While it is far from clear what impact the combined impacts of the credit crunch, recession and wobbles in the oil prices has had on energy-related graduate recruitment, some organisations appear to be holding firm to the commitment.
Among them is TUV NEL (the former National Engineering Laboratory) at East Kilbride in Scotland’s central belt.
The organisation says it has successfully hired 13 new/recent graduates across various engineering disciplines, all of whom remain with the company.
On an average, around four engineering graduates join TUV NEL each year and, as an expanding, progressive organisation, apparently excellent development prospects are available to ambitious and capable individuals.
The emphasis is on graduates with potential to be trained and developed into becoming consultants, with broad-ranging knowledge and experience of fluid dynamics, renewable energy, thermal engineering, measurement and control, environmental and related topics.
Those taken on work across the following technical areas:
Fluid flow measurement (including fluid dynamics, metering & instrumentation)
Energy services (including production, distribution & processing of fluids)
Environmental services including airborne emissions and carbon capture & storage
Low-carbon technologies including renewable energy systems (such as wind, wave and tidal) and sustainable transport
Activities and opportunities include:
Devising and implementing technical solutions to meet customer requirements, including design
Development and design of test procedures
Data collection and analysis
Working to UK and international standards
Proposal and report writing
Delivering formal presentations
Building a business portfolio through client interaction
Attending, and in some cases chairing, meetings, conferences and so-forth.
Qualities sought include:
Willingness and ability to work across a number of the technical areas
Strong data analysis and report writing skills
Confidence to take the lead role in the technical delivery of engineering projects
Strong interpersonal and presentation skills
Good commercial skills to enable effective working with clients to understand their requirements and offer appropriate technical solutions
TUV NEL has a policy of maintaining strong links with universities, and each year, as part of the graduate training scheme, a number of undergraduate students do an industrial placement (on average, around seven placements per year).
This gives students the opportunity to undertake industrially-relevant projects in a commercial environment while receiving valuable work experience.
Indeed, one undergraduate engineering student who undertook a placement project earlier this year has since graduated and taken up a post as a project engineer within the company.
TUV NEL also operates what it calls a “Monitored Professional Development Scheme”. This is described as a quality-controlled route to assist new and recent graduate engineers from mechanical, chemical, electronic and electrical disciplines to achieve chartered engineer status.
The scheme aims to provide developing engineers with sufficient opportunity to meet the requirements of the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC).
This takes place through planned and co-ordinated exposure to different activities throughout its various business functions over their first four years with the company and under the guidance of designated mentors.
It also provides the pathway for graduates to attain the masters-level academic requirements of UK-SPEC.
The scheme was specially set up by TUV NEL in response to consistent feedback from its current graduates, industrial-placement students, and job applicants that becoming chartered was one of their primary career goals upon attaining their degrees.