4 September 2014

Costain recently held its Class of 2014 Graduate Induction 'Boot Camp', a week-long programme of business-focussed, behavioural and technical sessions designed to give new recruits an introduction to the behaviours and technical knowledge needed to work as part of a business team.

The event, which took place at Milton Hill House in Oxfordshire, was attended by 74 new graduates from across 15 disciplines including civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, finance, health and safety, procurement, design and technology.

During the week the graduates worked in small groups to prepare and deliver presentations based on the Company’s strategic priorities. These were linked to Engineering Tomorrow, the Company’s commitment to identifying, developing and implementing innovative solutions to meet the UK’s major national infrastructure needs, and Costain Cares, a long-term operational initiative that aims to address the growing needs of stakeholders through greater corporate responsibility.

Part of the induction was dedicated to Behavioural Skills Training, SHE Training and Quality Awareness, and comprised a three-day workshop with input from several Directors and Senior Managers. Working in partnership with an organisation called Interaction Learning and Development, the graduates were divided into 10 groups and asked to work on two briefs that explored a Costain-related topic. On the final day of the workshop, the graduates had to present their findings to their peers and invited guests.

The topics included, among others, partnering and collaboration; understanding the challenges facing the customer; creating intelligent, sustainable solutions that improve the performance of a customers’ businesses, and delivering engineering services across the full asset life-cycle, from advisory and design to operations and maintenance.

Tim Bowen, Costain’s Corporate Development Director, sponsored the brief on enhancing customer insights. The brief focussed on two questions: how can Costain most effectively build strategic relationships with its customers? And what can you do to help Costain become the voice of industry?

“Understanding the needs of our customers and developing innovative solutions to those needs is central to how we run our business. We therefore encourage our graduates to understand the competencies and expectations of their discipline and how each discipline interfaces with each other in order to create the integrated service offering that benefits our customers,” said Tim.

The event was organised by Camilla Duncan, Costain’s Graduate Development Officer, and Carys Davies, Graduate Recruitment and Development Assistant.

“The 'boot camp' was designed to help the graduates make the transition into work life with Costain, help them to take responsibility for their own learning and introduce them to the behaviours required for working as part of a business team. Feedback from the graduates has been incredibly positive with many recognising the opportunity to network with each other and representatives from Costain,” said Carys.

The week-long induction is the first part of Costain’s three-year Graduate Programme, with all graduates expected to attend a similar boot camp in each year of the programme.

Beyond the induction 'boot camp' in the first year, as well taking on additional technical training as required, the graduates are also expected to attend a Professional Development Day in their particular discipline between October and December, and attend the Year 1 Autumn Graduate Conference which will be held on October 28th.

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