What Gen Z want and why employers should give it to them
As workplaces embrace the influx of Gen Z graduates into the workforce, understanding what makes this generation tick is a top priority for many employers.
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Dhiviyan Maheswaran spent his childhood building stick forts in the backyard. Combined with his love for maths, problem solving and volunteering, it’s no surprise he chose to study engineering and business at RMIT. Fast forward to 2024 and Dhiviyan is working as a Bridge Engineer in our transport and bridges team.
Dhiviyan talks us through some of the highlights and challenges he faced as an intern and shares three pieces of advice for future interns.
I'm currently a Graduate Bridge Engineer as part of Aurecon's 2024 Graduate Programme working in the Bridges & Civil Structures Team. But, I first joined Aurecon through their 2022/23 Internship Programme.
As I grew up, I knew I wanted to do something maths related and that allowed me to build things. I chose civil engineering because it gives me the opportunity to build things that will positively impact my community, and solve interesting and complex problems.
Outside of work, I like to volunteer, go to the gym, read science-fiction, as well as watch a bit of Netflix.
I am passionate about volunteering, having worked with the Salvation army and Engineers Australia as a Student Ambassador advocating for the engineering field. I believe volunteering is a great use of time, allowing us to do something fun while giving back to the community.
During my internship, I worked on the Melbourne Airport Rail Link Project. We were in the reference design phase, which is where the ideation takes place and creative designs imagined. While working on the project, I saw various creative proposals that were created to meet the various criteria that the client required, in a sense we got to be playful with serious intent during this phase of the project.
Specifically, as part of the bridges team, I was working on a lot of the elevated structures, primarily the elevated airport train station section. My role in the team at the time of the internship was to calculate the quantities of resources that would be needed as well as helping with the structural design.
"It was a great feeling being able to show what I had learnt throughout my internship."
The highlight of my internship was a presentation I gave at a team meeting about one of the software programs we had been using. Since the program was relatively new, there were members of the team who did not know how to fully utilise the software. My line manager suggested that I create a presentation to share at one of the bridge brunches (team meeting) where I could share what I had learnt from using the software during the internship and provide some tips and tricks that the team may not have been aware of when using the program.
The presentation took a few weeks for me to create and prepare but once I got to present it, was a great feeling being able to show what I had learnt throughout my internship and teach something new to some of my teammates.
At Aurecon, there is a strong focus on helping people grow their skills and abilities. Managers and senior leaders are always providing learning opportunities for interns and grads. I’d say that’s pretty unique.
"Aurecon’s greatest strength is its willingness to invest in its people, but it only works if you participate in it."
As the only intern in my team at the time, Aurecon's Limelight Network gave me the opportunity to connect with other interns and young professionals across Aurecon. Limelight events were opportunities for me to get to network and share our experiences. Limelight really helped me get comfortable at Aurecon and settle into the company culture and develop a sense of belonging.
At high school and university, expectations are clearly laid out on a criteria sheet. But in work, there aren’t exactly guidelines of how you should go about doing work tasks. On the one hand, it gives you a lot of freedom to do work the way you want but on the other hand, it can sometimes be a struggle to understand where to start and what’s expected of you.
You can set up a work schedule, but things happen, such as a client changing criteria or changes to the design that require re-calculating elements. It’s something I think you can only really learn through work experience and not something university can teach you.
Instead, you learn to collaborate with your colleagues and managers to establish a process and find a solution. I have found that the best way of overcoming this is to be brave in asking questions, especially for feedback and advice, but also being willing to take time to reflect on my own growth.
If I were to go back in time, I would give myself these three pieces of advice:
As workplaces embrace the influx of Gen Z graduates into the workforce, understanding what makes this generation tick is a top priority for many employers.
At Aurecon, people at the heart of all we do. Learn more about how we are building a workplace where everyone is heard, and feels valued and connected.
Flexible work practices help Aurecon’s teams maintain better mental health and performance, and supports an adaptable working environment.
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