Graduate Development
During your first few years at Beca, you’ll have access to a number of formal and informal initiatives designed to assist with your development as a professional within the consulting environment.
The aim of these initiatives is to support you in developing the broad range of skills and experience necessary to become a successful consultant in your technical field – skills that you’ll be able to apply throughout your career.
Beca’s career development philosophy is built on one simple principle - at Beca YOU own your career. We have everything set up so that you can drive your own success within a positive and supportive environment.
You’ll have the opportunity to experience a wide range of project work, and if you are keen, you could work in other Beca offices either throughout New Zealand or overseas.
Graduate development at Beca includes:
Six Monthly Performance Development Discussions
On-the-Job Learning
Graduate Development Conference – Year 1 and Year 2
General Development and Training
Mentoring
Site Visits
Graduate Group Monthly Sessions with Guest Speakers
Your first two years of professional experience following graduation will be a steep learning curve. To guide and support your learning and development during this time, you and your manager will have a formal discussion every six months to review your career aspirations, give you feedback on how you are doing so far and set objectives for the coming months. These formal discussions will be supported by many opportunities to get informal feedback and guidance from the people around you.
At Beca, you’ll be working on real jobs for real clients from the start. You’ll work alongside experienced people who will provide you with on-the-job coaching and guidance while allowing you to take on more responsibility as your knowledge increases. Your on-the-job learning will vary as you work in different project areas, so you’ll have the opportunity to learn from a wide range of experienced people and really accelerate your career!
We hold a graduate conference which you will attend in your first and second years with Beca. This conference provides a forum for you to learn about a wide range of communication, management and business related topics, all of which are areas that will help you towards professional registration. During the conference, senior members of the business will present to you on topics of interest. In 2010, these topics included innovation, client relationship management and working with clients, how to assess and manage risks on projects and developing your own career. The conference will provide you with an opportunity to learn about other parts of the Beca organisation and you will have plenty of opportunities to network with our senior managers.
Beca offers all employees a comprehensive range of general development programmes that will help you to develop such skills as giving business presentations and writing professional reports.
As a graduate at Beca, you’ll be surrounded by potential mentors. If you are working towards a professional membership which requires you to be paired with a professional mentor, you will be matched to someone who will work with you to achieve the required goals. As you learn and develop, you will also have the opportunity to choose a mentor on either a formal or informal basis to guide and support you through the first few years of your career. Mentors can be a fantastic source of general career advice and support in your personal and professional development.
Depending on the section of the business that you work within, you will most likely be involved with site visits and site-related work. For those working in the engineering and technical parts of the business, site visits are often included in your induction as well. The visits are designed to let you experience real life projects that Beca is involved with. In 2010 several of our graduates were given the opportunity to work on site and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Graduates from previous years take on the responsibility of organising monthly get-togethers. These sessions provide the opportunity to hear from a variety of guest speakers, meet, compare notes and exchange ideas with your fellow graduates.
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Overseas Experience
A Beca career offers a number of different opportunities to work overseas – both as a graduate and beyond.
Beca has 17 offices in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, China, Indonesia, Myanmar and Chile. We also have strong professional associations with a number of leading consultancies around the Pacific Rim, the US, UK, and Middle East. And we have worked on projects in over 70 countries!
With a career at Beca, you can even go on your OE and build on your career at the same time. We believe that overseas work experience can greatly enhance your personal and professional development, and your future career prospects, so we are happy to help you identify possible opportunities in an overseas office or joint venture organisation, or provide introductions through our relationships and contacts. Over the years Beca's NZ graduates have worked in Melbourne, China, Singapore, UK, Dubai, Indonesia and New Caledonia, to name just a few.
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Working with Gurus
As a graduate at Beca you will have the opportunity to work with industry gurus on landmark projects. Beca graduates are actively guided, mentored and exposed to interesting and challenging projects from the start to help you develop your skills and assist you in becoming a capable and respected member of the business very quickly.
Beca recognises the value and potential that graduates like you bring to the business, and you’ll find that your more senior colleagues make an active effort to be available to you as you learn and grow into your role. You will be surrounded by, and working with, award-winning professionals who can provide you with ongoing technical support, and you will have access to in-house, nationally and internationally recognised leaders in a variety of fields across the business.
We believe the best place to learn is on the job, so Beca graduates are involved in real work from the beginning. You won’t be by yourself, nor will you be making the tea. You will work alongside senior project engineers and managers, and given responsibility for specific project deliverables. You will be guided and supported through the process of bringing your contribution to fruition, and recognised for it.
At Beca you will have access to, and the support of, a professional mentor – someone with whom you can discuss your aspirations, expectations and role in New Zealand’s largest professional services consultancy.
Couple this support with a company-wide willingness to support those who take the initiative and you will find no better place to prove yourself as a professional.
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