Insights What makes Atkins a top choice to accelerate your career
Are you currently at university? Wondering how to set yourself up for success? A placement is a great way to gain valuable experience and get some industry exposure. Placements offer a hands-on environment where you can apply theoretical knowledge in practical scenarios and develop essential skills. Better yet, they help you build a strong foundation for your future career, with research showing 42% of placement students return to their placement provider after their final year of study. But finding the right organisation is crucial. That’s where we come in, with summer and 12-month industrial placement opportunities.
At Atkins, we offer exceptional opportunities for ambitious undergraduates such as Salma, who enjoyed exploring her interests in a 12-week placement. With over 80 years of design, engineering and project management expertise, we have an impressive range of projects and clients across infrastructure, transportation, environment nuclear and clean power, and aerospace, defence, security and technology.
Each year, our top performing placement students (who’ve done at least 8 weeks on placement with us) have the opportunity to be nominated for our Graduate Development Programme (GDP). If you’re nominated you’ll bypass the standard recruitment process and be offered a place on the programme.
Dive into these 4 top reasons that make Atkins the perfect place to kickstart your journey:
1. Cutting-edge projects and diverse opportunities
At Atkins, we’re driven by a meaningful purpose – engineering a better future for our planet and its people. To achieve this, we work with our clients to deliver projects which have a positive, sustainable impact on the world around us. A digital approach is fundamental to our way of working. It transforms outcomes when combined with every element of the engineering process: our people, our data insights and our technology.
Join us at the forefront of groundbreaking projects that shape the future, from regenerating public spaces that bring together arts, learning and commerce, to the development of High Speed 2 (HS2), the UK’s largest infrastructure investment project, and testing the potential of fusion power as a safe, limitless and environmentally responsible energy source.
You'll contribute to transformative initiatives, and create social value for local and global communities, gaining invaluable experience and exposure across sectors. You’ll get to work alongside industry experts and make a tangible impact early in your career.
2. Supportive and collaborative culture
Our culture thrives on collaboration, innovation, and inclusivity. We're committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone's differences and experiences are equally valued. When you do a placement at Atkins, you’ll be surrounded by a supportive early careers community, with professional and social networking groups.
You’ll find an encouraging space to connect and share ideas with senior management. Our accessible senior leadership team ensures your voice is heard, empowering you to own your projects and contribute to our success. Don’t just take it from us, read what Maroof loves about the supportive environment at Atkins:
“Atkins is all about people [...] I find myself one day working alongside my peers and the next, having a great conversation with a senior leader right next to me. Learning from a diverse group of people willing to spend their time with you is one of the main reasons I love working here and see myself doing so for years to come.”
3. Flexibility and work-life balance
We understand the importance of a healthy work-life balance and encourage employees to look after their wellbeing. We trust our early careers candidates to own their projects and drive their development, like Isabella, a graduate process engineer at Atkins, who enjoyed the flexibility to shape her career. Isabella started out studying Chemical Engineering at university, so if you’re looking for chemical engineering graduate jobs, a placement at Atkins might be the start of your thrilling career journey with us.
4. Commitment to sustainability
With Atkins, you'll join a team that asks questions and dares to see things differently while engineering a better future for our planet and its people.
You'll be helping a wide variety of clients across various sectors, including transportation, infrastructure, environment, energy, defence, technology and aerospace, bring their ideas to life. Working on the frontlines helping to deliver world-class sustainable solutions, the work you do today will help to create a net zero future tomorrow. If you’re ready to embrace innovation and a fulfilling career, all while making your mark in the engineering and design industry by engineering a better future, then Atkins is the place to be.
Unleash your potential at Atkins
If you like the sound of joining a renowned global leader in design, engineering and project management, kickstart your career with Atkins. With a variety in breadth and scale of projects, sectors and clients, a supportive culture, work-life balance, and a commitment to sustainability, we offer an exceptional platform for ambitious undergraduates. If you want real-world experience of technical excellence, with supportive leaders and a diverse and inclusive environment, explore summer placements and industrial placements at Atkins.
Interested? Find out more about life at AtkinsRéalis
Sign up to receive the latest content tailored to your interests
Our articles
Preview
EuropeContent type
BlogsPublish date
04/30/2024
Summary
Welcome to our first blog in our Digital Her series, which spotlights Hanna and Madhurima, two colleagues championing the initiative. Digital Her by Manchester Digital advocates for equality i
Preview
GeneralContent type
ProjectsPublish date
04/24/2024
Summary
No one-size-fits-all career path for me at AtkinsRéalis. I'm Emma, a Graduate Electrical Engineer at AtkinsRéalis. I studied Electrical and Mechanical Engineering MEng at uni, and at th
Preview
GeneralContent type
ProjectsPublish date
04/24/2024
Summary
Cementing my decision to pursue Civil Engineering I'm Luke, and I'm currently doing a MEng Civil Engineering degree. When I was offered a placement with AtkinsRéalis, I was excited and j
Preview
GeneralContent type
BlogsPublish date
04/10/2024
Summary
What’s the first thing that springs to mind when you think of an apprenticeship? Maybe it’s hands-on learning or professional development. What about establishing friendships and professional re
Preview
EuropeContent type
BlogsPublish date
04/10/2024
Summary
Hello, I'm Aishah Latif, a proud graduate of the University of Salford with a First Class degree in BEng Civil Engineering. So, how did I end up in rail? My career journey began when I joined A
Preview
EuropeContent type
BlogsPublish date
04/09/2024
Summary
If you’ve found yourself asking, ‘Are apprenticeships worth it?’, you’re not the only person. It goes without saying that apprenticeships are a great way to learn, gain confidence, and kick-star
Preview
EuropeContent type
BlogsPublish date
03/28/2024
Summary
In the words of our President and CEO, Ian Edwards, ‘When we combine our differences, we truly make a difference’. We welcome students from around 80 different degree backgrounds because we reco
Preview
EuropeContent type
BlogsPublish date
03/11/2024
Summary
The Aerospace, Defence, Security, and Technology team at AtkinsRéalis plays a vital role in ensuring national security and resilience, safeguarding air passengers, and supporting governments in
Preview
GeneralContent type
BlogsPublish date
02/28/2024
Summary
At AtkinsRéalis, we’re driven by our purpose to engineer a better future for our planet and its people. Our graduates, placement students, and apprentices are the heartbeat of our future team. So we'r
Preview
EuropeContent type
BlogsPublish date
02/07/2024
Summary
Meet Akram, a talented 20-year-old Degree Apprentice Quantity Surveyor from Middlesbrough. He is steering his career in the construction and engineering world with AtkinsRéalis. In this blog int
AtkinsRéalis
Integrity
We do the right thing, no matter what, and are accountable for our actions.