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Last week, 42 second-year grads from around Australia arrived in Melbourne for GradConnect 2024. The two-day event provided our grads with the opportunity to meet each other and our business leaders as they participate in workshops, learn about career pathways, and celebrate the end of a successful two-year program at KBR.

Nurturing our graduates

KBR's graduate development program in Australia aims to support young professionals to develop their skills, gain valuable experience, and connect with like-minded individuals and leaders across our business. The two-year program encourages flexibility of learning opportunities, with graduates having the opportunity to rotate through a variety of activities and move across projects to broaden and their knowledge and skills.

Being partnered with a buddy and mentor, continuous learning opportunities, and the chance to work on real world projects, means our grads build a strong foundation that set themselves up for a long and successful career.

Two jam-packed days

After honing their skills, GradConnect is one of the final stages of the program, providing grads the opportunity to meet each other and our business leaders face to face through a strong mix of formal learning and socialization.

Kicking off with a cocktail evening, grads were invited to deliver three-minute lightning talks, which covered topics such as experience connecting to the societal impacts of projects, power of positive thinking and mindset, and KBR culture with an emphasis on celebrating diversity and inclusion.

The following day, the grads were put to work with an ice breaker where they had to construct Lego designs through a broken communication channel, moving from visual aids to verbal communication to physical building.

During a career pathways panel, KBR leaders tackled topics such as the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated industry, overcoming your fear of putting yourself forward for things like public speaking and networking, why it's important to gain deep expertise in your chosen field, and not to rush careers - just take them one step at a time.

Tackling real-world problems

Prior to the event, groups of grads were given real life data and problems to solve that aim to help all people at KBR belong, connect and grow. Having worked together to address the problem, the grads presented their proposed solutions to the leadership team, with each group being scored for presentation content, structure, persuasiveness and creativity.

The afternoon also included award presentations to three grads who had demonstrated outstanding commitment to the grad program over their two-year tenure.

Thank you to everyone who worked hard to make GradConnect a success! For students interested in joining KBR, visit careers.kbr.com.