Reaching your goals. Your first step into

the world of Linde.

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Contents

Introduction

Welcome to Linde

The Business Segments

Internationality

Personnel Development

Benefits

Team Spirit

Requirements

Organization

Outlook

Contact

Imprint

Dear Students and Graduates,

Having goals means being always on the move.

It is Linde’s goal to be an exemplary company in every respect.

We at Linde feel obligated to live up to our “LeadIng.” philosophy. In the same way that a compass

needle gives orientation, the common thread running through our corporate culture points all of

our actions in one direction: towards being “best in class.” This will also be the case in the future – and

in all business segments. For that, we need people who want to join us in putting this philosophy

into action.

You have already put some distance behind you, and much has been asked of you: including disci-

pline, energy, and patience. You have gained knowledge in school, practical training, and univer-

sity study, or you are in the process of doing so. Perhaps you have as yet no concrete idea what to

expect from your daily professional life. Or perhaps you already know exactly what goals you want

to reach. We would like to show you a road today that opens up many promising possibilities for

you. A career in the Linde Group combines internationality with teamwork, supports you and chal-

lenges you, offers you many tools for individual personal development, and ensures other benefits

beyond that as well.

What do you need to bring with you? See for yourself. We hope to be able to show you new roads.

Wolfgang Reitzle

Chief Executive Officer

Linde AG Mitglied des Vorstands der Linde AG

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Anyone who wants to venture into unfamiliar terrain needs courage, a strong team, the right tools,

and good directions. You have decided to take on the challenge and reach your personal goals.

Your search for the right road has brought Linde to your attention. We cannot promise that ours will

be the fastest way to reach your goals. But we can show you a very promising road.

So to help you get your bearings, we will introduce you to people who have already walked this

road and whose first steps into the world of Linde are already behind them – whether taken in

the form of a practical training course, a trainee program, or by direct hire. These are examples of

career starts at Linde, each taking its own individual course. Different characters encounter diverse

spheres of activity and have unique personal experiences.

We would like to invite you to walk with our protagonists a little way on their roads. They are best

able to explain to you the nature of the work in their specific areas, and above all what makes the

Linde Group so attractive as an employer.

Come with us into the world of Linde!

To all who want to expand their horizons: Welcome to Linde!

Your first step into the world of Linde Welcome to Linde04 | 04 0�

Your first step into the world of Linde The Business Segments06 | | 0�

Florian Schmid, Head of Mechanical Design Static Equipment and Package Units at Linde Engineering, Höllriegelskreuth

“LeadIng. means to me that I do everything with full commitment, a focus on quality, and seek out new ideas so I can make things even better.”

When taking a journey, one needs good directions. The Business Segments of the Linde Group.

Gas and Engineering

The Gas and Engineering Business Segment comprises our activities in the areas of technical and

medical gases and plant construction. These two business fields benefit from a mutual exchange

in completing challenging projects in all regions of the world. One example of their successful

collaboration is what they call on-site business, whereby Linde Gas and Linde Engineering work

together to supply major industrial consumers with industrial gases produced at facilities that are

installed directly at the customer’s place of business.

Material Handling

Three brands, one solution: Linde, STILL and OM stand for expertise in logistics process control. Our

Material Handling Business Segment is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of forklifts and

warehouse technology equipment. With our multi-brand strategy we can target our approach to

serve different market segments throughout the world, adapt to individual customer requests, and

take the specific requirements of different markets into account.

Our products:

Industrial gases Natural gas plants

Medical gases Olefin plants

Inert gases Hydrogen/synthesis gas plants

Food-grade gases Air separation plants

Cylinder and bulk gases Adsorption drying plants

Hydrogen technology Cryogenic plants

Environmental engineering facilities Pharma-technical plants

Our products:

Forklift trucks with combustion engines

Electric trucks

Warehouse technology equipment

Services in the area of projects and logistics processes

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Your first step into the world of Linde Internationality08 | | 0�

Denis Schreeck, International Marketing Product Monitoring Forklift Trucks at Linde Material Handling, Aschaffenburg

“It is sometimes easier to overcome national boundaries than the ones we set for ourselves. But it’s worth the effort in either case.”

