 |
||
|
|
||
| |||||||||||
The big gun Founded by a pair of engineers in a garage in 1938 with just over $500 in capital, Palo Alto, CA-based Hewlett-Packard is a large and diverse company with broad interests stretching across the technological spectrum. But the computer industry has clearly been the company's bread and butter - HP is now the world's third-largest computer company behind IBM and Compaq. The company's recent success as a PC producer is probably its most impressive recent achievement. HP has gone from the 11th-largest vendor of PCs in 1993 to one of the largest in the world. Most notably, over 50 percent of all printers sold are HP-made. Don't stop thinking about tomorrow After a string of early successes, HP executives began to form joint ventures with fellow tech titans Microsoft and Intel. Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft have formed an alliance to promote Microsoft operating systems. The two companies are making joint sales calls, and HP engineers are working to improve the reliability of Microsoft's system so that it meets the rigorous standard for installation in Hewlett-Packard machines. Moreover, HP and Intel have collaborated on new microprocessors. The firm hopes HP computers equipped with glitch-free Microsoft operating systems and ultra-speedy Intel chips will sell like hotcakes. A shift towards services Just as competitive pressures spurred HP's jump into the PC market in the early 1990s, they have spurred HP's new jump into the services market in the late 1990s and early 2000. In recent years, profit margins for PCs have steadily eroded. Like most of its competitors, HP has found that offering services to businesses looking to take their firms online or expand dot com branches offers bigger profit margins and more chances for growth. As of May 2000, the company employed 7,000 consultants, an impressive number although small when compared to IBM's 130,000 consultants. A corporate rebirth In an effort to revitalize business and focus on the emerging e-commerce market, Hewlett-Packard announced plans to shed its older operations in 1999. It spun off its test and measurement and other noncomputer operations under the name Agilent Technologies. The shuffling touched the management level - CEO Lewis Platt retired after serving 7 years at the helm. HP became the first Dow 30 Company with a female CEO by hiring Carleton Fiorina, former president of Lucent Technologies, in July 1999. Back to their roots A reputed free-thinking leader, Fiorina, or Carly as she is affectionately dubbed within the company, has charged forward in a campaign to reinvigorate the notoriously slow-moving company. She has slashed bloated operating costs, reorganized divisions, and changed the sales compensation plan. She has also launched an ad campaign featuring the garage where founders Hewlett and Packard first worked, hoping to shed the company's old image by repositioning the brand around the "Invent" concept. Company walls are adorned with signs that read, "Radical ideas are not bad ideas" and "No politics, no bureaucracy." Moreover, Carly has made it a priority for HP to start as many new Internet businesses within the company as possible. Notable new Internet forrays have included a deal with Denver-based Quest Communications and a deal with watchmaker Swatch to create an Internet-ready watch. With all the competition, it remains to be seen whether Carly's initiatives can revive the inventiveness that once made HP Silicon Valley's first success story.
With well over 120,000 employees, Hewlett-Packard is always in need of young, talented people to replenish its ranks. HP recruits at major universities twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring. Applicants submit a resume and interview once. The company then scans all resumes and interviewer remarks with an OCR system into a database ("our automated applicant information system"). "When we have positions, we search the database to find candidates who are qualified for the position," explains a source. "Of course, if you can get your name and resume to a manager with a specific opening, that can't hurt." HP sends all interviewees a letter confirming that their information is available online. At this point, the wait begins. Warns one insider, "The only common thing is that it is a slow process. It could take weeks, even months before you get hired." Prospective hires are usually called for consecutive on-site interviews with several managers. Those found to fit both the job and the company culture will then receive an offer. But HP veterans warn prospective employees to make sure they know what they are getting into. "HP is very large, and some divisions are very different than others, so when you interview make sure that whatever group you would be working with fits your particular expectations and style." One side effect of Hewlett Packard's recent difficulties has been a decline in hiring. Cuts in the operating budget, combined with "global economic conditions, make it challenging to find employment here at this time." Insiders note that connections may be the key to circumventing the challenge. After all, as one employee who used the help of a friend at the company says, "It's awfully easy to get lost in the big pool." This does not mean that going to college with a software engineer will get you a job in the finance department, but knowing employees in a specific branch where the applicant is qualified to work will help separate him or her from the other hopefuls. This is probably due in large part to the heavy emphasis on HP's very particular corporate culture. A good word from someone who fits into the company "family" suggests to managers that this applicant stands a strong chance of fitting in well too.
Join the team All of HP's company literature emphasizes the importance of teamwork at Hewlett-Packard. Considering that two friends working side-by-side in a garage founded the corporation, it isn?t hard to understand why. Potential employees should find out if this is their ideal work environment. Says one engineer, "the key is to find out if you fit into HP's low-key, nice-guy and team-oriented work environment." One employee insists "the key word is informal." With all of the emphasis on teamwork and the "HP Way," one could get the idea that conformity is the rule, but as a longtime manager at the company puts it, "it's a good environment for people with all types of skills and backgrounds." Makin' some dough Expect to make some cash if you score a job at Hewlett-Packard. This Silicon Valley firm is known for compensating its employees out of its huge profits. While the range varies, employees say HP's pay ranks it "among the leaders in the industry." Cube chic In terms of workplace environments, you're not going to get the big corner office. No one has an office at Hewlett-Packard. As one employee described the situation, "even the CEO has a cubicle." While gopher-holing isn't everyone's idea of a good time (one employee repeatedly mentioned how much "cubes suck"), there is a rationale: "It encourages the open door policy." Obviously, where there is no door, it is difficult to close one. Other employees say the cubicle-heavy offices have a "minimalist, modern feel." Wish you were here Hewlett-Packard employees have nothing but praise for their co-workers, saying that they "are the best, but not in an arrogant way." Another employee insists, "I don't see office politics at the lower levels that I hear of at other places." Indeed, "behaving in an overtly ambitious manner is not supported." One insider remarks, "I have never seen individual engineers trying to grab the glory." As pleased as HP employees are with the quality and integrity of their co-workers, they say "the office atmosphere deters interaction between them." In fact, at a company where job satisfaction is extremely high, the lack of social contact between workers is one of the biggest complaints.
Human Resources
Computers and computer-related products;High-end instruments and services
Apple Computer;Compaq;Dell Computer;Gateway;IBM;Micron Technology;Packard Bell;Sun Microsystems;Xerox More Company Profiles For more career information, go to Vault.com ©2000, Vault.com Inc
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
