1 June 2015

Members of Costain’s Graduate Development Programme have seen a ‘radical departure’ in part of their training this year.

The development programme consists of a series of modules; this year, Module Two – ‘Rapid Development’ – has had a very different feel to it than previously, said Simon Merrell, Development Manager (Leadership), Learning and Organisational Development at Costain.

“The change was required to increase the level of challenge for our graduates,” said Simon. "This year has seen graduates getting out and about in the Peak District."

The module was split in two, with the first half focusing on raising self-awareness through a series of community projects. These ranged from teaching a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) session for 14-16-year olds at Hope Valley College, to burying a time capsule in the grounds of a care home.

“We wanted the projects to be real and give the group an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy. They did just that! Each of the projects concluded successfully.”

The second half of the module consisted of project planning and systems, with the participants looking at how they would go about managing scheduling work within Costain and how this linked in with systems such as design or resource management. They then had to apply their knowledge of this field and demonstrate it to each other.

“At the end of each of the components of the module they are tasked with putting together a development plan that links to work that they are doing. This is particularly important. Each graduate owns their own development and translating their experiences to their working world increases the likelihood of their plans coming to fruition.”

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