Graduates and Atkins

An Employer’s Perspective

Neil Thomas

MA, CEng, MICE, MIHT

Director, WS Atkins Consultants Limited

16 April 2003

Introduction

Atkins

One of world’s leading providers of professional,

technologically-based consultancy and support

services

Around 15,000 staff

120+ offices in UK and 50+ overseas

Annual turnover in excess of £800 million

Recruit up to 300 graduates per year, of whom

the majority are engineering graduates

Introduction

Highways and Transportation

H&T alone employs over 3000 staff

Graduate Recruitment Target for 2003 – 70 No,

of whom 60 are engineering graduates.

Mainly civil engineering, some

electrical/electronic.

Graduates at Atkins

Numbers recruited has increased as company

has grown

For 2003 target is approaching 300

Variety of degrees and disciplines, but majority

are engineers and in particular civil engineers

Most engineering graduates are on formal training

agreements

Graduates at Atkins

Recruit from variety of universities

Opportunities for graduates with all classes of

degrees, but more specialist and technically

demanding disciplines will usually require an

upper second class degree from a higher ranking

course

Post graduate qualifications preferred in some

specialist areas, such as geotechnical

engineering

The Challenges

Increasing workload requires more graduates

Reducing UK engineering graduate pool

Decline in technical understanding of graduates

Core non-technical skills

Increased expectations of graduates

Unacceptably low retention rates

Attractiveness of other careers

Is Engineering still a vocation?

Graduate Numbers

Number of engineering graduates has dropped

over last 6 years, typically by around one-third

No indication of the numbers picking up,

especially when some courses are suspended,

such as at Aston

Has coincided with an increase in workload,

particularly in the transportation field

Graduate Numbers

Solutions

Recruit higher number of overseas students

Work permits easily obtained, but can lack core skills

Increased use of sponsorship, industrial year and summer

placements, as many return as graduate employees

Overseas recruitment campaigns/exchanges

Australia, South Africa, Poland, Eastern Europe

Use engineering graduates to concentrate on technical

work, and use others for non-technical functions.

Technical Understanding

Increasingly concerned at lack of understanding

of basic principles

Graduates need to develop ability to self-check

their work and not blindly accept their results

Technical drawing appreciation and ability to

communicate using sketches generally poor

Many businesses have now introduced a

technical test and interview as part of the

selection process

Technical Understanding

Balance of theory and practice on courses

important

Use of codes and standards on courses of

some use, but graduates will often end up using

sector specific codes. (NB: Eurocodes will

replace current standards as the decade

proceeds)

In reviewing CVs, place importance on relevant

work experience

Example Technical Question

A road is on a vertical hog curve of constant radius 1000m. Two points (A and B) on the road are at the same level and separated by a horizontal distance of 100m. Estimate the level distance (H) between the highest point on the road and points A and B?

A B

H

L=100m

R=1000m

Example Technical Question

In the following example, two balls of equal size are released from rest at the top of an inclined plane to roll down to the bottom. The balls have identical mass, but one is solid and the other is hollow. Which ball reaches the bottom of the slope first and why?

HollowSolid

Example Question

1 2 3

B A

Which span or spans would you load with a uniformly distributed load

to give the maximum sagging moment at point A?

i) 1 and 3 ii) 1, 2 and 3 iii) 2 only iv) 1 and 2

Which span or spans would you load with a uniformly distributed load

to give the maximum hogging moment at point B?

i) 1 and 3 ii) 1, 2 and 3 iii) 2 only iv) 1 and 2

Which span or spans would you load with a uniformly distributed load

to give the maximum shear force just to the right of point B? (1 mark)

i) 1 only ii) 2 only iii) 2 and 3 iv) 1 and 2

This diagram represents the three spans of a line beam

Core Skills

Concerns that certain skills are lacking in graduates

Particularly written and verbal communication

Not too concerned at management skills as these can be developed on

the job

Atkins has identified 5 core skills that graduates can be assessed

against and for which they must reach a base level. These are:

Motivation

Self-Regulation

Judgement

Perception

Communication

Skills reflect a demanding market-place

Retention

Poor retention rate for graduates

In 2001 Atkins was losing over 50% of its graduates within their

first three years – across all disciplines

Retention rate for engineers was better, but still not good

Helped by graduates being on formal training schemes

Why?

“Reality of the job and training did not match up to expectations”

Once chartered there is much less attrition

Remuneration levels compared with other careers

Tackling the Attrition Rate

More thorough recruitment process with assessment

centres

Increasing use of sponsorship and work experience to

identify future recruits and to establish realistic

expectations. For example, have been part of University

of Surrey/ICE Sponsorship scheme since its inception.

Greater flexibility within training to match individual

priorities

Enhancing links with universities, not only through

sponsorship, but also by helping with project work,

course assignment, guest lectures, etc.

Conclusions

Universities, Employers and Institutions need to work together to:

Increase awareness of engineering as a career, perhaps by joint

initiatives such as careers events (held in University Labs etc)

Increase applications to engineering courses

Better manage graduates expectation’s e.g through guest

lectures, insight into real engineers’ careers, more interface with

employers

Agree skills required by graduate engineers, and focus on these

within academic courses e.g appropriate management skills

Develop greater opportunities for student sponsorship and

industrial experience