Want great employees? Grow them yourself. This was the philosophy that prompted global science and technology corporation Siemens to develop two new scholarship programs for advanced placement high school students excelling in science and math. The idea: Siemens would cough up $1 million to help bankroll college tuitions for top students, and later offer internships to the most promising grads. The catch was that organizers had less than nine months to get the program up and running.
Siemens made the decision in April 1998 to create two new scholarships, under the direction of then CEO and president Albert Hoser. But the pressure was on to underscore this commitment to U.S. education once Siemens completed its acquisition of Westinghouse last July. Siemens maintains one of the world's largest business/industrial apprenticeship programs, but this was a little-known fact. Emphasizing the company's educational agenda would be increasingly important with the wave of Westinghouse employees entering its fold.
"We tried to [launch the program] as close to the acquisition as possible," says John Tobin, vice president of the Siemens Foundation, which was formed to fund and administer the scholarship program. (Not by coincidence, Hoser took the helm as foundation chair upon his retirement in January 1999.) "The thinking was that we were absorbing 6,000 additional employees into the company. We wanted them to know that we honored the tradition of developing science and math education in America."
Aside from smoothing the merger of two corporate cultures, the scholarships - dubbed the Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement - also helped solidify Siemens' brand image among academic, legislative and other public audiences. The Westinghouse name was already legendarily affixed to its time-tested science competition (now renamed the Siemens Westinghouse Science & Technology Competition). In creating the AP scholarship awards, Siemens was able to draw attention to the values it shared with Westinghouse, while differentiating and emphasizing its own brand identity. The move also helped Siemens to distinguish itself from other scholarship sponsors like Honeywell, Intel and Bell Atlantic.
The Test of Time
As a first step, Siemens culled staff from corporate communications, government relations and graphic design departments to bring the concept to life. Given the project's time frame, the team quickly ruled out application forms as a means of finding winners. To pitch the program with an appropriate level of prestige, it would be imperative to set the bar sky high from the start. The best solution was to unearth the nation's top science and math scholars and simply give them scholarships (unsolicited), thus setting a standard for the next year's race.
To locate the cream of the crop, Siemens partnered with the College Board (the organization that charters AP course curricula) and Educational Testing System (which administers AP tests) to identify those high school students with the highest cumulative AP scores (out of 60,000 test takers). In December of 1998, 27 students were each surprised with gifts of $3,000, with the two top scorers receiving an additional $5,000 each. Siemens also doled out "recognition awards" - at $1,000 a pop - to 20 exceptional teachers and 10 schools.
A proactive media blitz followed with a flurry of press releases, media kits, a satellite media tour and promotional videos featuring student winners. The foundation also timed the launch of its Web site (http://www.siemens-foundation.org) to coincide with the scholarship announcements, and later Web cast press conferences through the site.
Publicity, not Advertising
Notably, Siemens opted against national paid advertising as a primary strategy and instead hedged its bets on local papers and regional TV networks to generate exposure for the student scholarship winners. After gaining reporters' ears, foundation officials leveraged the opportunity to facilitate discussions regarding the need for improvements in science, math and technology education in America. "To a great extent, we tried to manage [the public policy angle]," says Tobin, "But there's always some serendipity involved. Siemens supports the development of school-to-work policy in the U.S., as well as industry-driven standards and state educational standards."
Position papers on these subjects helped shore up press coverage, and led to more formal speaking opportunities before the National Governors Association and various education groups.
In preparation for next year's round of scholarships, the foundation has sent direct mail to 33,000 American high schools, as well as school superintendents. Siemens has also secured booths at events sponsored by the National Science Teachers Association, the National Association of Secondary School Principals and other key groups.
A Brighter Future?
Today, the Siemens Foundation sports five employees (compared with well over 416,000 on the corporate side) and is gaining ground. The foundation has maintained its partnerships with the College Board and Educational Testing System, and is now tapping those relationships to formulate guidelines and judging criteria for the next round of awards. Meanwhile, targeted focus groups with teachers and mentors are helping to fine tune various aspects of program facilitation and publicity.
Although the scholarships have garnered a nice chunk of publicity for Siemens, the program's anticipated long-term benefits have yet to be realized, considering first-round scholarship recipients still have several years of partying and university studies to endure before they can become prospective Siemens employees.
Nevertheless, Tobin feels confident that his employer's sights are set on target. It's up to the business sector to feed the educational system if it expects to reap the rewards of top talent down the road.
(John Tobin, Siemens Foundation, 212/258-4046.)