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Student Opportunities

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When you join AbbVie, you learn from and exchange ideas with some of the brightest minds in the industry. You’ll be doing meaningful work that impacts our business and improves the lives of patients worldwide.

Development programmes

If you will soon be graduating with an undergraduate or advanced degree, consider an AbbVie development programme. These have been created to give high-performing individuals the opportunity to broaden their work experience in a dynamic environment.

Each formal development programme lasts two or three years, depending on the discipline. They are designed to enhance your leadership capabilities, expand your functional skill set and help pave the way to your ultimate career goals. Your functional programme manager, assignment manager and mentor will help you acclimatise to our unique culture of innovation and discovery. Working collaboratively, you will help make goal-oriented decisions while you perform challenging and rewarding work alongside industry pioneers.

What is the programme for?

The Operations Development Programme (ODP) is a global leadership development programme. ODP prepares our early career talent for future leadership positions within AbbVie. ODP career path is orientated towards head of Site and Operations roles.

The Technical Development Programme (TDP), launched in 2018, is a country-specific specialist programme designed to develop Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). TDP career path is orientated towards Senior Technical Specialists.

What do the graduates do?

Both the ODP and TDP are three-year rotational programmes, designed to give the member an accelerated career experiences; combining experiential learning, formal training and regular performance management, along with coaching and mentoring. Both programmes will enhance your leadership and technical capabilities, expand your functional skill set and help pave the way to your ultimate career goals.

Your functional programme manager, assignment manager and mentor will help you acclimatise to our unique culture of innovation and discovery. Working collaboratively, you will help make goal-oriented decisions while you perform challenging and rewarding work alongside industry pioneers.

 

Operations Development Programme

The goal of our ODP is to develop high-potential talent with a broad base of skills early in their AbbVie careers. The ODP takes a personalised approach that incorporates your skills, interests and personal career goals. By rotating programme members through a variety of operational roles across AbbVie, ODP addresses the business needs of today while helping to grow experienced well-rounded leaders for tomorrow.

ODP is about finding future leaders

Members are full-time AbbVie employees, recruited from top universities around the world, who participate in three intensive twelve month rotational assignments. Being chosen for this highly selective programme immerses you in operational experiences that can put you on the fast-track to future leadership at AbbVie.

ODP Is about setting a high bar

The ODP offers a formal three-year programme, based on your discipline, with three twelve-month assignments in different areas of the Operations business. Assignments are crafted to help you develop exceptional functional and leadership traits, by working on a wide range of projects while providing exposure to different leaders in the company. The programme combines experiential learning, formal training and continuous performance management along with coaching and mentoring by our business leaders. Through intensive reviews (two per rotation), ODP also ensures that you stay on track with your performance goals and deliver business results.

Our members are required to do:

  • Two rotations within track
  • One elective rotation outside of track
  • Competitive global assignment option

Each member receives an individual, pre-planned career development map outlining a designed rotational plan. It includes:

  • Deliberate assignment selection which will build both depth and breadth of experience
  • Professional and personal development plan
  • Regular performance assessment
  • Coaching/mentoring
  • Advanced education, training, encouragement and support

Technical Development Programme

The goal of our Technical Development Programme (TDP) is to develop high-potential talent with specialist technical skills early in their AbbVie careers. The TDP takes a personalised approach that incorporates your skills, interests and personal career goals. Members will rotate into different functional areas within their site, each rotation building technical depth of knowledge. By rotating programme members through a variety of technical roles, TDP will build a talent pipeline for the critical capabilities required to achieve AbbVie’s strategic imperatives today and in the future.

TDP Is About Building our Future Technical Leaders

Members are full-time AbbVie employees, recruited from top universities around the world, who participate in three intensive twelve month rotational assignments. Being chosen for this highly selective programme immerses you in operational experiences that can put you on the fast track to becoming a future technical leader at AbbVie.

TDP Is About Setting a High Bar

The TDP offers a formal three-year programme, based on your discipline, with three twelve-month assignments in different areas of the Operations business. Assignments are crafted to help you develop exceptional functional and technical traits. Through deliberate assignment selection, based on both your area of personal interest and AbbVie’s business need, you will build a depth of specialist knowledge. You will work on cutting edge Bio-pharmaceutical technologies and medicines.

The programme combines experiential learning, formal training and aggressive performance management along with coaching and mentoring by our business leaders. Through intensive reviews (two per rotation), TDP also ensures that you stay on track with your performance goals and deliver business results.

TDP members are required to do:

  • Three rotations in track, in-country
  • Site strategic projects, technical in nature
  • Rotations of increasing responsibility and depth

Each member receives an individual, pre-planned career development map outlining a designed rotational plan. It includes:

  • Deliberate assignment selection which will build both depth and breadth of experience
  • Professional and personal development plan
  • Regular performance assessment
  • Coaching/Mentoring
  • Advanced education & training encouragement and support

AbbVie’s Development Programmes are About Creating a Culture of Success

ODP & TDP equips high potential Early Career Talent with foundational skills and experiences for later leadership and/or technical  positions at AbbVie. The programmes enables this through the active engagement of our key stakeholders, including:

  • Assignment Managers:
    Managers from the business will customise your rotational assignments, host and manage you during each assignment.
  • Mentors:
    AbbVie leaders will provide individualised guidance during your two-year participation in the programme.
  • Alumni:
    Former members who have graduated into full-time roles at AbbVie participate in member recruitment, programme events and assignments.
  • ODP Steering Committee:
  • A team of senior leaders from across AbbVie’s functional areas and regions sponsor and provide executive oversight to the programme.
  • TDP Steering Committee:
    The Site Director and members from the Senior Management Team sponsor and provide executive oversight to the programme.

Members of our OPD have been recognised by GradIreland and also the Early Career National Awards.

Our Intern Programme at AbbVie

Over the past four years, AbbVie’s intern programme has been the recipient of the gold, silver (twice) and bronze Intern Programme of the Year awards from Gradireland.

At AbbVie, we have a strong tradition of developing the next generation of employees through our intern programme. We have a dynamic and well-constructed programme which not only provides interns with challenging, impactful assignments but also a personal and professional development curriculum. AbbVie’s intern programme is more than just a learning experience for the intern—it helps us to recruit and retain the strongest talent who may become operations leaders in the future.

The AbbVie intern programme is the feeder pool into our ODP and TDP and also our direct hire graduate positions.

From day one, interns participate in onboarding activities, receive extensive on-the-job training and participate in professional training courses that give all the tools needed for success. Assignments are structured to give the intern the opportunity to make a measurable impact.          

AbbVie’s sites across Ireland have been fortunate to hire interns with tremendous talent and energy in the past, and 2019 was no exception.  The company had 20 interns working across our three manufacturing sites for periods ranging from three to 15 months.

Over the course of the programme interns are given the opportunity to visit each site and meet with senior leadership teams. Our interns are active members of our Culture, Innovation and Sports & Social teams and participate in many professional development courses.

AbbVie’s 2019 Interns are pictured at the company’s annual Intern recognition event.

Typical AbbVie internships include:

  • Paid three-to-12-month assignment
  • Training and development activities
  • Opportunities in the areas of Engineering, Science, Quality and Pharmacy

Generally, internships occur during the summer but students can be placed at any time during the year.

To qualify, you should:

  • Currently be pursuing your B.A, M.A. or Ph.D
  • Have completed a minimum of one year of college education
  • Have a 3.0 GPA or 2.1 or better
  • Be returning to school following your AbbVie internship
  • Be eligible to work in the USA/Europe