Meet some of our previous Graduates

I am one of the commercial graduates from the 2012 intake. Before joining the programme, I was studying for my Masters in Water and Environmental Engineering after obtaining my undergraduate degree in Chemistry.

I have recently completed my first placement with the Commercial and Regulatory Services team in Northern Ireland, supporting the development on the annual asset investment plan. Since then I have moved to Scotland to work with the Process Support team for my second placement. My main focus currently is on anaerobic digestion in achieving cake compliance.

My experience with the company and the programme has been very enjoyable thus far. The culture of the company is open and people are very approachable. In each placement, I have been given genuine responsibilities within the business that are challenging, stimulating and rewarding.

After studying European and International Law in France, I crossed the Channel to do a Master's degree here with the intention to then join something that simply does not exist in France: a graduate scheme, where you get to learn how a business works by doing. It's the combination I was searching for a smooth transition from Uni to professional life yet not a boring one.

By being given four subsequent projects to deliver in 6 months, I got to first experience the fast pace and highly strategic function of Business Development in London, then spent a year in Scotland in two different departments. I got to dive in a technical subject with looking at energy optimisation on wastewater treatment plants, and then I jumped on the opportunity to assist a general manager in the creation of a new Veolia business in Scotland.I am now working on the establishing of a methodology for assessing the carbon footprint of four of our contracts.

Two years ago I would not have thought that I would be capable of doing what I'm doing right now, neither of being that confident in driving a project and leveraging the knowledge and expertise available within the company. I would certainly not have expected to get that amount of visibility with senior managers, who come every 6 months to attend our end of placement presentations. We definitely get more exposure than your standard newbie, and this is a great place to build on for post programme opportunities!

I have a BSc (Hons) Economics & Geography from the university of Reading in 2012.

I am one of the 2012 graduate in-take and have been with Veolia Water since October 2012. Before working at Veolia Water I had completed a few internships in the city, upon completion of my degree in Economics and Geography I realised I wanted to follow my interest and line of study; the utility, energy and environmental industries. This inevitably led me to Veolia, a market leader in all three.

So far I have just completed my first six month placement in the HR/Talent Team. In my first placement I created a Career Path Mapping scheme for over six hundred employees, enabling greater transparency of the opportunities across the business and centralising key data. This was a large and daunting task at first, which highlights the level of responsibility that is given to graduates from the outset. You won't just be another pair of hands here, you are given the opportunity to add real value and work on, if not lead, projects that will impact the business.

In my current placement I am working as an Assistant Project Manager on a project Thames Water have handed to Vennsys, a joint venture which Veolia Water is majority shareholder in which provides managed metering services on a large scale to Thames Water.

One of my main highlights from my first 7 months here is my first end of placement presentation which, whilst being nerve-wracking was a fantastic opportunity to develop my presentational skills and showcase to the business what I had been working on for 6 months.

I'm from Leicestershire in England and I studied Chemistry at the University of Manchester. After graduating I worked for a pharmaceutical firm and then moved to a job at a waste management company as their Site Chemist.

I joined Veolia in October 2012. I did my first placement in Scotland where I tested the latest technologies that improve performance at our waste water treatment sites. My work focussed on increasing gas output from the anaerobic digesters thereby increasing our production of `green` electrical energy.

In April 2013 I started a business placement in Northern Ireland with the Contracts team. As a graduate I am looking at ways in which we can improve our commercial performance whilst ensuring we comply with the requirements of the contract.

The graduate programme is a golden opportunity to gain experience across a broad range of departments within a global company. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has a passion and drive to develop themselves and who is ambitious to be successful in the water industry!

Prior to joining the Graduate scheme in 2011, I was a football player for Toulouse FC (France) and the Colorado Rapids of Denver (USA). However, when an injury forced me to retire from football early I decided to enrol at the University of Westminster and undertake a Masters in International Business Management.

After graduating, I was fortunate enough to be offered a position on the Veolia Water UK Graduate Scheme as a General Business Graduate. I am currently in my 4^th placement with the Business Development team in London working on the AMP6 bids, and prior to that, I had been on three different placements:

• Customer Relations (Hatfield): Elaboration of an Online Account Management solution
• Finance (London): The divestment of our regulated businesses
• Infrastructure Services (Preston): Strategic market analyses

The Graduate scheme has provided me with invaluable experience of a wide range of business and technical activities, given me direct access to the company's vast wealth of expertise and allowed me to forge my own path in those areas I have particular personal and professional interest in.

Prior to joining the scheme in 2008, I completed an Economics degree at Exeter University. I then went on to working at an assurance company for six months in their Finance department before travelling around Australia and New Zealand.

Throughout my time on the graduate scheme, I had the opportunity to undertake some challenging and very interesting high profile projects in a variety of placements. This included spending a few months in the Oman managing the inauguration of a desalination plant.

Not only is the graduate scheme a very rewarding two years in itself, it also really helped open up doors for my career since moving into a permanent role within the business. Since completing the scheme nearly three years ago, I have held several different strategic roles including managing part of the sale process where we sold the company's regulated water business in 2012. I am currently an Operations Project Manager for the work that Veolia carry out at UK airports.