Q&A for Waterman Aspen Website

What made you join WA? I joined Waterman Aspen as a Graduate Engineer in 2014 when I was looking for international experience in Civil Engineering industry. At that time I was working for Local Authorities in Cyprus and felt that an ideal way to improve my personal skills should be improved by working abroad. I had my first interview with WA where the management team explained the way the business worked and I realised that my experience would be greatly improved due to the unique business model WA provides.

Have you been involved in education or training? I started my studies in Civil Engineering and I hold an HND, BEng(Hons) and an MSc from Coventry University. I joined the Institution of Civil Engineers as a Student Member and when I joined WA, my membership grade was upgraded to Graduate Member and the subscription costs were covered by the company. Furthermore, in February 2015 I joined the Graduates and Students Group of the Institution of Civil Engineers in West Midlands as a General Member. In October 2016 I was elected onto the Committee of the group as the Junior Vice Chair and I am looking forward to this year (2017-2018) where I will hold the position of Senior Vice Chair. I am really interested in raising the awareness of Civil Engineering activities and knowledge in the Midlands by organising site visits and events. I am also involved in the Progress Network of Association of Consulting and Engineering in Midlands. In this network I hold the position of the Vice Chair. The Progress Network is organising events related to areas which engineers may encounter on a daily basis but they don’t have the access to learn the story behind them. A good example is a recent event we have organised regarding the Midlands Engine. We realised that lots of our members weren’t aware with the content of that topic and we therefore organised a panel discussion with experts in the field to give us a professional explanation of this unique Government Initiative.

What secondments have been most interesting and why? My secondment within the Network and Traffic Management team of Coventry City Council which appealed to me for lots of reasons.The first one being the trust I was given by the client in order to manage their road network.In specifically, I was engaged in Major Projects such as the temporary traffic management and liaising with all the stakeholders in order to maintain as little disruption as possible in the road network. I was responsible for ensuring that no works occured during peak times and that all safety requirements according to the Code of Practice were met in each area. This gave me the opportunity to improve my management skills as well as my presentation skills. I have chaired and attended numerous meetings representing the client and making sure that all the required needs were met for keeping the network safe.

What are the best aspects of working for WA? Job security is a big benefit, as when your secondment comes to an end, not only you are being very personally rewarding but also the options to be moved to another client are vast. The support of the management team is brilliant. We have a Graduate Forum every three months and we discuss the progress of our chartership. I call it the Motivation Forum, since it is a good chance to share knowledge and motivate each other for the long process of chartership. Personally, I find this the best aspect, since I have been given the chance to ask all the questions and thus allowing me to rapidly improve.

Why would you recommend working for WA? I would definitely recommend WA to colleagues because of the amazing opportunity to develop their skills. In Engineering positions, you are never exposed to commercial and client satisfaction opportunities. In WA you have to think about your client needs and make sure that you provide your technical knowledge in order to satisfy the requirements for the project. I have found this really interesting and challenging at the same time which makes it fantastic.

for reading more case studies from my colleagues in WA or if you want to apply for a position please click this link