The world has grown smaller, your opportunities greater. Linde provides international perspectives.

As a global technology enterprise, the Linde Group is active in all of the important markets in the

world – concentrating on its core markets of Germany and Europe as well as the growth markets

of Asia, the United States, and the new markets of Eastern Europe. The expansion of international

activities brings with it challenges and opportunities at the same time. Openness and a readiness

for intercultural communication receive more than just lip service in the corporate culture at Linde

but are acted out every day – in working with our international customers, but also and above all

on location at the different Linde companies. Linde is active in 53 of the world’s countries – and

employs people from 52 different nations in Germany alone.

“International communication always makes everyday work just that much more interesting,” says

Denis Schreeck, who even before coming to Linde already had experience in the United States,

Spain, and South America. These experiences were and are enormously useful in his job in inter-

national product marketing at Linde Material Handling in Aschaffenburg: “Partly as a result of the

language skills that enable me to concentrate not on the language but on content in international

work. For another thing, also by contact with very different cultures, which encourages the under-

standing of different work styles.”

Linde’s global presence is one of its great competitive advantages. Under the common corporate

umbrella, on all continents, more than 41,000 people from the most diverse national and cultural

backgrounds work toward shared goals. Each individual employee has the opportunity to expand

his or her personal horizons in the truest sense of the word: for example, in a foreign assignment

to work on a particular project. The Linde Material Handling Division also offers an international

trainee program. Its aim is to prepare high-potential individuals so that later they will be able to

take on international management assignments. Aside from business and social skills, intercultural

proficiency is also in demand. And that is better learned in practice rather than in theory.

“Flexibility, being able to listen closely, and the ability not to insist on one’s own opinion, but

instead to work together to find a good solution,” are basic prerequisites, according to Schreeck,

so that differences can be turned into commonalities. This applies to all forms of teamwork, but

especially to international cooperation.

International Trainee Program The International Trainee

Program in the Linde Material Handling Division has existed

since late 2004. The trainees work over a period of two years

in different business units, and combine operational assign-

ments with national and international project work, which is

accompanied by comprehensive training courses.

Requirements A university degree

with an honors-level examination

score in business or engineering, very

good foreign language skills, and the

intention to ultimately accept interna-

tional management assignments.

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Anita Brenndörfer, Group HR Development, Corporate Center, Wiesbaden

“Many companies make international investments. Linde invests in its employees throughout the world. And at all levels.”

There is no direct route from a psychology major to a technology company like Linde. But the way

can be traced. Anita Brenndörfer had already begun to take an interest in the field of personnel

development while she was in college. First as part of an internship, later as a working student

in the human resources department of a leading automotive company. The desire to expand her

experience and horizons in a larger international company led her to Linde: “My expectations as far

as having more demanding and more interesting assignments that would increase over time were

completely fulfilled,” says Brenndörfer, looking back.

Employees are a company’s most important capital. The personnel development department per-

forms a key function in promoting careers at Linde from within the company’s own ranks. Important

instruments include regular feedback on performance and potential, annual employee discussions,

as well as our group-wide succession planning. In helping to put our leadership philosophy into

action in terms of a uniform performance culture, the support programs typical of Linde play a

crucial role – at all levels of the hierarchy. “Knowledge and competence are important factors for

the competitiveness of a company. Linde offers numerous programs that build upon one another

to identify the potential throughout the entire Group and to help the employees advance with a

particular direction in their professional and personal development,” reports Brenndörfer.

Linde’s ”LeadIng.” corporate culture – the demand to be the leader in every area where the company

is active – represents important opportunities for the company and each employee personally, but

it also sets new challenges regarding the willingness and ability of individuals to change and learn

on a continuous basis. Linde offers different programs to match the readiness of every employee.

Because learning doesn’t end with university graduation or completion of a training program.

Various developement programs have been established under the umbrella of Linde University with

the goal of expanding the individual support of employees and managers: the Global Talent Circle

(GTC) for young managers, the Global Leadership Development Circle (GLDC) for middle manage-

ment, and the Global Leadership Program (GLP) for top executives. The earlier our support begins,

the better we can develop potential. For this reason, Linde also created its Junior Circle, as well as

an intern pool, to open up interesting perspectives for especially promising up-and-coming talent.

