Shining Examples

Process Engineering   Nicola Hollyhead Chris Sharratt Andy Hemingway Tim Abbott Roll over the images above to view these graduates' comments about our scheme. Engineering   John Barron Ritchie Denver Yan Shaojun Roll over the images above to view these graduates' comments about our scheme. Procurement   Luke Banks Roll over the images above to view these graduates' comments about our scheme. Project and Document Control   Dan Jennings Kay Millard Roll over the images above to view these graduates' comments about our scheme. Construction   Craig Suter Phil Moss Roll over the images above to view these graduates' comments about our scheme.

Nicola graduated from The University of Birmingham with a Masters in Chemical Engineering with Environmental Management in 2003. "I did a summer placement at Foster Wheeler, which was interesting and introduced me to some great people, so I applied for a graduate position when I got back to uni." This year, Nicola became a chartered engineer with the IChemE. Nicola's first project as a process engineer was on a gas/oil separation facility for a Saudi Arabian client, marking up P&IDs, completing pump calculations and specifications. She recalls, "The project was very fast track, which meant I worked late nights and weekends for a time. This did not feel like a sacrifice as I was learning a lot and working with experienced engineers. I also enjoyed the immediate exposure to the client interface." Nicola undertook an assignment to a site in the north-west of England to work on the replacement of three major flare lines. "The tie-in strategy for the new lines was very complex. I learned all about planning shutdown work, hot taps to large bore lines and the difficulty of working with large-bore piping in flammable atmospheres. I was the lead process engineer for the project, responsible for tracking progress, meeting targets and providing manpower estimates. It was very different to the projects I'd been exposed to in Reading and it allowed me to gain site experience, both of which have been very useful since returning to the office. It also improved my confidence in client meetings and reviews." Nicola currently holds a similar role in Foster Wheeler's South African office, a role she was offered because of the site and leadership experience she had already gained. " My favourite part of my career is the interface with clients I am exposed to. I have worked with a number of different clients and enjoy the challenge of working not only with different companies but also with different cultures. I enjoy sitting with a multi-disciplinary team and solving issues, being able to appreciate different points of view and learning from them." Chris started at Foster Wheeler in September 2000 following graduation from Loughborough University with a Masters in Chemical Engineering. On the graduate training scheme he gained experience in a number of departments including projects, estimating, and environmental as well as core process engineering and a 6 month site placement at ESSO Fawley refinery. Following the rotational training he joined the hydrogen product group where he helped design hydrogen production plants in Romania and Iran. Chris then returned to ESSO Fawley for a further 18 months. Here he led several projects, including a $1M+ project on the catalytic cracking unit, from process design through detailed engineering and eventually to commissioning and successful start-up. "I believed the training and experience offered at FW would enable me to gain chartered engineer status quickly and they haven't let me down. Four years after starting I have gained sufficient experience in a wide range of engineering areas to submit my IChemE chartership application. This combined with good travel opportunities and a great graduate social network means that I'm very pleased I applied and accepted a job with FW." A Fellow of the IChemE, Andy has gained thirteen years' experience with Foster Wheeler, having joined as a graduate in 1995. He graduated from The University of Newcastle upon Tyne with a Bachelor's degree in Chemical and Process Engineering. He was attracted by the varied career opportunities and the exposure to a wide number of business areas that Foster Wheeler had to offer. His first placement was in the process department as a process engineer on the FEED phase of a project in The Netherlands, giving him a grounding in the fundamentals of process engineering and the requirements of the FEED phase of a project. Andy undertook a wide range of interesting placements during his graduate training, including spells as a lead process engineer on a refinery project in Saudi Arabia which included his first experience of site. He also worked in the procurement department where he gained an understanding of the issues associated with delivering materials to site, followed by a three-month placement as a commissioning engineer at a major refinery in Malaysia. Following completion of his graduate training Andy undertook a number of roles which included being seconded to Fawley Refinery in Hampshire; an assignment to the Pembroke Refinery in Wales where he was process project manager for the EPC phase of a clean fuels project; and a two-year assignment to Shell Global Solutions International (SGSI) in Amsterdam, where he helped develop a relationship between the two companies in the areas of hydroprocessing and FCCs. Upon his return to the home office in Reading, his career moved in a more corporate/commercial direction, as he spent a year in Global Sales & Marketing heading up Foster Wheeler's hydrogen business and managing the cooperation agreement relationship with SGSI that he had been