Cochlear: The Best Graduate Employer in Engineering, R&D and Manufacturing Thursday, 07 April 2016

In February the Minister for Innovation, Industry and Science, Christopher Pyne, presented Cochlear with the award for the Best Graduate Employer in Engineering, R&D and Manufacturing in The Australian Top 100 Graduate Employers.

The award recognises Cochlear’s ongoing commitment to giving bright, motivated and collaborative engineering students in Australia the opportunity to build world-class engineering and leadership careers.

Jennifer Yorath, Senior Human Resource Business Partner says “the students tell us that what makes Cochlear unique is our role in transforming the lives of people with hearing loss, our state of the art R&D and manufacturing facilities, and the chance to build a career with a world-leader in technology.”

Cochlear’s graduate program helps young engineers build their applied engineering skills, while broadening their experience to become leaders in a world-leading engineering team. The students agree that learning from experienced engineers while doing real engineering with truly innovative technology is what makes engineering at Cochlear both challenging and rewarding.

Graduate engineers spend their first 12 months completing rotations through different teams to gain a broad understanding of the business. Graduates are then guaranteed a full-time place in a team while completing a three-year learning program that builds their project management and leadership skills.

To become a graduate engineer with Cochlear, students must first complete an internship called the Summer Student Program. This program is exclusively for students in their second-to-last year of study. Successful students go on to complete their final year of study before joining the graduate program.

The 2015/16 summer program included students from disciplines including electrical, mechatronics, mechanical and biomedical engineering. The biggest intake was in electrical engineering. The growth areas are software, electrical and mechatronics engineering.

High School students who are aspiring engineers can also experience the numerous possibilities for an engineering career at Cochlear through the Cochlear Autumn School of Engineering held jointly with Engineers Australia Sydney.

Photo: Christopher Pyne Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science presenting the Cochlear team with the award for 2016 Best Graduate Employer in Engineering, R&D and Manufacturing.