.png){kind=logo}
The Pillars of an Award-Winning Program
Arup was selected as a 2024 Campus Forward Award Winner for their unwavering commitment to seeking out and hiring early career talent and investments in nurturing and retaining the next generation of diverse talent. Please see below for the highlights of their approach to early career recruitment.
Multi-Faceted and Thoughtful Approach to University Recruitment
At Arup we believe that investing in the next generation of talent is an essential part of the growth, development, and future of the company. Arup prioritizes their recruitment efforts for early career hires as they see the benefit of developing junior staff into future leaders of the firm. Between the internship program, graduate experience program, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and belonging strategy, and scholarship opportunities, Arup continues to build and evolve their early career opportunities that set individuals up for success to grow, develop, and thrive in their careers at Arup. The campus recruiting team at Arup has excelled at connecting with the next generation of talent both on and off campus. Our campus strategy combines local in-person events and virtual events, to create a powerful hybrid approach. This hybrid model seeks to leverage the benefits of physical engagement while capitalizing on the flexibility and reach of virtual platforms. From a virtual perspective, we utilize Brazen to host our virtual information sessions, DEIB focused events, and “Day in the Life” series. This has allowed us to invite students from universities across the country to attend our events and engage with our members. We have also held in-person events at a select group of colleges/ universities, local to our offices, to provide students with valuable face-to-face interaction. We have continued to strengthen our partnership with organizations including Out for Undergrad (O4U), Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), Society of Women Engineers (SWE), Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (oSTEM) and National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) where we have attended their national conferences, hosted virtual events specific to the organization, provided scholarship opportunities, and engaged with local student chapters.
Innovative Use of Technology
The early careers team leverages cutting-edge technology through pre-recorded video interviewing, enhancing efficiency and outcomes. This digital approach streamlines the hiring process, allowing candidates to showcase their skills at their convenience. The use of video interviews not only expedites screening but also provides a more comprehensive understanding of candidates, fostering better-informed hiring decisions. With the implementation of pre-recorded video interviewing, Arup has been able to double the number of candidates invited into their interview process from last year and surpassed the number of first round interviews completed from last year as well.
Impactful Internship Program
At Arup, interns take part in a robust internship program through a 70/20/10 framework. Seventy percent of their time is spent working and contributing to real projects with their teams and attending client and internal team meetings. Twenty percent of their time is spent engaging in internship program events which consist of three categories: regional events, local events, and a case study assignment. Throughout the program Arup hosts a series of regional events across the Americas allowing interns to take part in events with the complete intern cohort. Some of the regional events include a Sustainability @ Arup session, EDI/ ERG workshop, Leadership Connect, and Market Spotlights. The local events allow interns the opportunity to network with their peers and staff members in their respective offices. Some of the local events include project site visits, networking events, leadership chats, and a graduate panel discussion. The final component is a project review assignment where interns are grouped into multidisciplinary teams across the region tasked with completing a knowledge review and value story on a recently completed Arup project. This allows interns the opportunity to work on an assignment with their intern peers across different office locations and explore how an Arup project was delivered with quality. Finally, the remaining ten percent is set aside for additional learning and trainings. Arup encourages interns to spend time pursuing additional trainings they might be interested in completing to advance their skills and knowledge. These components are part of Arup’s significant investment in early career talent, leading to a 60% intern return offer rate and 82% intern conversion acceptance rate.