22 April 2010

Costain has won two national awards recognising the quality of its training and development schemes for graduate recruits.

The Association of Graduate Recruiters classed the Group as best in the fields of graduate induction and strategic alignment. The latter category requires a company to demonstrate that its graduate development is co-ordinated with the needs of the business.

Group Professional Development Manager Julia Calleja, together with colleague Kirsty Todd and external consultant Terry Sexton of Creative Edge Consulting pulled together Costain's entry, enlisting the help of 12 graduates from the Group's 2020 Board III who created a first draft within a week.

The task was ideal for Board members, who are often given projects that the business wants tackled but does not have the time to undertake. Handling the competition entry was "very directly linked between their own personal development and Costain's business development", says Julia.

Judges from organisations including Imperial College London, nPower and PriceWaterhouseCoopers placed Costain top of the Strategic Alignment category for several reasons, including:

• 'clear and impressive evidence of professional development'; and
• its application of a variety of tools to monitor and evaluate engagement to aid continuous improvement.

In the Graduate Induction category it cited:

• Thorough and well-presented evidence of the role of the induction within the business.
• individual feedback from the assessment centre that helped guide the graduates and formed the start of their development.

"These awards represent four years' hard work - I am delighted Costain is recognised as number one for graduate development," says Julia.

 

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