Our Early Careers Conferences and Graduation Ceremony Go Virtual for a Lively Experience

In these uncertain times how do you keep employees engaged and motivated? In our new normal, working solely from home and in a virtual capacity is a struggle for most but perhaps there is one group who find it particularly challenging.

With the current travel and safety restrictions impacting on our annual Apprentice and Graduate Development conferences – a key highlight in our annual program – we felt it was important to provide our early careers  professionals with an alternative experience. 

Over 500 Jacobs Graduates and Apprentices from the UK, Ireland, Europe and the Middle East join a series of virtual conferences providing them with a great opportunity to network with peers and leaders from across our business.

The aim of the virtual ‘Early Careers Conference’ is to integrate our future talent into Jacobs’ culture, providing each early career professional with a learning opportunity around creative and exciting challenges that promote critical thinking, support networking and help them to build effective relationships. We wanted to give them exposure to the business transformation and how-to future proof their careers by learning new essential skills. The agenda is based around core team activities which are a combination of experiential learning with instructors from the youth charity YMCA and business workshops delivered by our leadership team here at Jacobs.

Jacobs Digital Delivery Graduate Ross Warne said: “The week made me think differently, break from norms and constantly hone my self-reflection and learning skills with a great team. Most of all I enjoyed learning from our inspiring leaders about how Jacobs is leading the digital transformation with solutions like Pavy.”

“It was an incredible learning experience to hear about inspiring and powerful stories throughout the event,” said Jananie Gnanan, Jacobs Graduate Civil Engineer. “Thank you to the team for all the efforts to make this Jacobs Early Careers Conference such as success despite the pandemic.”

Graduate Transport Planner Emma Scott agreed: “It’s been great getting to know other like-minded graduates from around the U.K. and Europe, as well as getting to network with a diverse group of people from across Jacobs.”

“I had an amazing week attending the virtual conference. It’s incredible what technology can do for you if used effectively,” added Jacobs Transport Engineer, Sajjad Khan. “The conference was thoroughly engaging; we learned a lot from our senior leadership team and the YMCA mentors.”

Earlier this month, we also celebrated the achievements of 177 Jacobs apprentices and graduates (UK & Ireland) who recently completed their programs. Marking this significant career milestone for our young visionaries, thinkers and doers, a virtual awards ceremony was hosted by Jacobs People & Places Solutions Senior Vice President Europe & Digital Strategies Donald Morrison and Jacobs Critical Mission Solutions International Senior Vice President Clive White.

Jenna Houghton, who did an electronic control and instrumentation apprenticeship, is now helping to design for a new, mission-critical waste treatment plant for the Sellafield nuclear site while doing a degree course one day per week.