Episode 109: How to get a graduate job with Highways England

November 3, 2020 Podcast

Hello and welcome to episode 109 of the Graduate Job Podcast, the UK’s number 1 careers podcast, and I have a great episode for you today, a company who you probably haven’t thought of applying to, who have £27 billion to spend over the next 5 years, yes you heard that correctly, £27 billion, with a B, and who have 7 different graduate schemes on offer, yes today I am joined by Highways England. In the show, we explore their 7 different graduate schemes in turn and look at what you need to do to impress at each stage of the process. We cover why personal development is so important on the scheme and the professional qualifications you will gain with Highways England. We discuss the streamlined application process and why you won’t need a CV and cover letter, but you will need to focus on Highways England’s values. We delve into top tips and hints for passing each stage of the application process and finish with what to expect in the assessment centre and how to stand out from the crowd. No matter if you have never heard of Highways England or you haven’t even thought of applying, this is an episode you won’t want to miss, as with the 7 different graduate schemes they have something for everyone. As always you can find a full transcript with all the links which you can download over in the show notes at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/highwaysengland.

Before we start today let me tell you about my brilliant new step-by-step online course ‘How to Get a Graduate Job’ which is LIVE, and which you are able to join right this very moment. The first cohort of members are in, the private member’s webinars are taking place on a Tuesday evening, and I have to say, the feedback is they are loving the 8 modules, 23 video tutorials, 14 hours of content, and 20+ handouts. As one of the members said, ‘I just love having all of the information I need to get a graduate job in 1 place’. If you are serious about getting a graduate job, if you want to turbo-charge your job search, if you want to know all the pitfalls and mistakes so that you don’t make them yourself, and if you want to know exactly what you need to do at each stage of the process to get on a graduate scheme, then head to howtogetagraduatejob.com and sign up. It is an investment in yourself which will pay itself back many thousand times over when you get that graduate job of your dreams. So, go to www.howtogetagraduatejob.com and sign up now! Right, on with the show.

MORE SPECIFICALLY IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

  • The 7 different graduate schemes that Highways England have available
  • Why personal development is so important on the scheme and the professional qualifications you will gain
  • The lean application process to apply for a graduate job with Highways England
  • The common themes that Highways England look for, and why you need to focus on their values
  • Top tips and hints for passing each stage of the application process
  • What to expect in the assessment centre and how to stand out from the crowd

SELECTED LINKS INCLUDE:

Transcript – Episode 109 – How to Get a Graduate Job with Highways England

Announcer: Welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, your home for weekly information and inspiration to help you get the graduate job of your dreams.

James Curran: Hello and welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, with your host James Curran. The Graduate Job Podcast is your home for all things related to helping you on your journey to finding that amazing job. Each episode I bring together the best minds in the industry, speaking to leading authors, graduate recruiters and career coaches who bring decades of experience into a byte size show. Put simply, this is the show I wish I had when I graduated.

Hello and welcome to episode 109 of the Graduate Job Podcast, the UK’s number 1 careers podcast, and I have a great episode for you today, a company who you probably haven’t thought of applying to, who have £27 billion to spend over the next 5 years, yes you heard that correctly, £27 billion, with a B, and who have 7 different graduate schemes on offer, yes today I am joined by Highways England. In the show, we explore their 7 different graduate schemes in turn and look at what you need to do to impress at each stage of the process. We cover why personal development is so important on the scheme and the professional qualifications you will gain with Highways England. We discuss the streamlined application process and why you won’t need a CV and cover letter, but you will need to focus on Highways England’s values. We delve into top tips and hints for passing each stage of the application process and finish with what to expect in the assessment centre and how to stand out from the crowd. No matter if you have never heard of Highways England or you haven’t even thought of applying, this is an episode you won’t want to miss, as with the 7 different graduate schemes they have something for everyone. As always you can find a full transcript with all the links which you can download over in the show notes at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/highwaysengland.