And the Linde Group has plenty of that, adds Anita Brenndörfer: “Linde is an international, multi-

industry enterprise and offers many types of opportunities for young and motivated graduates from

different fields. The modernization process of the traditional Linde company makes for an exciting

and challenging working environment.”

Personal development is a process. Linde is with you every step of the way.

Continuing Education We offer all of our employees

individual, need-based continuing education opportuni-

ties as well as on-the-job training. We work with external

partners in order to keep up with the ongoing develop-

ments in the various fields.

Linde University As an important component of man-

agement development, Linde has established a compre-

hensive personnel development system, which offers

demanding advanced training courses to the different

target groups within the company in cooperation with

leading business schools.

Your first step into the world of Linde Personnel Development10 | 10 11

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André Fleckenstein, Sales Planning and Processing Hydraulics

at Linde Material Handling, Aschaffenburg

“Of course, when you’re starting out, you don’t think much about retire- ment planning. It’s nice if you don’t have to later on, either.”

Our employees achieve a lot. To us it’s only natural to give a lot back to them as well.

Every company takes responsibility for its employees, including their health and welfare. In the

competition for the best graduates and talented young employees, benefits can quickly become

a decisive factor. Linde has always given employee benefits high priority. And they are becoming

ever more important as state benefits systems increasingly emphasize individual responsibility.

“Pension structures, excellent company cafeterias, and other employer contributions are no longer

a matter of course these days. Benefits at Linde are clearly above average by comparison,” says

André Fleckenstein, an industrial engineer in Sales Planning and Processing Hydraulics at Linde

Material Handling, Aschaffenburg. To him, these benefits are an important factor in the company’s

success. Aside from personnel development, the benefits at Linde ensure higher employee motiv-

ation and better quality in the end.

In the area of retirement planning, Linde offers its employees comprehensive choices, which can,

of course, be configured to meet individual needs.

Anyone who expects, as Linde does, flexibility from its employees, must set a good example.

To help make it possible to reconcile family and career, the company offers flexible working hours.

Many of our female employees have come back from a “baby break” to work for the company

part-time or even work part-time from a home office. This is just one measure as part of Linde’s

Corporate Responsibility Strategy.

“A company like Linde, which is internationally active at a high technological level, gives its em-

ployees a high degree of security, not only with its diverse portfolio, but also with its benefits,”

believes Fleckenstein. One more reason to take a closer look at the career opportunities in the

various companies of the Linde Group.

Your first step into the world of Linde Benefits12 | 12 1�

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Paolo Kirchpfening, Head of Marketing Communication at Linde Gas, Germany

“In high school, college, and professional training – I was always a loner. Today I know what can be achieved as part of a team. I wouldn’t want to do without that experience.”

“LeadIng. means to me having the courage and self-confidence to compare myself with the best of

the best.” Kirchpfening’s interpretation of Linde’s motto demands the maximum from the individual.

Even more important to him is teamwork, since working together brings about synergy effects,

which advance the team as well as the individual. This is just one gains the self-confidence that is

crucial in the tough competition for market share and customers.

Paolo Kirchpfening speaks from experience: “All of the information from the various departments

should come together in Marketing Communication. In the end, we are responsible for media, like

the employee magazine, the company intranet, or the Linde Gas website. Teamwork is of essential

importance to us, since we are enormously dependent on the cooperation of other function areas.”

Team-oriented action, particularly with Linde’s internationality in mind, presupposes a great

communicative openness and a common understanding regarding fixed goals. In this context,

Kirchpfening mentions his semester abroad at the Sorbonne in Paris. His studies amongst different

nationalities and cultural backgrounds helped him greatly to understand other cultures and ways of

thinking: an important basis to work successfully in a team.

Team thinking is part of the Linde corporate culture. Interdisciplinary project groups and interdivi-

sional teams, often also international in composition, live on mutual exchange and the ability to

play with ideas. “Good team players are goal-oriented and interested in the overall team result.