involved in developing. More recently he has taken on responsibility for our front-end consultancy groups covering the Midstream and Downstream sectors, reporting directly to the board of Foster Wheeler Energy Limited. "The Foster Wheeler Graduate Programme is an excellent way to gain a snapshot of the key areas of Foster Wheeler's business. It provides a solid foundation upon which to grow a career in any area of the organisation. The variety of roles and challenges that first attracted me is still here; you are never in your comfort zone and there is huge opportunity if you are willing to grasp it." Tim joined Foster Wheeler in 2001 as a graduate process engineer, after graduating from The University of Sheffield with an MEng in Chemical and Process Engineering with Fuel Technology. He is currently preparing his application for chartership with the IChemE. He was initially attracted to Foster Wheeler by its strong IChemE accredited training scheme. Tim's first placement gave a good introduction to his home department, process, as he developed PFDs and P&IDs for a petrochemicals complex in China, working to deadlines, developing designs and assessing different options based on overall costs. He then moved on to the fired heater division for six months developing thermal designs and technical proposals for fired heater bids, and to the hydrogen group working on simulations and equipment designs for hydrogen production units. He also spent time in the gas-to-liquids group, working with a South African client, developing highly integrated utility and offsite systems to maximise the re-use of internally generated waste streams on the first of a new generation of gas-to-liquids plants. Tim's first site experience was in Dublin, where he was involved in the pre-commissioning and commissioning of a pharmaceuticals project. "My time in Dublin was great. It introduced me to the rigorous QA/QC system for pharmaceutical manufacturing sites, through the engineering, procurement and construction phases and on to commissioning." Recently Tim has taken on more senior positions, as lead process engineer for the downstream units on a mono-ethylene glycol project, and as lead systems engineer on a petrochemicals project in Qatar. He is responsible for leading large multi-centre teams and ensuring the quality and consistency of their work in designing these world-scale chemicals facilities. " I enjoy the variety of work at Foster Wheeler. Working in a project-oriented company means that you never get bored because there are always new projects and challenges coming along. The youthful and friendly atmosphere created by one of the largest graduate intakes in the industry also helps. Enjoying who you work with is as important as enjoying the work you do." John joined Foster Wheeler in 1990 as a graduate piping engineer. He has a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Bradford, and is a chartered member of the IMechE. After two years on The Foster Wheeler Graduate Programme, John was assigned to a pharmaceutical plant in Cork, Ireland as a field engineer responding to technical and engineering queries and coordinating with the Reading office. He was there for eighteen months and then returned to Reading to work on a revamp project in Saudi Arabia as a stress engineer. Following this he became lead piping engineer on a project in Runcorn, northwest England, an experience he says was invaluable in helping him make the decision to follow a leadership, as opposed to a technical, career development path. After assignments to Thailand on a project and to Malaysia on a large-scale utilities plant, John worked in the project engineering department and became manager of the hydrogen group. This involved working on proposals which gave him experience of the business-winning side of Foster Wheeler. As part of the engineering management team, he was then involved in the full lifecycle an ExxonMobil project, from the feasibility study right through to the commissioning stage. He is currently working as the manager of the piping engineering and plant layout department, and attributes his progression to "a combination of timing, being clear and consistent as to where you are going, and having a reputation for working hard and getting results. People will remember that and want to work with you again. I have gained a broad and rounded experience, particularly in project execution. In particular, piping engineering is a great place to gain technical, leadership and management skills early on in your career." As a former graduate and now a manager of piping graduates, John's advice to future graduates is based on his own experience. "Take opportunities as they come, and work hard to become invaluable on any placement you are on. This builds a reputation on which future opportunities are based." Ritchie joined The Foster Wheeler Graduate Programme in 2003 after finding out about Foster Wheeler at a careers presentation at university. He says, "I liked what I heard about graduate rotation, travel opportunities and generally the sector in which I would be working. The social side of working at Shinfield Park also appealed." Holding an MEng in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Nottingham, Ritchie is currently awaiting his interview date with the IMechE to upgrade from associate to chartered, corporate membership. Ritchie's first role was within the equipment engineering group as a static equipment engineer, working on an EPC project within the UK, assisting the senior static equipment engineer in the post-order phase of engineering. "This role provided a superb introduction to project work at Foster Wheeler and the opportunity to enhance