Electrica concludes the first edition of Shadow Volt, a unique program on the Romanian market through the direct access it offers to young people to the executive management and decision-making processes of the company. Ana-Maria Constantin, Georgiana Dumitru and Eduard Frățilă are the three winners who will spend, starting in October, a month each with the CEO, CFO and CBDO (Chief Business Development Officer), where they will work on a common project, with access to the company’s resources and budget for implementation.

The three were chosen following a selection process in which over 150 candidates registered and which ended with two days of tests designed to test the way of thinking, the ability to argue, adaptability and reaction to pressure.

22 candidates qualified for the tests on the first day. Of these, 12 qualified for the final round, and the 13th place was chosen by drawing lots. All 22 were invited to the second day, and 18 of them made it to the final. The surprise of the second day was that each of the 18 received an internship at the Electrica Group.

“We didn’t start from the idea that we had to find the best CV. We wanted to see how people think when they don’t have an answer prepared in advance, how they defend a decision and what they do when the plan they just built doesn’t work anymore. And we saw this in all those who made it to the last day, not just the 13 in the final stage. That’s why we decided to expand the offer. A promise is kept: I told them, right in the room, that those present receive a place in our internship program. Everyone will have access to real decisions and resources. I want them to contradict us when they think we’re wrong and to ask us questions that maybe we don’t have answers to yet. Otherwise, Shadow Volt wouldn’t achieve its goal,” said Alexandru Chiriță, CEO of Electrica.

An internship where CV didn’t matter

Shadow Volt changed the pattern of a classic recruitment process right from the moment they signed up. Candidates were not asked to submit a CV to enter the competition, but an idea and the arguments behind it. And the challenge for the three winners is not to observe the work of an executive from a distance, but to work alongside him and develop a joint project, with access to the company’s resources.

The program was aimed at graduates enrolled in a form of postgraduate education or those who are about to start one in the 2026-2027 academic year.

When registering, candidates chose one of five themes proposed by Electrica: energy as a scarce resource in the era of artificial intelligence, trust between an energy company and four million people, energy transition without leaving anyone behind, the energy company of the future as a workplace or a project that would make Electrica relevant for their generation.

The selection continued with two days of tests in which candidates were put into constructed situations to test how they analyze a problem, find solutions, argue for them, and adapt when data changes.

WHITEOUT: 60 minutes, limited resources and a crisis that changes on the fly

The final took place at the National Technical Museum “Prof. ing. Dimitrie Leonida” in Bucharest. The 13 finalists in the competition went through WHITEOUT, a simulation of managing an energy crisis.

Divided into three teams, they took over the management of a fictitious electricity distribution company on the night after an ice storm. The candidates had decision-making power, but limited resources and 60 minutes to build a plan with five components: the decision, the implementation of the intervention, the budget, the assumed risk and the public message to the press.

The evaluation did not count how many consumers were “saved” in the simulation, but the quality of the decisions: how priorities were established and argued, how situations that could not be resolved with the available resources were managed and how clearly and honestly what was happening was communicated to the public.

The plans were evaluated by Electrica management, and the public communication component was analyzed separately by a jury of journalists.

From October, the Shadow Volt winners join the Electrica team

For Ana-Maria Constantin, Georgiana Dumitru and Eduard Frățilă, the next stage begins in October. For a month, the three will work alongside the CEO, CFO and CBDO, with access to meetings, the current activity of executives and analysis processes.

The experience is structured in three stages. In the first part, participants will go through different areas of the company to understand the business and how decisions are connected. Later, they will develop a common project, and the last stage will be dedicated to testing and refining the result.

Electrica will provide them with the necessary resources – from the expertise of people in the company and internal access to the budget and time of executives. The results will be presented publicly during the company’s annual event, “Energy for Romania”.

About the three winners

Georgiana Dumitru graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in July and was looking for a job when she found out about the program. She had previously gone through several recruitment processes that ended in rejection and says she did not expect to be among the winners. Next month, she will be joined by Alexandru Chiriță, CEO of Electrica.

Ana-Maria Constantin comes from the economic area, without a technical background in energy. However, she chose physics for her baccalaureate, and her interest in the logical side led her to apply to Shadow Volt, as a possibility to enter a completely new field for her. During the internship, Costin Iordache, CFO of Electrica, will be her guide in the company.

Eduard Frățilă graduated in Robotics and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Entrepreneurial Finance and Business Management. He spent six months in Italy, where he came into contact with the renewable energy area, a context in which he learned about Shadow Volt. Andreea Lambru, CBDO Electrica, is the one she will spend the next month with.

About Shadow Volt

Shadow Volt is a unique program on the Romanian market, built by Electrica to offer young people at the beginning of their careers direct access to the executive level of a company and to leadership, analysis and decision-making processes. For one month, the three winners work alongside the CEO, CFO and CBDO, participate in their activity and develop a project together, having access to people, information, resources and budget.

The first edition replaced the CV-based selection with one based on ideas, argumentation and the behavior of candidates in complex situations. Thus, Shadow Volt is not built as a management observation program, but as an experience in which young people enter the decision-making process and receive the space and resources necessary to transform their own ideas into projects applicable in the company.