They are also open to new things, communicative, flexible, and willing to relate constructively with

others’ opinions,” is how Paolo Kirchpfening characterizes the contribution of the individual to the

output of the group, such as in the context of the Junior Circle for young employees. A joint project

at the end of this program shows in black and white whether and to what extent the group can

work successfully as a team. It is always astounding how fruitful the results turn out to be. And in

most cases, the new strategies they come up with are implemented later: by the team, of course.

You have to be in front to lead the way. Help us build on our leadership position.

The Junior Circle Plant tours in various countries, seminars, and exercises are only

some of the elements of this on-the-job program, which lasts about two years.

The interdisciplinary, and in future increasingly international, composition of the

circles creates network structures. Engineers, business administrators, lawyers –

more than 100 promising young employees are currently benefitting from our Junior

Circle programs.

Your first step into the world of Linde Team Spirit14 | 14 1�

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Sonja Johanning, Intern in Controlling at STILL GmbH, Hamburg

“I always thought that the best moment was when a goal was reached. In the course of my work at Linde I have noticed that the most exciting time is the way there.”

The road to a career is marked by many individual parameters. Background, education, and goals

vary, just as do personal abilities. A large, international, and diversified company like the Linde

Group offers the widest variety of career groups, applicant profiles, and different characters the

opportunity to combine their personal goals with the corporate goals of Linde. Naturally the self-

imposed “LeadIng.” philosophy demands qualifications. But degrees and references are only some

of the tools for the job. Strengths such as communicative abilities, entrepreneurial thinking, and

professional competence make up a part that is at least as important.

In the context of her business administration studies, Sonja Johanning worked as an academic

employee at the Institute of Administrative Production and Investment Research at the Göttingen

University and as a project employee at the private University of applied science of Göttingen.

She is currently completing an internship in controlling at STILL GmbH, Hamburg: “It was important

to me to find a manufacturing company that handles everything under one roof, from purchasing

to production to sales.” Her work before STILL included a one-year stay in the United States. It is

something that benefits her still today: “You become more open and learn to approach others, to

find your way in unfamiliar situations and to see things from another person’s point.” Together with

analytical thinking, a tendency to precision in connection with numbers and a willingness to work

in a team, Johanning has just the right tools for reaching her personal goals in her area at STILL

GmbH.

In a competition-oriented environment, only those who are better than the others can survive.

Linde places value on a readiness to improve, including with respect to its employees’ personal

skills and abilities. The Competence Model for managers, which Linde has made the benchmark for

selecting, evaluating, and developing employees and managers, must also be understood before

this background. And what does putting the motto “LeadIng.” into practice in her daily work mean

to Sonja Johanning? “Giving my best every day.” One could not ask any more.

The success of the project? It’s a question of the right tools.

The Linde Competence Model Linde’s managers have a number of skills that distinguish them as

leaders. These skills are the basis for their decisions and have a high relevance worldwide for the

selection, evaluation, and development of managers within the Group. They include professional and

strategic skills, management abilities, implementation strengths, value creation, as well as social

and intercultural proficiency.

Your first step into the world of Linde Requirements 16 | 16 1�

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Practical Training

We offer numerous opportunities for completing a practical

training course at Linde. They start with secondary school

internships and range through basic or preliminary intern-

ships to professional internships, mandatory internships as

part of a university degree program, and voluntary intern-

ships. For our best interns, we have initiated the “best 10 %

pool.” For this selected group, we organize goal-oriented

events to enable them to get to know the Linde world better

and to smooth the road for a possible future with us. Plant

tours, seminars, opportunities for personal coaching, provid-

ing current publications from Linde, and arranging foreign

internships are only a few of the points that distinguish this

program.

Thesis Work

Here you can put your knowledge to the test in a concrete

problem from industrial practice. In collaboration with a

selected adviser, you can cross the bridge between student

and professional.

Many roads lead to Linde. We have a lot to offer you.

Work Study

Depending on your educational status, you can also start

with us in work study, ideally after completing a practical

training course with Linde. This allows you the opportunity

to choose your working hours in coordination with your

department and the human resources department.

