AECOM’s Learning and Development team is committed to building a community of experts with diverse backgrounds, disciplines, and perspectives, who are passionate about delivering a better world.

The premier, fully integrated professional and technical services infrastructure firm operates across the built environment in Africa, which is an exciting industry to work in and be part of. Carina Robberts, Learning and Development, Specialist, Africa, explains: “Our employees get to work on projects that make a difference in the world, across many different markets and disciplines.

We are a global network of experts working with clients, communities, and colleagues to develop and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most complex challenges.

“We connect expertise across services, markets, and geographies to deliver transformative outcomes. Worldwide we design, build, finance, operate, and manage projects and programmes that unlock opportunities, protect our environment, and improve people’s lives, thus making the built environment one of the most rewarding and fun professions in the world,” Robberts highlights.

The Learning and Development team supports AECOM to empower its employees to achieve the highest standards within their roles, and thereby contribute effectively to the business objectives. “We believe that learning and development benefits both the employer and employees. The greater the competency levels of each employee, the more significant and effective the contribution to the organisational goals.”

Every employee, regardless of their level, has an opportunity to access ongoing training and development in order to enhance their talents, skills, and potential to the fullest extent, and to stimulate upward mobility. AECOM provides the relevant resources in this regard, including an integrated e-learning platform offering over 5 000 courses in ten languages.

It is accessible via Cloud, smartphone, or single sign-on, spanning diverse topics such as water treatment, 4D CAD, investor relations, project management (accredited by PMI), readiness assessments, business and people management, leadership and business finance, and effective business communications.

The AECOM Africa Candidacy Support and Mentoring Programme is a world-class structured mentoring programme aimed at creating a focused learning and mentoring environment that supports and accelerates the journey of candidates across the entire built environment, as well as other appropriate professional bodies applicable to AECOM candidate professionals.

The programme is designed and customised specifically around each individual candidate’s personal development journey, so as to assist them in ultimately achieving professional registration. It is a full lifecycle programme that benefits everyone, whether they are graduates not registered as candidates, and young candidates, as well as mature candidates registered for more than five years.

It is supported by AECOM’s own internal pool of mentors, and external service provider Mentoring 4 Success. Mentors themselves participate in substantial leadership/personal development training, encompassing relationship building, emotional intelligence, generational theory, behavioural theory, coaching skills, and goal setting. Participating mentors can make up almost their full CPD requirement, in addition to possible accreditation as a registered mentor.

AECOM’s Management Development Programme (MDP) has two core elements, namely Personal & Interpersonal Management Skills (PIMS) for employees with first-person responsibility, and Essential Leadership & Management Skills (ELMS) for employees leading and managing teams. Each component has participants from across business lines, including Support Services.

Managing AECOM Projects (MAP) gives employees an introduction to project management principles, their application to professional services, and how these principles are applied at AECOM. By employing the principles employees learnt in MAP, employees can improve their service to clients, improve project profit margins, and help employees and their project teams effectively manage risk and change on their projects, which is fundamental to achieving excellence in operational and project delivery.