the skills required for my role." After this initial placement, he undertook similar positions on a number of projects allowing him to expand his knowledge and value to each project. Within two years Ritchie was placed on a major EPC refinery expansion project in the Middle East as the manager for a key package of equipment, a large responsibility that led to his current site assignment to Dubai. As a field equipment engineer he provides immediate engineering support to the construction team on all aspects of equipment engineering, giving him "an eye-opening insight into what is involved in a major project and the vital experience of identifying a problem first hand, developing a solution and then supervising its implementation." “Foster Wheeler's graduate programme was already good when I joined five years ago but it has got even better in the last couple of years. I would now say that the opportunities offered to graduates at Foster Wheeler are on a par with the best in the industry; whatever your goal, the path to achievement is available if you are willing to work hard to attain it. Set a realistic path but don't be afraid to deviate from it if an opportunity presents itself.” Yan graduated from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, with a BSc in Computing Science with Electronics and joined Foster Wheeler in 2005. He is currently working towards chartership with the IET. Yan's first placement was in the instruments group on a world-scale petrochemical project at its detailed engineering phase, assisting senior team members in various areas ranging from field instrumentation to control systems. In the next 18 months, he divided his time between four other major projects, including a mono-ethylene glycol project, giving INtools® support. Yan says, "I picked up knowledge and insight from everyone I worked with, and every project I worked on." This home office experience stood him in good stead for his first site assignment, working on the engineering team on the expansion of an LNG plant in Australia, to support the project's construction and commissioning activities. "Being on site was a great experience - just being able to walk down to the plant and see the physical instruments and the control room really brought the work I'd been doing in the home office to life. It also deepened my understanding of a wider range of engineering activities and our role in project execution. I worked tough hours, and had to meet tight deadlines, but it was a superb experience and I had a lot of fun!" After graduating from Brunel University with a BSc in Engineering Management, Luke joined Foster Wheeler in 2005 as a procurement graduate. He is currently studying part-time for his CIPS qualification which will enable him to apply for chartered membership with the institution. Luke's first placement was working on an LNG expansion project for an Australian client. He covered a wide range of procurement tasks, including the purchasing, expediting and material control of equipment for the plant, which gave him first-hand experience of negotiating with suppliers. He then chose to specialise in the material control and expediting aspects of procurement, firstly for equipment on a petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia and, more recently, on a major mono-ethylene glycol project in Singapore, working as the primary material controller. He's responsible for all the material control tasks and liaises closely with his counterparts in Foster Wheeler's Indian Execution Centre (IEC). He's visited the Chennai office in India to oversee training and the handover of some key tasks. This latest role has given him an excellent insight in to how an EPC project operates. He says, "As more work is being shared with our IEC offices, I believe that it's essential to establish the skills for working with multicultural, multi-centre teams early on in your career. I have found this aspect of my role to be challenging as the people I work so closely with are thousands of miles away but the team rapport we have, especially since my visits, is so rewarding and vital to my day-to-day work." "Luke is now the mentor to a recent procurement graduate, supporting the programme that he says, "keeps improving year upon year". He continues, "The Graduate Programme offers new and existing grads plenty of opportunities for training and career development on the path they want to follow." Daniel joined FW’s Project and Document Control Department in September 1997 after graduating from UWE Bristol. After completing his rotational training placements in a variety of project and departmental functions Daniel was assigned to work for Exxon. This ‘secondment‘ lasted a year, and involved extensive travel between Exxon’s offices in the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands. Daniel has since worked as a planning engineer on the design phase of a pharmaceutical plant which is currently undergoing construction in Singapore. " Foster Wheeler is a large company operating in a dynamic marketplace where new and different opportunities continually present themselves. This, together with the variety, and constant change offered by project based work, were the main reasons for joining FW. In particular the project control discipline allows the individual to understand overall project execution and strategy from a ‘crows nest’ position." After graduating from Warwick University with a BEng in Manufacturing and Management, Kay was attracted to the career development and travel opportunities Foster Wheeler could offer. After joining the company in the 2007 graduate intake, she is about to start a company-sponsored NVQ in Project Control. Kay's