Opportunity abounds at Arup
The big drawcards for grads working as designers, engineers and planners at Arup include being sent overseas on project work and its strong record on corporate social responsibility.
An architecture and construction student from Deakin University Elissa Ward joined the Arup graduate program in February 2008.
She says the company’s commitment to sustainability and “feeling an important part of the team” are the best parts of the program so far.
“I wanted to enjoy my job but it’s also important to me that I’m comfortable with the decisions the company makes,” Ms Ward said.
“As a grad you get treated like anyone else, it’s just that you get more training,” she said.
Orientation, mentoring, technical training, professional development, options for business rotation and a graduate induction weekend are all part of the two-year course.
To date, Ms Ward has worked as a façade designer, as part of the façade group.
‘I work with architects, engineers and material specialists to design façades. We also do remedial work if there is a problem with existing facades,” she said.
Ms Ward also spent 10 weeks in Sydney working on a range of projects including the Brisbane domestic airport expansion and Top Ryde shopping centre.
With 10,000 projects in over 37 countries, Arup grads are “supported by some of the most highly respected specialists in the world”.
“It’s challenging,” said Ms Ward. “Arup is a big company. There are lots of different areas of the business involved in each of our projects. One of the hardest things is making sure our lines of communication are kept up,” she said.
Benefits include a “great social atmosphere” with fortnightly staff drinks and a healthy work/life balance is also encouraged.
“Staff are offered a $2000 loan to purchase bikes to ride to work and there are really good shower and storage facilities provided,” said Ms Ward.
The Arup grad program has also introduced Ms Ward to networking within the company.
“When we first started on the program, Arup organised a meeting for all the grads in Australasia and some of the managers,” she said.
“We did team-building exercises together and I have kept the contacts I made there,” she said.
Applications for the graduate program are now open and interested candidates should apply online.
Short-listed applicants will be asked to complete an online psychometric test, a panel interview and a reference check.
