Graduate Engineer Review

As a graduate engineer I was given a lot of responsibility because of the lack of resource in the department I was working in. I worked with many different teams internally and externally, producing value for the business every week. it was a steep learning curve but enjoyable for myself as I started my career.

I have learnt many skills as part of my role and from the people I have worked with, helping me become a well rounded engineer that I can take onto my next roles. there are some training available but HR are very tight when it comes to graduate training and development. I see that HR should be an enabled however I have found them to be the blocker in my development.

I enjoy the roles I have done, great experiences, a lot of learning, different areas of the business and graduate community have all contributed to the enjoy of the scheme. However, are is very little to no support from HR and scheme leads who are there to help and guide but I have found them to be no use and have no time for graduates. also, HR try and keep you on scheme for as long as possible because it is cheaper for the business.

HR have been no help in this department, even as bad as me starting a new placement and both my scheme lead and HR contact didn't know where I was in the country and who I was working for. I was left to find every placement with no input or help from my scheme lead or HR.

As stated before the support was none existent! I didn't need much to any support but when I had questions/queries the answers were not helpful. I felt like HR didn't care about the graduate experience and it was all about cost cutting for them, HR didn't value the benefit graduates were providing in each of their business areas.

My scheme was slightly different in terms of I had a degree before I joined the company so most of my training was with external training providers. The actual training was good and very beneficial to my career however for me to get any of my training processed it was always a discussion between myself and HR, which makes you feel not trusted.

The actual training was good and very beneficial to my career. The roles I was placed in required the training I had performed to make me and other colleagues safe at work. Therefore, it was critical but explaining that to HR became an arduous task every time until I got management involved.

All social activities were and are planned by the graduate cohort with no input from the company. the professional networking events in the company are only for employees in a high level role which doesn't help with the graduates networking and exposure to the business. Sports are organized by individuals not by the company.

No

The business is changing and going through a lot of challenges. what I was promised before my scheme has not come to full fruition which has put me off recommending it to others. as I said before I see HR as a support function to enable the business to grow but it seems like they are the biggest blocker.

make sure you fully understand the business and the challenges it is facing. Understand if the area you're looking to move into is growing or facing cuts because finding a role after your scheme is a challenge even for the best of candidates due to the business environment and situation.