Programme Management

 

We can support your graduate programme planning and delivery, from taking over smaller admin tasks to running the whole programme for you. 

For many organisations, graduates are the lifeblood of the business, however, administering graduate programmes can be a challenge, consuming valuable time and resource. We know that. 

Supporting over 300 organisations with the upskilling of their engineers each year, we are ideally placed to help you. 

Using a flexible, tailored approach, we can administer all or part of your scheme – helping you to get it off the ground, providing valuable support in areas such as supplying you with a branded Learning Management System, a community area, sequencing and coordinating your training, venue management, forums, speakers, supplying coaching and management support, and acting as an extension of your business.

Your programme management could look something like this:

Grad programme timeline

Stage 1: Preparation, Onboarding and Acclimatisation. On average 0-6 months.

You may choose to have your whole programme designed, use us on a consultancy basis to sense-check your current offering, or delegate some of the administrative setup to us. You may want a branded LMS or have us plan and co-ordinate all or an aspect of your training programme. The choice is yours and will be discussed in detail with one of our consultants who can guide and advise you as to which routes might best fit your plan and circumstances.

The suggested key themes will help a new graduate:

  • Acclimatise to the world of work
  • Gain the support of their buddy and mentor
  • Perform activities, engage in discussions and immerse themselves within the team, culture and organisational values
  • Understand what’s expected from them in terms of behaviours, output and outcomes
  • Measure how they arrive against programme KPI’s and bridge any potential gaps
  • Discuss their personal and professional development plan, and understand their career progression
  • Learn about the organisational structure, reporting, ethics and gain exposure to wider networking opportunities.

By the end of their first 6 months, graduates new to the business should feel confident in their new role, have a clear understanding of their pathways through the programme, who to go to for help and support and what happens next. And you can gain valuable feedback on what is and isn’t working, what tweaks need to be made and course-correct where necessary so that you can move seamlessly into Stage 2.

Stage 2: Foundational Skills and Commercial Awareness. Around the 6-12 month mark.

During this next stage, we could be looking at collaborating with you on or fully taking over some of the following tasks; setting up, monitoring and evaluating your mentoring programme, debriefing the buddies working with your graduate cohort and plugging skills gaps, helping with securing venues, adding value to or taking over the complete management of your LMS process for you, organising speakers, and ensuring that your vision and values are deeply embedded within the programme.

From industry and organisational-specific technical competencies to MPDS and coursework mapped to the UK-SPEC, graduates can expect to feel more confident, focused and stretched during this next stage of the programme.

  • Create a personal and professional development plan with your mentor and have accountability for key milestones with your buddy.
  • Build a robust set of technical and non-technical foundational skills in areas such as finance fundamentals, ethical principles, communication and influence.
  • Discover your personal communication and leadership style, and its power to improve relationships, teamwork, stakeholder engagement and increase self-awareness.
  • Choose to become a STEM Ambassador with all the growth potential and connections that this can bring, and participate in industry-led discussions, challenges, projects and lunch & learns.
  • Understand key milestones on your way to professional registration.

By the end of their first year, graduates will feel increasingly confident, resilient, able to take on greater responsibility and should feel integrated with the culture and aligned with the organisational vision.

Stage 3: Acceleration. Around 12-24 months

During the acceleration phase, the goal is to help you future proof your organisation, enable you to change and adapt where necessary, innovate and remain competitive in today’s global markets. This is where we can dig in deep within you as a trusted partner, or begin passing the reins back to you in a more hands-off capacity. We could look at how well DE&I is being embedded in behaviours and everyday interaction and measure this against your objectives, whilst deepening the training provision in that area. We could also be helping you or completely host your round tables, discussions, close feedback loops and report our findings whilst discussing next steps.

There is a strong focus at this stage on greater collaboration, self-awareness, teamwork, accountability and autonomy whilst still benefitting from the individual support necessary to develop consistently through the second year of the programme. 

By the end of their second year on the programme, graduates will have benchmarked well against your objectives, be able to demonstrate the key behaviours and characteristics required by the organisation to be a successful contributor and will exhibit a thirst for growth, contribution and progression, high ethics, a customer-first perspective and inclusion.

Phase 4: Professional Milestones and Career Progression. 24 months +

During this last phase of the programme, all stakeholders will review the performance of the cohort individually and collectively. From the point of recruitment right the way through to completion and beyond, reflective questions will be asked to inform activity in the next round. We can support the process of measuring effectiveness, making recommendations, and producing an executive progress summary.

From a graduate point of view, they will feel settled in their role, understand next steps in their progression, and demonstrate the characteristics of a competent, motivated and aligned employee. There will be a focus on the following key areas:

  • Targeted support towards achieving the next level of professional registration
  • Recognition of what has been achieved on a 121 and company-wide basis
  • Areas of specialism discussed, and an updated career and personal/professional development plan put in place
  • A reflective piece of work by the graduate, outlining their experiences and key learnings over the course of the programme
  • Agreement on the next stages of the up-skilling process.

As graduates exit the programme, it’s critical to ensure that as much data has been/is captured, distilled and conclusions drawn that can inform the next round of recruitment. Likewise, that the transfer of learning has taken place and the graduate now feels confident that the transition from university to workplace has been successful.

Topic areas

Onboarding and acclimatisation

Foundational skills and commercial awareness

Acceleration

Professional milestones and career progression

Scheme management

Venue provision and training sequencing

Recruitment, programme objectives, and onboarding

Branded LMS and community setup and admin support

Providing expert support in specialised areas such as DE&I

Monitoring programme effectiveness, re-sequencing training

Organising speakers, lunch and learns and group discussions

Assessing absorption of culture, values and training

Complex tasks, network management, gathering data

Programme re-adjustment and problem-solving

Producing an executive summary and reporting

Feedback on data, impact and effectiveness

Grad exit/transition interviews

Organisational support/consultancy  Enabling and measuring DE&I and Wellbeing initiatives  Programme impact measurement and 360 administration  Problem-solving and coaching for managers  Feedback from recruitment team and identifying actions 
Mentoring for managers  Define needs and create internal mentoring programme  Supervision, upskilling and reporting. Roundtables  Ongoing mentor training and evaluation of impact  Grad Team Diagnostic, action steps and knowledge sharing 
Mentoring for MPDS  MPDS skills for mentors and the MPDS process  Internal governance, legal and chartership milestones Reflective practice, guidance, reporting, and career interview Clarifying and defining next steps 
 Professional registration Career interview and aspirations with IMechE   MPDS and additional qualifications Setting goals and professional development plans  Clarifying and defining next steps 


Programme Management

Training and development

Directing your graduates through a bespoke development path that meets both their and your organisation’s immediate and long-term objectives.

 


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Find out more about our Graduate Programme or any of our services.

Some of the companies we've worked with

  • Alten
  • AMH Material Handling
  • Avara Foods
  • bmt
  • Bombardier
  • Bombardier
  • Frazer Nash
  • Gas Networks Ireland
  • International Nuclear Services
  • JCB
  • Martin Baker
  • National Composited Centre
  • Network Rail
  • Smurfit Kappa
  • sse

Our training acumen

  • Over 30 years of experience delivering training
  • More than 200 courses designed for engineers
  • Over 10,000 engineers trained each year
  • Trusted by over 800 companies
  • Business solutions delivered in 48 countries

Average customer rating: 4.75 out of 5