Before we start today let me tell you about my brilliant new step-by-step online course ‘How to Get a Graduate Job’ which is LIVE and which you can join right this very moment!!!!! The first cohort of members are in, the private member’s webinars are taking place on a Tuesday evening, and I have to say, the feedback is they are loving the 8 modules, 23 video tutorials, 14 hours of content, and 20+ handouts. As one of the members said, ‘I just love having all of the information I need to get a graduate job in 1 place’. If you are serious about getting a graduate job, if you want to turbo-charge your job search, if you want to know all the pitfalls and mistakes so that you don’t make them yourself, and if you want to know exactly what you need to do at each stage of the process to get on a graduate scheme, then head to howtogetagraduatejob.com and sign up and join now! It is an investment in yourself which will pay itself back many thousand times over when you get that graduate job of your dreams. So, go to www.howtogetagraduatejob.com and join now! Right, on with the show.

James Curran: I’m pleased to welcome on the show today, Natalie Jones, Talent Delivery Lead for Highways England. Natalie, welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast.

Natalie Jones: Thanks, James. Looking forward to it.

James: Today, we’re going to explore the exciting graduate opportunities at Highways England. But, before we do, do you maybe want to just introduce yourself properly and also Highways England for listeners who might not be aware of what exactly that you do as an organization?

Natalie: Yeah, sure. As you said, I’m the Talent Delivery Lead, and that involves, amongst many other things, being responsible for both our graduate and our apprentice programs, so all the way from looking at what we need in the organization, attraction, bringing people into the organization, and looking after them whilst they’re here, and making sure they come out of their programs with a great career in front of them at Highways.

What we do is we’re a government-owned company, and we’re responsible for modernizing, maintaining, and operating all of England’s motorways and major A roads. We manage the strategic road network in England, which is about 4,300 miles of motorways and A roads across the country. We have many different types of roles here, and we work with a massive supply chain in making sure that everything that you see on the motorways is safe for all of the car users, and pedestrians, and passengers, etcetera that are using our roads on a daily basis.

James: Excellent, and an organization with big plans for the future in terms of lots of major redevelopment and new development coming on the motorway networks. There’s going to be lots of opportunities for new graduates to get their teeth into some big projects going down the line.

Natalie: Yes, definitely. We’re invested in what we call roads periods, so that’s every five years. We’ve just closed off our first roads period, and now we’re into our second, which I’m sure many people have seen has come with lots of investment, so that’s over 27 billion pounds worth of investments over the next five years that has been put into the company for us to do those big schemes and maintain our strategic road network, and some big programs of work as well that come with that to really support local communities and make sure that people can get from A to B and your milks delivered to your door, etcetera, every morning.

James: Wow, 27 billion is a big chunk of change there, and there’s not many companies in the UK where you’re going to be working on 27 billion pounds with projects over the next five years. Some really exciting graduate schemes that you’ve got available at the moment, and we’ll go into those and maybe dispel some of the myths that you’re not going to be wearing a hi vis jacket, driving along the hard shoulder of the motorway if you were to start working for Highways England, is that right?

Natalie: Definitely. I think that a lot of people associate us with the traffic officer service that you see on the motorways, which of course is a really important part of Highways England to making sure that, actually, we keep the motorways safe, but equally, there’s lots more to us than that, and lots of work that goes into to designing that network and to maintaining it from a back office point of view. Lots of really cool IT that we do that’s roadside traffic and lots that we need to think about in the future as we think about autonomous vehicles and connected cars. How does that work on a motorway network? As technology changes in the wider world, we need to change, and move along, and evolve with that as well.

James: Excellent, and let’s maybe then jump into some of the graduate schemes that you’ve got currently open. You’ve got seven different schemes open at the moment. Do you maybe want to just take us quickly through what these are and what they involve?

