graduate ICT Engineer, Graduate Integration Engineer
Honeywell Building Products
Our Xtralis Group is the leading global provider of powerful solutions for the very early & reliable detection, remote video verification, and rapid, effective response to smoke, fire, gas and security threats. Our technologies prevent disasters by giving users time to respond before life, critical infrastructure or business continuity is compromised. We protect high-value and irreplaceable assets belonging to the world’s top governments and businesses.
Graduate Roles: Graduate Engineer
Honeywell Research and Design Centre
The Honeywell Research and Design Centre develop market-leading software systems and solutions for industrial plants and buildings. These solutions help to build a world that is more efficient, safe, secure
and comfortable. The latest user experience design, software engineering practices and technologies are used to develop advanced software systems that are used all over the world.
Graduate Roles: Graduate Software Engineer, Graduate User Experience Designer
We are looking for graduates with the following skills and qualities:
If you are a problem solver and you want to make a difference, we would love to hear from you!
For more information or to apply, visit our early career website or contact us at graduates@honeywell.com
Graduate Software Engineer at Honeywell
Bachelor of Computer Science at Swinburne University of Technology
Sales Engineer at Honeywell
Bachelor of Science (Physics) at Victoria University of Wellington