Education and Employability
We want to raise awareness of the opportunities that exist within the construction industry by broadening the horizons of people from all walks of life and experiences.
We support schools in meeting their Gatsby Benchmark requirements through employer engagement and work experience opportunities, and work with organisations to assist individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds into employment with us.
Andy, General Operative on our Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead HTMC, shares his story on how he went from living rough on the streets of Windsor to employment with VolkerHighways. From living rough to employment with VolkerHighways - VolkerHighways
Schools engagement, work experience and work placements
The more we can engage with schools and other further educational institutions, the more opportunity we have to inspire young minds. This includes supporting curriculum-based events, CV writing support, mock interviews, STEM activities, careers fairs, assemblies, visits to our sites, work experience, work placements and much more!
Read more below about our work experience and work placement schemes, and how schools can apply for our support.
Supporting employees in ‘Earn and Learn’ roles
Whilst we are required to have at least 5% of our workforce to be in apprenticeship roles or supported in further education or graduate roles with us to be in line with our ‘5% Club’ commitments, the reality is that we are pushing the boundaries even further with over 10% of our workforce in structured earn and learn roles.
We recognise that these people are the future of our company and Earn and Learn roles a wonderful way to build a career. Find out what opportunities we have by visiting our Early Careers page.
Work Experience and Work Placements
Schools, colleges and universities
We like to build strong relationships with schools, colleges and universities in the vicinity of our work sites and offices. This could include requests for us to offer curriculum support, help with careers events, attendance at a virtual event, STEM support, or a request to visit one of our sites or offices.
Work Experience and Work Placements
Work experience is a fantastic way to experience a taste of life in our industry without having to commit to a specific path.
Our summer placement programme provides students with the opportunity to build on their technical knowledge within a site environment. During the placement, students are allocated a project, giving them experience of managing a project through to completion. We ensure students receive regular feedback on their progress and, some are offered the opportunity to join us once they have completed their university studies.
For university students, our year industry placement programmes focus on on-the-job learning, to complement their university course. Placements focus on technical skills and the progression towards increasing responsibility. Those who show consistent progress might be considered for employment post-graduation, via our graduate programme.
Education Engagement enquiries
If you are a school looking for our support, or to enquire about a placement opportunity please complete our Education Engagement request form. Please note that you must be over 18 to complete this form, to ensure that we do not communicate directly with minors.
Please provide as much information as you can, so we can direct your request to the most relevant part of the business. We will review all requests carefully and, whilst we would love to be able to support them all, we hope you will understand that it might not always be possible to do so in every case.