Natalie: At the moment, we’ve got a number of programs open. We’ve got the traditional engineering that you might associate with Highways England. We’ve got civil engineering. For the first time this year, we’re looking at electrical and energy engineering. But equally then, we’ve got some other pieces. If you think about our back office, we’ve got finance with all the investment that we’ve got within the organization. Of course, we need a finance team to be able to make sure that that’s all running smoothly. Project management, as you mentioned, James, there’s some really exciting projects that people might be able to get involved in if they come and work with us, and that predominantly sits within our project management program where you get to start to build up your knowledge of some other schemes that we run across England and really get involved in delivering some of those big programs of work.

Equally, we’ve got quantity surveying, and IT, as I mentioned, that’s a new program as well for us this year where you’ll get to work across all of our IT teams before thinking about where you might want to specialize in, and environmental. That’s becoming a really big thing for us as well. We’ve been running environmental program for the past few years, and we’re putting more investments into that area. Like everybody else, we’ve got environmental schemes that run with planting trees, et cetera at the lower end of it to making sure that we’re looking at our carbon reduction, et cetera, as well along with most other organizations. A real breadth of roles, I guess, there for people to think about.

James: Definitely, and one that I would hold my hand up and say I was surprised just at the breadth of different opportunities that you’ve got available. You mentioned there, and what I really like as well is that all of the roles, or majority of the roles, you’re working towards qualification. Whether it’s becoming accredited with a chartered accountant for the finance one, or project management, becoming a member of the association of project management, or quantity surveying for the different schemes. It seems a real focus on learning and development through the different schemes.

Natalie: Completely. Most of our programs come with an element of being qualified within that area, whether that’s actually going to a university college, et cetera, and taking a formal qualification, or whether that’s learning through experience in order to build up your CPD in order to become chartered at the end of it. But equally, alongside the qualifications, we have kind of a real learning culture. It’s about what you want to get out of it as well.

We have lots of e-learning packages, et cetera, and lots of other courses that you can think about doing to really grow your knowledge within Highways, and take your career path where you want it to go, not necessarily always what we want you to do. It’s definitely a two-way process for us in order to develop your career and develop your plans to how you will get there.

James: Yeah, and it’s really consistent. I mean, schemes are all very different in terms of the types of work you’d be doing. Are they consistent in terms of their length and the rotational aspect?

Natalie: All of our programs are three years, so that is consistent. From a rotational point of view, some will rotate more frequently than others, but it tends to be every six to nine months that you’ll rotate to make sure that you’re getting that wide variety of experience so that you’re coming out rounded at the end of your three years with us, and then that gives you the choice to really start to understand, “What is it that I enjoy and that I want to be doing after the three-year program?”

James: In terms of development after the program, how do graduates progress post the graduate scheme?

Natalie: That really depends on the role as to what role you go in afterwards and what your aspirations are, and equally how well you’ve performed within it. We’ve got graduates from a project management perspective, they go on to be assistant project managers or straight onto the next level and being project managers. As I said, with IT, you’ll rotate around all the different areas, so you could be moving onto working in the business partnering area, or you could be specializing and working within cyber-security, for example. Back onto surveyors again, go onto be fully-fledged assistant quantity surveyors, commercial managers with us, and our finance, it’s all very much similar. They take that next step into really then starting to own some think within Highways England and put their knowledge and their experience from the past three years into real practice.

James: Yeah, and we talked earlier about the 27 billion pound investment. As a finance graduate, these are some huge projects, and huge amounts, and huge amount of money for you to be getting your teeth into, so you’re going to be really, really learning on the job as opposed to maybe with some of the more traditional firms that people might think about for going into finance. There’s huge opportunities for your learning and just getting your teeth into some really meaty projects as we talked about. Definitely, if you’re a finance graduate, then make sure you check out the links in the show notes to all the graduate schemes that we’ve talked about today, which you can find at graduatejobpodcast.com/highwaysengland. In terms, then, of location, where are people going to be based on the graduate scheme? Does it depend on the scheme, or does everybody tend to be in one location?

