Mining By Women: Vale is made by female young talents as well

As a child, you have certainly heard the phrase “what do you want to be when you grow up?” The answers can be most diverse and ambitious; however, a girl will hardly answer “when I grow up, I want to work in a mining company with almost 80 years of history”.

As a predominantly male area, mining is often left out of the career plans of young women. But this has changed. At Vale, we have had young talents who have been renewing our team and bringing a new lo​ok to mining, whether by age and/or gender, with different trajectories and repertoires.

In the fifth episode of the webseries Mining By Women, we tell the story of four young women, who are taking big steps in their careers and within Vale. From Brazil to China, our interviewees show that when you have talent, will to make things happen and opportunity, everyone benefits from the age diversity in the team.

This has even been reflected among people who are not part of the company yet. In 2021, Vale was elected the dream company of Brazilian university students twice, once by Cia de Talentos and once by the consulting firm Universum.

For this reason, we have invested in programs to attract young talents and women as well, considering that Vale aims to double the female presence in the company by 2025 (5-year anticipation since the disclosure of the target, due to the achieved progress). Just to have an idea, this year, Vale’s Trainee Program selected 98 women. Out of 144 recent graduates total, who started working at the company in May, 68% are women.

Although the company is walking towards diversity more and more, there may still be generation differences, given the big number of employees who have been with the company for decades and the arrival of new minds by means of talent insertion programs. However, this is not seen as a problem.

The entry of young people in the company opens up space for cultural transformation and the exchange of knowledge, ideas and references, as well. After all, everyone has something to teach and learn, regardless of age or career time.