What's your name and job title? What did you study? When did you graduate?
Kerry van Donderen, group director civil infrastructure – NSW & ACT. I graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) from James Cook University in 1995.
What has been the highlight of your career?
Working with the great team at AECOM has definitely been the highlight of my career so far. I headed overseas to UK on what was supposed to be a six month working holiday – six years later having done a heap of travel and developed my career at the same time.
How did you get to your current job position and for how long have you occupied it?
I have been in my current role for six months following a promotion from my previous role leading the South Australia team for AECOM. I had to go through a rigorous selection process, involving a written submission and interview process.
What does your company do and why is it employing graduate students?
AECOM is the premier integrated infrastructure firm with over 85,000 employees in 170 countries. We have a team of around 3,500 across Australia and New Zealand, working on almost every kind of infrastructure you can imagine, including roads, railways, water, buildings, bridges, energy and resources projects, ports, airports and city planning.
What can graduates expect to do on a day-to-day basis?
Graduates get to work with technical and industry leaders and will be challenged by a steep learning curve, but they can expect to receive all the support they need to develop technical and the increasingly important ‘softer’ skills that enable more effective communication and collaboration. They could be working on a road project one day and a new urban precinct the next; they could be working in the office, from home, or out on site on any given day.
What (if any) certifications are required?
For graduate positions at AECOM, applicants must be in their final year of study or have completed a bachelors (or above) qualification within the last two years. For internship opportunities, applicants must be enrolled in a relevant university degree.
What types of interview formats are used during the interview process?
At AECOM we have implemented numerous recruitment strategies including face to face interviews, telephone interviews, video interviews and assessment centres.
What advice would you give to job seekers in terms of applying and interviewing for STEM jobs?
We look for well-rounded students who have been involved in clubs, societies, travel groups, sporting groups etc. Candidates who have held leadership roles at university are of particular interest to us, along with those who have a genuine desire to make a difference in the world through infrastructure projects.
What sort of skills does a graduate need to succeed at your company?
Technical skills are a given, but beyond those what is really important is organisational and people skills. The ability to work as part of a diverse team and to communicate well are very important, as is the ability to prioritise.
Are there any challenges that graduates can expect to face? For example, do they bear a lot of responsibility? Do they have to work on weekends or do frequent overtime? Is the role physically demanding?
Graduates take on a fair amount of responsibility, but not without the support they need to succeed. We were all grads once and have walked in their shoes, and AECOM has a team atmosphere where people are happy to help out.
What do you hear the grads say is the best thing about their work? Which kind of task do they enjoy the most?
I think they enjoy tackling complex, real-world problems and coming up with solutions that positively impact people’s lives.
What sort of training do grads receive?
Graduates at AECOM undertake a structured two year program combined with project experience from very early on. Graduates work through training modules designed to develop behavioural skills whilst focusing on technical development through on the job training.
What is the future employment outlook for STEM careers? How is the field changing?
The sky is the limit for STEM grads! They are definitely in high demand. There is more and more emphasis on teamwork, on creativity and on use of smart digital. Some work will be increasingly automated in future, such as repetitive design tasks. We are entering a new digital era – it is an exciting time to embark on a STEM related career like engineering.
Which three pieces of advice would you give to a current university student?