Natalie: No, it does depend on the scheme. All of our roles have got different requirements. For instance, our finance and IT is based in Birmingham, so that’s where our head office is and where most people are based from an office perspective from a head office perspective. I’m in Birmingham, so that’s where they are. But, then all of the programs are based in our offices across England, and there’s some flexibility as to which office they’re based within.

James: As you mentioned, there’s 4,000 miles of motorway network, so there’s lots of motorway and A Roads around the country, so I guess lots of locations as well for people to be working in.

Natalie: Yeah, we’ve got offices that are based across England. We’ve got Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Bedford, Bristol, Guildford, Exeter. I think I’ve remembered them all.

James: I might be biased, but I think Leeds probably the best one to go for for you listeners out there.

Natalie: I might have something to say about that James being a Brummie.

James: Let’s talk cold hard cash. What sort of salary could listeners expect on the scheme?

Natalie: All of our schemes start off £25,000, and then depending on your performance, there is then the opportunity for that to rise annually throughout the scheme as well. There’s a host of other benefits that come along with that, so you know many of your standard ones. We’ve got quite good annual leave and pension, et cetera. I know that, for a lot of people, thinking about pension seems like it’s a long way away, but it soon starts to hit you, so some of those benefits are also great along with all those learning and development opportunities that we’ve got.

James: Definitely. You need to get your pension sorted as young and quickly as you can. Certainly, once compound interest starts getting involved, it pays to get it sorted nice and quickly. Definitely, good advice there. Maybe let’s move then to thinking about the application process, having whetted the listeners with the different talk of the different opportunities there. I know there’s a broad range of different schemes, but is there a common theme of what you look for from graduates?

Natalie: Yes. We appreciate that, actually, graduates are likely to have very limited work experience. It especially depends on whether they’ve done a placement year or not during university. For us, it’s very much about having the right attitude to come along and to really want to perform well, having high levels of passion to work for us. It’s very much about do you match our values? We recruit very much on values, and actually can we teach you to do something? But, what you can’t often teach somebody is having the right attitude towards it. That’s what we look for within our graduates. Those that shine through are those that really do share our values and really have got the right attitude to come in and to learn, and to want to really take ownership and put their own thoughts as well, and show innovation in what they’re doing.

James: Good advice there, listeners, and make sure you know the values, make sure they are front and centre in your applications, and yeah that’s really good advice there. In terms, then, of the application, how can listeners apply? What does the application process look like as an initial first step? Is it CV and cover letter or is it 300-word competency answers to apply?

Natalie: Neither of those. We’re slightly different. The first step is obviously all of our vacancies are on our career site, and then if you go through to apply, we’ve opted to no longer ask for CVs and cover letters, because as I said, we appreciate that, actually, there’s limited work experience that graduates will probably have had to be able to put onto a CV and to distinguish themselves some others through that route. There’s a short application form followed by a situational judgment test. That’s about scenarios that are real life to what you might come across in Highways England, and what that does is it asks you to mark what would be your most and your least likely response to that answer, so a bit like a multiple choice, and then that gets scored. If you pass the benchmark for that piece, then you go on to have a video interview, which again is scored, and then if you pass the video interview piece, that’s when you’ll be invited along to an assessment centre. Of course, within that, there are some depending on the scheme qualification requirements as a prerequisite, but a short paragraph just to explain why do you want to work for Highways England and why you want to be on that scheme. It’s all through a series of very standardized kind of testing, as I say, to really show through whether somebody has the right attitude and the right values to take on to be working for Highways England and on one of those schemes.

James: Excellent, so let’s maybe break that down in terms — before we do though, are there any grade requirements that you look for? Is it 2:1 or 2:2?

Natalie: It depends on the scheme. Some schemes are a 2:1, some schemes are a 2:2.

James: That’s cool, so listeners, make sure you check out the website for the details for those individual schemes. Just going back to the SJT. I like the lean application process. It just makes it so much easier when there’s not 10 competency questions of differing length. It just makes it so much easier to apply. With the SJT then, the situational judgment test you mentioned, any advice for listeners completing that, other than making sure that you know what the values are for Highways England?

