The following is a Graduate Review for Babcock International Group.
Babcock International Group scores 3.9/5 based on 318 reviews.
All reviews are based exclusively on results of feedback from employees from Babcock International Group. Employees are asked to rate Babcock International Group on a wide range of work place topics, which is broken down through star ratings on the right hand side.
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What are the Best and Worst things about your job?
Best
1) The starting salary is above the national average and competitive with other nuclear industry employers.
2) Progress towards professional registration (Chartered status) is emphasised for all graduates and you'll be assigned an experienced mentor in your first week.
3) Graduates are a free resource to placement managers so they're often keen to have you! You'll often have genuine responsibility on projects pretty much from day one.
4) The graduate scheme is a placement-oriented one, allowing you to experience different projects and business units across the Dockyard. This is a big advantage when choosing your role of responsibility at the end of the scheme.
5) Pay raises on the graduate scheme come three times a year - two pay reviews dependent on your progression towards professional registration and one negotiated annually with the trade union. The career progression structure for the first 2-4 years is well-defined and easy to work through.
6) There are plenty of social opportunities (work events and unofficial meet-ups at the Dockyard's local pub) so you'll get to know and make friends with your fellow grads easily.
Worst
1) The company is currently forcing through a "Travel to Work" scheme that has failed catastrophically - all it's actually achieved is to make getting to work much more difficult. Parking on site is extremely limited and current policy is to not issue any on-site parking passes to new starters. The local public transport network is woefully inadequate and the only areas within walking distance are some of the roughest and most unpleasant areas of Plymouth.
2) Career progression, once you move off the graduate scheme, is unclear. Opportunities are naturally more limited and the "succession planning" system doesn't help - preferred candidates are often identified in advance, stifling opportunities to move into more senior roles. There is also a heavy reliance on contractors rather than promotion from within, which increases competition for promotion.
3) The company is large, slow-moving, and highly process-driven. Even simple tasks can take weeks.
What is the annual salary for this role?
Starting salary: £27,000 - £29,000
Current salary: £31,000 - £33,000
What hours do you actually work, on average?
Start: 07:30
Finish: 15:45
What advice would you give to someone applying to this role?
Research the role carefully and ensure that your CV personal statement demonstrates your understanding of both the role and the wider industry.
When I applied there were also questions on why you want to work for Babcock. Avoid generic answers such as "good pay" or "interesting work" and focus on what you can bring to the company, your aspirations for the future, and how you see those aspirations being realised with Babcock.
Do you have any interview tips?
The interview process is an assessment centre with a number of activities. The ones I recall include:
1) A short presentation on a topic relevant to the work of a Safety Engineer at Devonport Dockyard. If you do your research then this is your opportunity to really shine - the rest of the activities follow a pretty rigid format but you can make this your own.
2) A competency based interview - the STAR method is your friend here. Practice it until you're sick of practising it and then practice it some more. Come prepared with plenty of examples from university / previous work experience.
3) A group activity - it's changed since I did it but the standard advice applies - don't be too pushy or overbearing but equally don't be afraid to speak up and guide your team in the right direction. The assessors are looking less at the actual activity and more about how you interact with others.
4) A written exercise - this is a very recent addition to the assessment centre and I didn't have to do it so don't know what it involves.
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