DOGA and the commitment to young talent

DOGA is a company rooted in the industrial area of the Baix Llobregat, located in Abrera. We are received by video call by Matías Ripoll, Director of Human Resources. We talk about DOGA’s vision in attracting talent and the collaboration they have with the BEST Foundation, focused on the Enterprise Challenge.

Introducing DOGA

We start by asking Matías about his career and DOGA’s industrial activity. He is HR director at DOGA for 25 years and he is a lawyer. Initially, DOGA It was a family business, with more than sixty years of history. Currently, DOGA belongs to an investment fund, Nazca Capital. Nazca is the majority shareholder and there are also other smaller shareholders including Spanish companies. 

DOGA’ s core business is the manufacture of windshield wiper equipment and DC engines in small and medium-sized series. Matías clarifies that the name or classification as an “automotive company” is not exactly accurate in the case of DOGA. Its customers go beyond the automotive industry. They have customers in agriculture, construction and the railway industry, among others.

In short, they are a global company, with headquarters in Abrera and a presence in many countries. For example, in the United States of America, Morocco, China, India… there are about 1,200 workers.

An eye on attracting talent

We ask about DOGA’s need to attract talent. Matías states that DOGA considers it strategic to attract and retain talent, especially young university talent. Specifically, they have developed a human resources department aimed at talent and its research. With a lot of specialization, it is made up of two full-time people.

More specifically, a highly digitized recruitment and onboarding process has been developed and adapted to the professional profiles they are looking for. Within the onboarding process, DOGA offers training and tools that are very useful in talent management. The methodology they have developed makes DOGA very self-sufficient in the search for talent and in its incorporation into the company. Approximately 90% of the process of attracting and incorporating new talent is designed and managed by DOGA.

In short, young talent is a priority. The professional qualification of the young talent who can find their opportunity at DOGA are industrial, mechanical and electronics engineers. However, always in very specific technological niches. Therefore, the objective is to generate interest and design specific internal routes that are attractive to capture their interest. It must be considered that the younger generations evolve (millennials, generation Z…) and that their motivations and priorities are different from those of previous generations.

DOGA is one of the companies with the longest track record in the Enterprise Challenge. It is an activity led by the coordinator of the Degree in Industrial Technologies and Economic Analysis (GTIAE), Professor Joaquim Minguella, and the BEST Foundation. We are interested in what assessment DOGA makes of this experience and the reason for its long involvement.

Loyalty to the Enterprise Challenge

Thus, the involvement with the BEST Foundation “has come because at DOGA we have always had the desire to collaborate with the university, in any modality. For example, company internships. Thus, due to the common interest in engineering, the ETSEIB was contacted. BEST Foundation proposed to DOGA to sponsor the new GTIAE that was in the process of being implemented”.

It is also necessary to respond to the need for Corporate Sustainability, a new concept that has surpassed the traditional Corporate Social Responsibility. DOGA wants to be an active actor when it comes to facilitating internships and other initiatives to link the university with the company.

In his words, “In short, everything came together, and we ended up collaborating with the BEST Foundation. At DOGA we are clear that our collaboration is not so that GTIAE graduates end up working with us. We want to deploy actions and methodologies to find out what new young and global talent is like and what it demands”.

Related to the Enterprise Challenge, DOGA has participated in all editions providing two challenges and hosting and tutoring two participating teams. Matías is the president of the panel of companies and the relationship is always with the coordinator of the degree and organizer of each edition.

It is worth saying that it is a commitment that involves dedication. However, young people come to the company and get to know it and discover the links between theory and practice. The overall balance is fantastic, very positive, because the GTIAE students are of a very high level and can see how young people work. This involves strategic learning and allows us to understand what the talent that interests DOGA wants. In short, it is a win-win.

The collaboration with the BEST Foundation

Going beyond the Enterprise Challenge, we ask what assessment DOGA makes about the BEST Foundation and how far their involvement goes. Matías explains that DOGA was offered to join the board of trustees of the BEST Foundation by the current secretary, Mr. Francesc Solà. However, this moment coincided with the change in the ownership of the company mentioned above and was not specified.

Since then, “it has not been proposed to us again and our involvement with the Foundation has been limited to the Enterprise Challenge. DOGA also collaborates with other entities, for example we are on the board of the CECOT business association. Therefore, we could consider greater involvement in other initiatives such as internships or Focus Days”.

Innovation in attracting talent

The BEST Foundation carries out many activities focused on bridging the gap between education and the professional world. However, it is always necessary to be careful when finding new formulas or ways to bring these two areas closer together and attract talent.

To expand the range of activities, the model of initiatives such as Accelera Martorell could be followed. It is a collaboration between the Martorell City Council, the Automotive Industry Cluster of Catalonia (CIAC) and the company IMAGINE. Firstly, the objective is to detect, attract and retain young innovative talent to boost the competitiveness of the local automotive sector. Secondly, to strengthen the links between education and industry, aligning young profiles with the real demands of the sector.

Specifically, Accelera Martorell identifies emerging trends in professional profiles and facilitates projects with the support of IMAGINE. It also provides advice, business consolidation and connection with companies that are experts in automation, robotics and 4.0. It has a digital platform managed by the CIAC, which connects university degree and vocational training students with companies through real challenges.

The company IMAGINE organizes the Talent Show through disruptive innovation methodologies based on Design Doing techniques put into practice in startups. A hackathon is organized to see the collective work dynamics that are created when students respond to challenges.

It is an interesting methodology, which diverges from the Enterprise Challenge. It also is developed in a game context and as a case study it has the support of business experts. It takes place for a few hours and allows us to see how young talent manages and organizes itself by sharing and creating knowledge. In short, it is an interesting methodology that could be studied by the BEST Foundation.

Thank you very much, Matías for the involvement of DOGA on the BEST Foundation goals.

We stand by you!