Natalie: I’d say don’t overthink it, and go with what your natural response would be for those areas, because that’s bringing your true self, and that way, you will perform naturally and you should perform to your best. I think if you overthink it and you try and guess what we want you to put, that’s likely when you will go wrong or at some point during the process, it won’t continue to be your true self, and that’s what we really want you to do is to bring your true self in the application process. There’s no trick questions. It is all about your thinking.

James: That’s good advice, and as you said, when you get into the mind-set where you’re not answering the questions honestly or you’re thinking, “What do they want me to be saying here?” then yeah, you just begin to trip over your own feet, and it’s difficult, then, to be consistent through the different stages because you can’t remember what you put for the first part if it’s not honest. Definitely, good advice there just to be authentic. Authenticity does shine through. With the next stage then, the video interview. Is that a recorded video interview or a sort of face-to-face interview with a member of the recruitment team?

Natalie: It’s a recorded video interview, so you will get sent a link to it, and you’ll get to practice a question just to familiarize yourself, and then you will record your video interview, and all the instructions will be there for you, and then somebody from the recruitment team will then look at that afterwards.

James: You talked earlier about values and a big focus on values. Are the questions strength-based scenario questions or the more traditional competency questions that lots of companies use? Are you able to divulge what type of questions people might face?

Natalie: It isn’t a long video interview. It should only take 15, 20 minutes to take that interview. Again, it’s assessing your motivations and your communication at the same time as for wanting to particularly be on that scheme, particularly want to work for Highways England, and then just a couple of questions again that are based around our values for you to answer.

James: Good pointers there. Let’s move on, then, to the assessment centre stage, which can be a stage which can strike fear into the hearts of many applicants. What does an assessment centre look like at the moment? Have they been run remotely online or are you hoping to do face-to-face ones?

Natalie: I’ve made the decision that our graduate assessment centres for this year’s recruitment will be virtual. Given the current situation, I don’t think that we can guarantee that we’d be able to do face-to-face or that it would be safe, and primarily, we want everybody to be comfortable and to be safe in the situation. I am moving them all virtual, so they may be a little bit different to the face-to-face assessments that we’ve been running previously. Primarily, again, it will be about a number of assessments taken during a half-day, just over a half-day period that will be virtual that will include things like an interview, a presentation, and some kind of analysis to exercise. We are currently just reviewing what that looks like to make sure that, actually, the experience of the applicants or potential graduates that are going through that assessment process, because it’s virtual, is still as smooth and as positive as possible.

James: It can be more difficult to, say, build rapport when you’re doing it online, but everybody’s in the same boat. Any advice for candidates to how they can perform with the virtual aspect of the interview? What tips would you give them to help them to stand out?

Natalie: I think, first of all, is to test the technology that you’re going to be using for any virtual assessment before you have to attend that assessment, and that’s one to make sure that it works and that you know how it’s going to work, but equally, I think that will help you be calmer when you first attend that assessment because there’s going to be no panicking you something. You’ll know all the glitches, hopefully, already that might already be in that technology. To help you be calm in a situation that you’re not necessarily used to, we’d ask the videos to be on. We might not be able to see the whole of a person, but it’s still about having that rapport with facial expressions.

I’ve interviewed people in the virtual world over the last six, seven months or so and still managed to build a level of rapport through having the video on. Even if you’ve got poor network, just having that on for a while so that you can see somebody’s face and they can see you and what you look like. Remember to still dress professionally. Just because you’re potentially sitting in your bedroom at home doing that assessment is just to think about, actually, what does your background look like, what do I look like, the bit that people can see, and even if that means you’ve got your pyjama bottoms on the bottom, put a smart top on.

Unlike with the face-to-face assessments, it’s just really again about bringing yourself to it, thinking about what you can bring to that scheme, what experience have you got through university or any part-time work that you’ve done, and what can you bring to make sure that you’re truly participating and bringing yourself through in those assessments.

