Increasing the value for our members has been the number one priority for Engineers Australia’s Student and Graduate team throughout 2022.
With a strong focus on giving student and graduate members the best Engineers Australia experience it has been a busy year for the team. So, what have we been up to? And what can you, as a member, expect from us in 2023?
The Elevation Careers Fair was well-received in 2022 and saw more than 1300 students and graduates meet directly with 60 actively recruiting engineering employers. This is an important initiative to help our young engineers find their first engineering role. We are excited to bring our members an even better in-person and online event next year.
Relevant continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities are crucial for all engineers, but especially in the early stages of their careers. The young engineers CPD webinar series and our award-winning Bite-sized Learning provided relevant CPD opportunities for graduate engineers and was a hit with 18,600 in attendance demonstrating the value of this learning opportunity.
Planning for our 2023 CPD series is underway. Find out more and watch the 2022 series.
The Engineers Australia Jobs Board continues to be a useful resource for graduate members having facilitated over 5600 job applications for young engineers. This is valuable for young engineers showing opportunities for graduate programs, internships, vacation placements, work experience and early career roles.
Our Mentor Match and Grads Give Back pilot programs were both successful. Mentor Match saw graduate engineers team up with mentors who are Chartered engineers and Grads Give Back gave graduate engineers the opportunity to develop their own mentoring skills by being paired with students.
Mentor Match is a structured six-month program providing a unique online networking and career development tool to help graduate members find, connect and share experiences with others, while being mentored by Chartered engineers.
Grads Give Back provided opportunities for recent graduates to help students on their journey to entering the workforce with 88 per cent of students advising it had helped them with preparation for a job interview.
The International Student Pilot program run in the Northern Territory aimed to increase opportunities for international students as well as an understanding of how international engineering graduates can help alleviate the skill shortage for industry. In 2023, we are looking at a similar program in South Australia and Western Australia.
Held for the first time in 2022, the Graduate Hackathon saw teams of two to five graduates come together and apply both theoretical and technical skills and provide solutions to a real-world problem. Teams had just 48 hours to provide a video submission outlining their solutions to the problem statement: How can engineers create sustainable, long-term outcomes for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games? Solutions were submitted to a panel of industry greats for judging. We are pleased to announce the GradHack will take place again in 2023.
Looking ahead to 2023
We will be hitting the ground running after we return from the festive season break.
Our graduate welcome events in Engineers Australia state offices around the country kick off in February. These are a great way to welcome our newest graduate members so they can meet and network with like minded young engineering professionals as well as discover how Engineers Australia and Young Engineers Australia can support them as an early-career engineer.
These are quickly followed by Elevation 2023 in March, which will be held in seven locations around the country. We are setting the bar high! We are aiming to bring you the biggest and most successful Elevation events in 2023. Stay tuned for more information.
We have thoroughly enjoyed bringing you a jam-packed year of learning and development to help you thrive. The student and graduate team wish you a great festive break and we look forward to welcoming you to an event in 2023.
Sam Zdjelar
General Manager, Student and Graduate Membership