Trainee Program/Direct Hire

The majority of open positions for university graduates are

offered by direct hire at Linde. Based on a personal

development plan, which is checked with regular feedback

discussions, you should be able to settle in systematically

and build your network. International and technical trainee

programs over a period of 24 months offer entry-level

professionals an optimal springboard into the Linde world:

a good framework for gaining intercultural experience and

contacts.

Your Application

Send us your application either by e-mail with an attachment

or in the “classic” way by mail in paper form. You can also

choose to use our online application, which you can find on

our website at www.linde.com.

We must receive your application three to four months in

advance of your planned employment. Due to Linde’s highly

decentralized structural orientation, please send your ap-

plication directly to the business unit with which you would

like to work. The same applies to applications with our

international companies. You can find their addresses on our

website.

The future is full of challenges. Here is how to face them.

For a practical training program, your application should

specify the field in which you would like to work, and for

a thesis should roughly outline your subject.

Ideally your work period should be between three and six

months. In case of basic or preliminary internships we will of

course abide by the requirements of your school.

On our website you can find current offers for practical train-

ing, theses, work study positions as well as regular open

positions, along with the required contact information. We

also welcome initiative applications at all times.

Business Segment Gas Engineering Material Handling Corporate Center

Field of study

Chemistry x

Chemical Engineering x x

Electrical Engineering x x x

Information Technology x x x

Mechanical Engineering x x x

Physics x

Nautical Engineering x

Process Engineering x x

Industrial Engineering x x x x

Business Administration x x x x

Law x x

Your first step into the world of Linde Organization18 | 18 1�

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The Linde Group is constantly growing with customers and ambitious employees. In years past, we

have again and again put borders behind us: personal, geographical and financial. Our interna-

tionalization process continues to advance. In addition, we are constantly developing our range of

products, solutions and services. Even when opening up new business fields and product ap-

plications we pursue ambitious goals, which require the work of motivated and highly qualified

employees.

Have we given you a new perspective? Then come and talk to us: either directly on location at

Linde or at well-known recruiting fairs. You can find the contact addresses on the following pages.

We hope our paths will cross and you will want to work with us toward common goals. Take the

first step!

Every journey begins with the first step. We are happy to meet you halfway.

“Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.” Aldous Huxley

Your first step into the world of Linde Outlook20 | 20 21

Contact addressesLinde AG

Corporate Center

Human Resources

Abraham-Lincoln-Strasse 21

65189 Wiesbaden, Germany

Applicant Hotline: +49.611.770-678

Linde AG

Gas and Engineering

Linde Engineering Division

Human Resources

Dr.-Carl-von-Linde-Strasse 6–14

82049 Höllriegelskreuth, Germany

Applicant Hotline: +49.89.74 45-40 02

Linde AG

Gas and Engineering

Linde Gas Division

Human Resources

Seitnerstrasse 70

82049 Höllriegelskreuth, Germany

Applicant Hotline: +49.89.74 46-15 67 or 14 91

Linde AG

Linde Material Handling Division

Human Resources

Schweinheimer Strasse 34

63743 Aschaffenburg, Germany

Applicant Hotline: +49.60 21.99-15 54

STILL GmbH

Human Resources

Berzeliusstrasse 10

22113 Hamburg, Germany

Applicant Hotline: +49.40.73 39-13 71

OM Carelli Elevatori S.p.A.

Human Resources

Viale de Gasperi, 7

20020 Lainate, Italy

Applicant Hotline: +39.2.937 65-1

www.linde.com

ImprintPublisher

Linde AG

Abraham-Lincoln-Strasse 21

65189 Wiesbaden, Germany

www.linde.com

© Linde AG, 10/2005

Conception and Layout

Peter Schmidt Group

Text

Stefan Böckler

Photography

Rüdiger Nehmzow

Your first step into the world of Linde Contact and Imprint22 | 2�

Linde AGAbraham-Lincoln-Strasse 21

6�18� Wiesbaden

Germany

Phone +4�.611.��0-0

Fax +4�.611.��0-26�

www.linde.com