James: That’s quality advice there, and just thinking, then, about assessment centres, generally, what are some of the ways that candidates tend to let themselves down at this stage?

Natalie: I think there can be two extremes. Coming to an assessment, particularly, where there’s group exercises and being quite quiet, so an assessor can only assess what they’re hearing and seeing from you. Remember to speak, but equally, on the other end of the scale is not be too overbearing is make sure that, actually, you’re showing that you can think on your feet, you can think with your own initiative and work individually, but equally work as a team at the same time. Make sure that you’re speaking and listening in equal parts if you’re in that team environment. It’s your opportunity as well to ask questions. Assessments in this process isn’t just about you proving to Highways England or any other organization that you might be going through this process with. It’s also about that organization proving to you that they’re the right fit for you. It has to be two-way match, so this is your opportunity, if you get to an assessment centre, is to ask questions and have your questions answered, and make sure that, equally, we’re a right fit for you as much as the other way around.

James: Definitely, and as you said, it’s a two-way thing. You need to make sure that you’re going to be on the graduate scheme for three years, you want to make sure it’s going to be a happy three years, and that Highways England is the right place for you. Some excellent advice there. Natalie, you mentioned the group exercise. Is that something that you’re going to try and replicate online or just leave for back when face-to-face is running?

Natalie: I’m not 100% sure at the moment. It may be something that we decide not to replicate because I don’t think the experience, virtually, would be the same, and as I say, it’s really important that we get the most out of the candidates on that day and that the candidates feel comfortable, and a group exercise might not be the best way of doing that. It may be something slightly different this year.

James: Yeah, and I can understand that. I know from clients I’ve coached who’ve been through group exercises virtually, and some people have this sort of sometimes where you’re a slight delay, and some other people things, so just people talking over each other, and that awkward thing of where you start, stop, start. It’s very different to be sat around a table and being able to read people’s body language and try and motion that you want to speak. It’s a lot more difficult to replicate, virtually, through a Zoom call or whatever it might be.

Natalie: Definitely, and I’m hearing that a lot of other organizations as well are also saying that, actually, they’ll be sticking to virtual, and group exercises aren’t the right thing, necessarily, in that environment.

James: Completely understand why that would be the case. Natalie, time is unfortunately running away with us. Maybe one final question before we move to the weekly staple questions. What would you say to somebody who is on the fence and has got two minds about whether to apply to Highways England? What would you tell them?

Natalie: I’d say have a look. Have a look at our programs, have a look at our career site, our website, do some reading about us, follow us on social media to get a feeling about our organization to not only understand our schemes and what we’ve got to offer from that perspective, but to understand our culture and to see whether you think that you’d be the right cultural fit as well as whether you and whether we’d be the right fit for you, as well as whether you think you’d enjoy the physical work on the programs.

James: Just following on from that in terms of the culture, it’s a difficult question, but how would you describe the culture at Highways England?

Natalie: I think that we’re quite an open organization in terms of, as I said earlier, we want you to bring yourself to work, we want you to put your ideas forward. It doesn’t matter what level you are in the organization. Everybody has something to add to it, and what will add value, and we’ll be listening to in that sense. Equally, culturally, we believe in having a diverse organization, so being your true self no matter what and to support that, we have a number of employee networks to support that diversity across the organization, including our graduate and apprentice network, which is a part of eight networks that we have across the organization. Culturally, I’d say that we’re inclusive, I’d say that we’re open, and I’d say that we want people to be their true self and put their thoughts and ideas forward, whether you’re a graduate or apprentice, or whether you’re a senior leader within the business.

James: Excellent, and as a graduate, you want to be working in a place where your thoughts are heard. Some workplaces aren’t like that where it’s very hierarchical, and if you’re a graduate, then you’re going to stay quiet in the corner. It’s good that you want an environment where your thoughts are heard no matter who you are, as you mentioned. Excellent. Graduates, make sure you check out the links at graduatejobpodcast.com/highwaysengland. Natalie, let’s move onto the weekly staple questions, then. The first question, what one book would you recommend that listeners should read? What book or document?

