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Kofo
ATI-JOHN
Nigerian / British nationality
Expatriate in France
Diversity Department, Social Innovation
Division. Head of the Management Internationalisation
Project.
Earned a Master’s degree in French
Language, Literature and Culture in Nigeria
(after studying in France for a year).
Has been with the Group for 19 years, and
served in four Group Human Resources positions
in Nigeria then in France.
I had the opportunity to spend a year in
France while I was studying at university.
When I graduated, I did my year’s
National Service (which all Nigerian graduates
are required to do by law) with Elf. When
the year was up, they gave me a seven-month
extension.
A career serving
human resources.
So I really actually joined the Group in
1987. I was working in the Training Department
then. That wasn’t really my first
choice, but it was a foot in the door. I
was running two- and three-day courses introducing
new recruits to the oil industry, as part
of their integration process. I taught some
French, too.
The Training Division also sent me to France
and to the UK to meet service providers.
Five years later, I moved to Employment
Planning for a year, and then to Recruitment
and Careers, as Head of Department. I was
also in charge of monitoring hundreds of
new recruits and of helping them settle
in.
Four years after that, I was put in charge
of surveying compensation in the oil industry.
That involved benchmarking the leading oil
companies working in Nigeria (Shell, Exxon,
BP, and the like).
Diversity in action.
A year ago, I moved to France for a three-year
spell at the newly-created Diversity Department.
We are compiling best practices in internationalisation
policies, with a view to building a consistent
Group-wide project.
Our goal is to get the Group’s diversity
policy off the ground, offering non-French
staff the same career prospects as their
French counterparts enjoy.
Personally, I like travelling, and Total
has allowed me to travel to other countries
for other subsidiaries (Gabon, Angola, England,
Indonesia and so on).
Total is becoming more and more international.
The internationalisation of human resources
has become a high-priority goal for the
Group’s development. It’s about
giving our management staff a more international
breadth, and about making them our ambassadors
in countries hosting the Group’s operations.
Skill takes precedence.
Mobility goes back a long way in the Group.
As a woman, I have never felt I was not
treated on a par with men when mobility
opportunities came up. There aren’t
any men-only or women-only jobs here. Total’s
career management is fair. Skill takes precedence
over the rest.
I have only declined one job-mobility opportunity.
That was for personal reasons: my husband
is in the Armed Forces and also moves around
a lot, and we had two small children, so
we couldn’t both be mobile at the
same time.
If I had to give some advice to a newcomer
to the Group, I would say an open mind and
the ability to adjust to other cultures
is what will open doors to mobility opportunities
at home or abroad. Adaptability will make
a career in this Group easier.
In a multicultural French group, speaking
French is obviously an advantage too. It
has unquestionably helped me to fit in here
in France and to interact with my French
colleagues.
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