2025 Year in Industry Placement

At WSP, we care about individuals and their progress, and we are committed to your continuous growth and development. Through our comprehensive professional development programme, you will have the opportunity to work towards chartership and unlock your full potential as an industry professional.

Job Description

In today’s world it’s important to work for a company that has clear purpose, giving back to communities and supporting what is truly important in the world.

When considering a career move its vital to work for a business that is aligned to your values and goals, a place where you can belong. See what WSP stands for in 2024 and beyond.

We are a leading global engineering and professional services firm committed to creating a sustainable future for our communities and the environment. We value our people and our reputation. Having a diverse and robust workforce enables us to look for answers, not problems, and we pride ourselves on offering clients clever, imaginative, future-facing solutions. We believe in the power of effective communication, and we encourage you to participate and contribute to the success of our projects and initiative.

When considering a career move it’s vital to work for a business that is aligned to your values and goals, a place where you can belong. See what WSP stands for in 2024 and beyond.

Join us for a year in Industry placement at WSP and you’ll find yourself working with our Specialists on projects they are involved with, in more fascinating and far-reaching ways than ever before. You’ll explore new and inspiring opportunities putting your degree course knowledge into practice in real life. As well as being able to obtain experience, that directly aligns to your area of study, which will help to broaden your professional horizons and create exciting new possibilities for people, organisations and future generations.

Responsibilities

We offer a wide range of placement opportunities, in varied areas of the business. The main sectors that we recruit into are mentioned but not exclusive to:

Civil and Bridge Engineering
Degrees considered: MEng Civil Engineering and MEng Civil & Structural Engineering

Building Structures
Degrees considered: Civil & Structural Engineering or Structural Engineering

Building Services
Degrees considered: Mechanical, Electrical and Building Services Engineering and Architecture

Roads
Degrees considered: Civil Engineering

Rail
Degrees considered: Systems Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Systems Engineering and Telecommunications

Water
Degrees considered: Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Engineering. Water & Environmental Management, Flood Risk Management and River Environments.

Planning & Development
Degrees considered: Urban Planning, Town Planning, MEng Civil Engineering, Estates Management.

Earth & Environment
Degrees considered: Environmental Sciences, Acoustics or Sound Engineering, Landscape Architecture, Ecology and Geography.

Graduate Development Programme

Upon successful completion of your placement, you may be offered a WSP scholarship, resulting in you being paid a bursary by us for the remaining years you have left at university. With the scholarship you will return for future placements up until you have completed your studies and will then join us as part of the Graduate Development Programme after graduation.

We have established relationships with professional institutions including but not all ICE, IStructE, IET, CIBSE, CIHT, CILT, IMechE, IChemE, CIWEM, RICS, RTPI, SocEnv & APM. You will have the opportunity to select a technical mentor to help you on your journey, and to reward you for your efforts, (when you reach certain professional milestones, you’ll even get a bonus as a thank you and well done for your hard work). We are also able to support professional development with many other approved professional institutions that may not be included in this list.

Our 2-year Graduate Programme is designed to support personal career development growth through a blended learning experience. The programme includes core business skills and career focused training, networking opportunities, professional registration mentoring and on-the-job experience. The development programme consists of four key streams illustrated below:

• 2 day in-person induction
• In person training days
• Technical role specific training
• Curated online content
• On-the-job experience
• Additional resources and activities

We also have a unique Professional Growth Network (PGN) is a networking group run by early career professionals for early career professionals. It helps to grow your network of contacts across the business as well as providing you with opportunities for extra experience and to support you in achieving chartered status or other professional accreditations.

Qualifications

You’ll be studying and working towards completing your degree with at least a 2:2 in a Master’s degree in a relevant subject for the role you are applying for.

• You’ll be studying a relevant degree, please see the degree backgrounds listed in the vacancies in the job advertisement and on our placements page
• Have a passion for Sustainable Engineering, Planning and / or consulting solutions
• An enthusiasm for creativity and a drive to solve problems
• You’ll want to inspire us, sharing new ideas you have
• In this team, you will be dealing with internal and external stakeholders and collaborating with colleagues and adapting to progressive project environments.

Please be aware behavioural assessment results at WSP are valid for a period of 12 months, if you have completed an assessment within this timeframe and been unsuccessful, we will not be able to consider your application.

Early applications are recommended, and we reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the advertised closing date.

How long does the process take?

You'll receive an email acknowledging receipt of your application within 5 days of submission. After reviewing your application, if we feel your background and skills are suitable, you will be sent through to the second stage in the process which is an online behavioural assessment.

If you are successful after completing the assessment, we will be work hard to match you to the most suitable roles in our business.

Most applications complete initial assessments and are progressed to the next stage, which is an interview, within 8-10 weeks, but it’s good to know that the whole process can last up to 12 weeks in total if you're an early applicant. We will aim to keep you informed throughout the time that your application is being considered however, due to the volume of applications received, we are not able to respond to individual requests for status updates.

Work-life balance

WSP recognises that work is only one part of your life and making time for other things is important – whether that’s for your families, friends, or yourself.

Our hybrid working policy allows the option to work from the comfort of your own home as well as collaborating in our contemporary offices across the UK.

Inclusivity & Diversity

We want our people to achieve rewarding careers, bringing their whole selves to work. We celebrate integrity and treat people with respect, supporting each other and embracing diversity to create a culture of inclusion and belonging at WSP.

Our employee resource groups VIBE (LGBTQ+ employees), CREED (Championing Racial Equality and Ethnic Diversity) and our Gender Balance Group, in tandem with WSP’s Neurodiverse Community Group, WSP Connect Group (visible and non-visible disabilities) help us promote the right environment for you to reach your full potential.

Health & Wellbeing

We are committed to supporting our people, giving you the tools to make improvements to your health and wellbeing through our Thrive programme.

Med24 gives you and your family unrestricted telephone access to an NHS doctor where you can call day or night or have a face-to-face video consultation.

Flex your time

For improved work life balance, WSP offers the "WSP Hour” which enables you to take one hour per day to do as you wish and make up the time earlier or later that day. We also offer part time and adaptable working arrangements plus the option to flex your bank holiday entitlement to suit you.

Your development

We appreciate that development and training is important to you and that’s why we have a supportive environment that invests in your development, whether that’s chartership, training or mentoring.

Apply now and be the future of WSP!

Here at WSP we positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, pregnancy or maternity/paternity. We will interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria, please let us know if you require any workplace adjustments in support of your application.

Please note WSP reserves the right to close the vacancy before the advertised closing date.