Career Prospects at AECOM

Graduates receive fixed promotions I believe, so I cant speak to it outside of that, but the progression is good. Essentially, put in hard work, get better rewards out of it.

Promotion opportunities are not something the grads can really comment on - there are strict, stringent requirements for graduates and promotions (basically you are not eligible until you have fulfilled tour two-year grad program, unless you have tremendous support from a senior staff member and are presented as a unique case.)

Promotion from intern to first year grad, and then first year to second year grad are both time based rather than merit based (after you graduate and then after a year respectively. After you complete the grad program you will most likely automatically be promoted to professional (unless there is a drastic reason why you are not able to work at that level but I have never heard of this happening). After this promotions are merit based and are relatively in frequent but pay rises do not only equate to promotions (e.g. there are only 4-5 different promotion levels possible but you may get a pay rise after you have been at the same level for a year +)

Promotion / pay rise opportunities arise from whether staff achieve their personal goals created at the start of each year, and reviewing if staff have exceeded their goals and gone above and beyond what is required of them.

Rigid framework. Feel as if the graduate program could have been more lenient especially for people who completed a year in the undergraduate program. I understand the idea behind having everyone on a level playing field however I think this makes for more resignations than people staying on after the graduate program. I now have over 3 years experience with AECOM however have only gone from undergrad to grad. I am told constantly this isn't a skill based thing but just the way the graduate program is run. This is an awesome way of making talented and inspired graduates feel like a number.

Not sure, I'll be moving from Graduate to Professional. I think it's more of a natural progression at this stage in my career.

Promotion is loosely related to performance. Being a big business there are plenty of roles to move up into, however, there are standard milestones to progress into based on experience with a small opportunity to fast-track if performance is very high.

The expected behaviours for each role is pre-determined and once you meet the criteria, you are considered for a promotion.

The promotion process thorough the grad program is pretty standardised there isn't much room for accelerating this timeline

There are great international opportunities amongst other things.

Seems like you work and get promoted by an expected timeframe

I believe that it is very hard to move up the ranks within aecom starting from a graduate. The pay jump from graduate to professional is a lot lower than expected and the fact you have to complete a set number of years before being eligible for a promotion to senior disincenivises loyalty, when other employees being hired externally can be hired without this experience.

Seems to be that every 2 years you tend to jump up in level. However, the compensation may be a bit lower than what is achievable on contractors side.

Performance and reviews completed annually provides opportunity to showcase completed projects and recognition from others.

I'm halfway through my first year of the graduate program and am satisfied with my career progression so far. I have a clear understanding of the career pathways available to me and the process for advancement and growth.

Very disappointed. It is a slow ladder to climb filled with politics and approvals from people who don't know you or the quality of your work. Smart and hard work can only get you so far, it's just a game of waiting.

My manager is keen to discuss my interests in career progression along with me. A good amount of mentorship through mentor loop is helpful in navigating through the company

As a grad, there's very little opportunity for a pay rise compared to other companies. I'm pretty sure the pay bump is $3k which is insane considering that other companies offer a $10k pay rise or more.

First two years are a graduate program. After completion you move onto a professional role. After this it's guided by your goals, you set and what you achieve from these goals. this is based over a yearly rewards system. Other than that, there is a good opportunity to be able to move internally into other roles out of say technical into managers or operations side. However, this is still after about 4-5 years total experience from graduating until this option can be explored in more depth.

No career progression as a graduate until the end of your first two years, promotion after first year is set and the same for all graduates. Okay but the company is not transparent about this when applying. I do feel there's good opportunities for internal movements into other business lines.