Natalie: I myself, James, am not much of a reader, so naming a book is a difficult one for me, but what I’d say is if you want to find out more about Highways England and understand what the next five years looks like is that there are documents on our website, including reading out things like our annual report, strategic business plans, et cetera, that that will start to give you a real feel as to who we are if you want to really scratch under the surface.

James: Definitely, and two things where if you can read them and really get the grips of them, I’m sure you’ll be impressing through the different stages, whether it’s video interview or the interview at the assessment centre, so good recommendation there. Next question, what website or internet resource would you point listeners towards, Natalie?

Natalie: There’s many different sources out there for you to do your research, and this may be a slight swerve of the question, but what I’d say is really invest some time to get to know organizations and what’s happening in the graduate market by putting yourself through social media. Whether that’s following different resources on various social media, but equally starting to think about raising your social media profile from the professional point of view and starting to make those connections in your chosen future field through things like LinkedIn, et cetera, great resources for keeping up to date in what is going on in the world of business.

James: Great advice, but I think the keyword there you mentioned was “professional”, so remember that LinkedIn is not Facebook, so put your professional best foot forward and just keep it professional. Professional pictures and all the like, yeah that’s good advice. Final question, then, today, Natalie. What one tip would you give listeners that they can implement today to help them on their job search?

Natalie: I think my tip would be to do your research and to have a good think about what you enjoy as much as what you’re good at. I think that if you don’t enjoy something, the likelihood is that you potentially will get bored and won’t do well at it, and do what you want to do, not what others want you to do, and that way, I’m sure you will strive in your career and have a really good and happy career with whatever you do if you enjoy it.

James: That is great advice, and a lovely place for us to end the interview on. Natalie, thank you so much for joining me on the Graduate Job Podcast. What’s the best way that people can get in touch with Highways England and the work that you do?

Natalie: I’d visit our careers site, which is careers.highwaysengland.co.uk. Plenty of information on there about bosses and organization and working with us. It links off there onto our main website, and also email addresses and contact forms if you do have any questions, or follow us on social media. We’re on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. Really start to see what we’re about.

James: Super, and I will link to all of those in the show notes where there’ll also be a full transcript of the episode today, which you can find at graduatejobpodcast.com/highwaysengland. Natalie, thank you so much for your time today.

Natalie: Thanks for having me, James.

James: There you go, thank you again to Natalie from Highways England. And admit it… you didn’t know they had those great different graduate schemes, did you? And what is not to like about them, huge projects over the coming years, professional qualifications, a great pension to boot, and a streamlined application process. Everybody’s happy! Listen back to the episode and get yourself a PDF transcript in the show notes at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/highwaysengland. Now if you are serious about getting a graduate job, with Highways England or anyone else, like properly serious as in I want the best help I can get and to really invest in yourself as you look for a graduate scheme, then you need my course, How to Get a Graduate Job. It’s got 8 modules, 23 videos, and 14 hours of content to take you through everything, I mean everything, that you need to know to get a graduate job. The course doesn’t end there, there is also the private Facebook group where the group members are sharing their progress and also importantly, the questions they are facing at the different stages with different companies with each other. I’ve been running weekly webinars for members where we go through different topics, next week, we are doing a mock group exercise, so everyone can get real practice ahead of the main thing. It’s a great group, everyone is working together and helping each other to improve. If this sounds like something you would like to be part then, then you know what to do. Get over to https://howtogetagraduatejob.com/ and sign up, you will be glad that you did.

So, I hope you enjoyed the show today, drop me a note and say hello or book yourself a completely free 30-minute coaching session with me where we can go over your applications, or do some mock interview practice. Find the details in the show notes. Join me next week where I have Think Ahead back on the show discussing their award-winning graduate scheme. It’s a goodie. I hope you enjoyed the episode today, but more importantly; I hope you use it and apply it. See you next week.