Insights Celebrating our Graduate Engineers: How Matt takes the lead at ADS&T

23 October 2018

“Since starting at Atkins, I’ve been excited by the innovative, vibrant and rewarding culture.” 

Meet Matt, Junior Consultant in our Aerospace, Defence, Security & Technology division (ADS&T). Though he’s only been with the business for 13 months, he’s already been impressing us all. When grads join they bring with them outstanding technical abilities, so we give them every opportunity to excel in the business and on our projects. Over and above that, Matt has an innate ability to nurture fantastic client relationships. He’s made it a no-brainer for our major airport client to create a permanent role for him. He’s also helped us expand our footprint into new areas of the airport’s business. Here’s a taste of some of the inspiring things he’s been up to…

Leading ADS&T in our O365 journey

Office 365 is a transformational cloud system that acts on IT strategy and business networks. Matt managed our awareness and utilisation of the tools. “He demonstrated levels of engagement across all levels of seniority, geographies, markets and support teams. His work was hugely impressive and possibly one of our best graduate projects ever.”
– Tom Newton, P3M Services Practice Manager

London Team Building

Matt organised and led an away day in London for the airport client. Collaborating with other colleagues and professionals, he defined how the team could become an outstanding team. He also arranged a presentation by an ‘Atkins’ colleague on stress and personal resilience. This successful, enjoyable event offered a valuable, fresh perspective on wider issues like mental health. It also created a space where we were able to strengthen ties with a client who shares many of our values. The day was well received, and our client thoroughly appreciated Matt’s “ability to challenge and question traditional ways of working.”

Enhancing our graduate programme

The Junior Consultant Development Programme (JCDP) is our management consultancy graduate programme within ADS&T. One of Matt’s highlights was to facilitate a ‘Lessons Learnt’ for his graduate intake. He stepped out of his comfort zone and ran a session aimed at improving and enhancing the scheme. The business appreciated this brave initiative to drive change and empower fellow graduates to be ‘action owners’. Matt has also taken on four new Junior Consultants as buddies who he encourages to grow and add value in their own ways. Go Matt!

Taking on an important ‘scrum master’ role for a major client

Matt’s position is certainly above traditional roles graduates occupy. It’s all about increasing the teams’ efficiency, motivation, and to argue for changes that will ensure quality and timeliness. It demands daily tests of his stakeholder management skills and commercial acumen. It’s a significant challenge but he enjoys the opportunity to add more value to the business and continue to develop his skills.

In Matts own words… 

“Within Atkins there’s no limit to what you can achieve. My advice to graduates who are thinking about joining us is: JUST GO FOR IT. There’s nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it. I’m very excited about my future career here and I will continue to step through every open door available!”
– Matt Heywood

Like the sound of the grad life #insideAtkins? Find out how you can apply to our Graduate Development Programme.