Article submitted by City of Swan.
The City of Swan is focusing on developing well-rounded engineers with a diverse skillset through its graduate program.
With over $81 million set aside for its Capital Works Program and assets valued at over $2.5 billion, accounting for 20 percent of Perth’s metropolitan area, the City highly values its engineers, trusting them to manage a magnitude of new and existing infrastructure.
The City’s Executive Manager Operations, Jim Coten FIEAust CPEng NER, said the successful graduate program has helped engineering to flourish within the organisation.
“It used to be difficult to recruit professional engineers - previously, when we had run advertisements for engineers, we would struggle to get one application,” Mr Coten said.
“Local Governments also often employ engineers from other local authorities, so we were having trouble increasing the talent pool.”
The graduate program became the City’s answer to this challenge.
The graduates are part of a rotating program where they are offered a taste for civil projects of vast complexity and value, from footpath renewals to large infrastructure projects and everything in between.
They typically spend around twelve months in each role, and their responsibilities are determined on the amount of experience they have.
Graduates are given experience in all areas of the organisation including planning, design, construction, project management, traffic management, asset management, maintenance, waste and recycling, fleet management and facilities management.
The current graduates are getting involved in the Capital Works Program and some of the City’s biggest projects in 2017.
These include a $2 million reticulation project in Bullsbrook, a $3.5 million dual carriageway completion along Hepburn Avenue in Ballajura, a $2 million junction improvement project in Middle Swan, and various road improvement projects linked to the NorthLink WA project.
City of Swan Graduate Engineer Siewwen Boo said she was grateful to have been offered a spot in the program.
“The rotational placements help us to understand how each area of the City operates, providing us with an excellent opportunity to develop valuable skills and experience in the public civil industry,” said Ms Boo.
With few other local governments offering a similar program, the City has developed one of the best opportunities for young engineers looking to diversify their experience.
Mr Coten said that engineering employment has changed significantly at the City of Swan, as a result.
“The City now has eight graduate engineers on the rotation program, and often receives up to 300 applications for its job advertisements,” he said.
Graduates are mentored closely by senior staff, are supported and sponsored to achieve Charted Status with Engineers Australia, and are encouraged to seek other opportunities to enhance their engineering education and leadership skills.
Most importantly, they are able to see the very real benefit that their work provides towards improving the quality of life in the community.
Image: City of Swan Graduate Engineer, Siewwen Boo on site at the recently completed $2 million Great Northern Highway/Bishop Road improvement project in Middle Swan, courtesy of the City of Swan.