When counsel springs to the defence of some of history’s most famous engineering sons, you know that HBPW’s unique graduate training programme is in full flow!
Many newly qualified graduates up and down the country find themselves in at the deep end, once they have achieved their degree in civil engineering, and are working towards chartered status and membership of either the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) or the Institution of Structural Engineers.
But at HBPW a unique ‘Graduate Forum’ has now been created to support the existing ICE approved training programme, which has been running at the firm for many years. The new initiative is already proving key to helping newly qualified engineers through the next phase of their careers.
Managing Partner Paul Withers said: “Engineer and graduate training coordinator, Jim Codrington, has been working with our young professionals for many years and has now set up the Graduate Forum, which meets monthly and is attended by HBPW’s newly qualified engineers.
“Jim invariably proposes a thought and invites discussion, one being ‘We believe that HS2 is a superb and valuable addition to the country’s infrastructure. Debate and discuss.
“The last one also considered the merits of some of history’s greatest engineers namely John Smeaton, Thomas Telford and Isambard Kingdom Brunel, with three teams making the case as to who they believed should take the accolade of history’s most influential engineer.
John Smeaton, the so-called ‘Founder of Civil Engineering’, won!
Paul said that such debates were also run alongside one to one sessions – a key element of the ICE approved training programme – at which graduate engineers were encouraged to produce quarterly reports cataloguing aspects of their work.
Participant graduate design engineer, Ross Hardy added: “The reports might appertain to a specific project or summarise work completed. Either way they are incredibly beneficial in that that they form a growing ‘catalogue’ of professional achievements, which are useful as an aide memoire when you finally apply to become Chartered and have to face a professional interview with the Institution of your choice.
“However, when taken in conjunction with the Graduate Forum, our training is more rounded than most, because the monthly Forum meetings not only give young engineers the opportunity to collectively share opinions, but also acquire debating and presentation skills.”
Paul Withers added: “Competition for high quality graduates is fierce in the UK but, by investing in our people, it means that we continue to attract some of the brightest young people from Britain’s universities and, in so doing, sustain our high quality client base thanks to a ‘funnel’ of continuing engineering excellence.”