first placement was on a large refinery project on the project control team, dealing with the flow of documentation and ensuring that its quality was up to Foster Wheeler's standards. She says, "It was a good insight into the importance of even the smallest details and gave me more of an understanding of how projects and other departments work." Following on from this Kay spent four months in planning and four months in cost control. "I felt that the natural progression from document control to planning to cost control enabled me to gain more understanding of how departments came together on a project. Seeing how project schedules were put together, learning to use the programmes for planning and seeing the effects of different costs on the project were invaluable. Utilising the things I learnt in planning and document control helped me understand how and why things were done in cost control." " Learning new things and meeting new people have really helped me settle in to Foster Wheeler. Everyone here is helpful and friendly. All of the people I have worked with have been keen to pass on their experience and specialist knowledge, and have encouraged me to take challenges head-on." Craig joined The Foster Wheeler Graduate Programme in 2007, having graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Surrey. "I was attracted to the flexibility of Graduate Programme as it had good opportunities for training, experience and progression," Craig explains. "Already, I have been through a week-long induction programme which allowed me to get to know other graduates across all disciplines; a self-development course which encouraged me to use teamwork and communication in an outdoor environment to relate to my impact in the office; attended an IMechE lunch and learn session; and have been on numerous in-house training courses for PC and interpersonal skills. All this, even before I was assigned to Thailand!" Craig is currently working in Thailand in one of the steel fabrication shops as part of his assignment to the module yard of an LNG expansion project in Australia, liaising with contractors and writing and implementing lifting procedures. Being part of such a large project has been his most enjoyable experience so far, and he encourages other grads to "seek and pursue possible opportunities, knock on the door and put yourself forward. " Phil joined Foster Wheeler in 1997 and since then has held a variety of roles in the company. He graduated from The University of Bradford with a Bachelor's degree in Civil and Structural Engineering and joined the construction department's graduate programme, attracted by the prospect of worldwide travel opportunities. Ten years on and Phil is a chartered engineer with the ICE, has worked in Indonesia, South Africa, Mozambique and Oman, and is being sponsored by Foster Wheeler through his full-time MBA at the prestigious Cranfield School of Management in the UK. Two weeks after starting with the company Phil was assigned to Oman for two and a half years, firstly as a site civil engineer on an LNG project, responding to technical and engineering queries in the field and coordinating with the Reading office. He moved on to work as a structural supervisor, supervising and inspecting the erection of steelwork by a number of subcontractors, and then as a turnover engineer, compiling and presenting handover documentation to the client. To get the necessary design experience for his chartership application, he then undertook two six-month placements in the civil engineering department, getting to know how engineering works in the home office and how it relates to site. Phil moved on to South Africa and worked in the FW Midrand office for a year before going to site in Mozambique as a chief field engineer on a major upstream development. This allowed him to see how another FW office operates and gave him a rare opportunity to live and work in a rural African location. Phil is currently based in Reading working as a Proposals Manager, gaining an insight into an entirely different part of the business. “The key benefit for me has been seeing how things are done in different parts of the world, learning about the people and culture and having the chance to travel. My graduate training was quite out of the ordinary, but worked well for me. I would say that the initial focus should be on FW and how it operates but if an opportunity comes along, then take it.”

Apply

If you're up to the challenge that Foster Wheeler provides we would be interested to hear from you. There's no time-consuming application form to complete as we recognise the important time commitments you have to your degree courses. So all we ask is that you spend some time finding out about our company and then go to www.findfwc.co.uk to upload your CV to one of the following jobs: Graduate Process Engineer GRAD2010-09 Please note applications submitted outside of this process will not be considered.

Working for Foster Wheeler brings a lot more than just a job. Our Reading HQ is ideally located to make the most of the leisure amenities available in the area with a range of sports centres, cinemas, swimming pools etc. all close at hand. On top of this London is only a short journey away putting all the capital's attractions on the doorstep.

The Reading office also operates a fully equipped gym on site, operated by professionally trained and dedicated staff who are always on hand to offer guidance and encouragement.

As a FW employee you become a Shinfield Park Sports Club (SPSC) and Foster Wheeler Social Club (FWSC) member automatically. This membership allows you to take advantage of the subsidised activities organised by these clubs.