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The Pillars of an Award-Winning Program
Arup was selected as a 2023 Campus Forward Award Winner for their unwavering commitment to seeking out and hiring early career talent, their emphasis on diversity & inclusion, and investments in nurturing and retaining the next generation of talent. Please see below for the highlights of their approach to early career recruitment.
Demonstrated Investment in Early Career Hiring
Arup believes that investing in the next generation of talent is an essential part of the growth, development, and future of the company. Arup continues to prioritize its recruitment efforts for early career hires as it sees the benefit in developing junior staff into the future leaders of the firm. Between Arup’s internship program, graduate experience program, DEI strategy, and scholarship opportunities, the company continues to build and evolve early career opportunities that set individuals up for success when joining, continue to grow, and develop their careers at Arup.
Innovative and Multi-Faceted Approach to University Recruitment
The campus recruiting team at Arup has done a great job connecting with the next generation of talent both on and off campus. The team adopted a hybrid approach to recruitment that allows it to host a series of virtual events through Brazen, giving students the opportunity to learn about Arup and speak 1:1 with engineers, consultants, and recruiters. This has allowed Arup to invite students from universities across the country to attend events and engage with staff members. Arup also plans strategic in-person events at a select group of colleges/universities local to its offices, and continues to strengthen its partnership with organizations including O4U, SHPE, SWE, oSTEM and NSBE, attending national conferences, hosting virtual events specific to the organization, providing scholarships, and engaging with local student chapters. Arup also prioritizes the candidate experience, ensuring that it responds to students in a timely manner, and has a designated recruiter.
Overarching Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
The campus recruitment team at Arup is passionate about finding and connecting with a diverse range of students, and the team has taken several measures to ensure its receiving the most diverse applicant pool. On the front end of the process, Arup utilizes Textio to ensure job descriptions read neutrally across all demographics (i.e. reading gender-neutral). When jobs get posted, Arup ensures they are posted to a network of 1,000 + diversity sites through its partnership with Direct Employers, as well as SWE, NSBE, oSTEM, O4U and SHPE. Arup also targets its outreach through diversity-focused social media posts on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. The team has also developed relationships with HBCUs and HSIs, and built out a robust set of diversity-focused partnerships with national and regional organizations. In addition to recruitment, new hires joining Arup are encouraged to join ERGs, engage with other members through mentorship, and take part in company events.
Impactful Internship Program
Arup interns take part in a robust program through a 70/20/10 framework, where 70% of their time is spent working on real projects and attending client and internal team meetings, 20% is spent engaging in internship program events, and 10% is spent on learning and development. Throughout the program, Arup hosts a series of regional events to allow interns to meet their peers, as well as local events that allow interns to network with their peers and staff members in their respective offices. The final component of the internship is a case study assignment, where interns are grouped into multidisciplinary teams across the region and tasked with completing a knowledge review and value story on a recently completed Arup project. These components are part of Arup's investment in early career talent, leading to a 70% intern return offer rate, and 90% intern conversion acceptance rate.
Growth and Development of the Next Generation of Talent
Arup goes above and beyond to set up entry-level, full-time hires for long-term success at the company. Starting with a robust onboarding, entry-level hires are provided not only with on-the-job training, but the building blocks for professional success at the company. This is done through a Graduate Experience Program, which is a 6-month hybrid program. The program kicks off with a two-day, in-person session where the new hires come together to network with one another, complete a design exercise, hear from the leaders of the firm, attend local site visits, and go through a series of panel discussions. The program continues virtually for the remaining 6 months, allowing the new hires the opportunity to continue to learn about Arup, interact with their peers, and be provided mentorship.