Placement FAQs

Atkins, SNC-Lavalin and Faithful+Gould have united to become AtkinsRéalis. AtkinsRéalis is a world-leading design, engineering and project management organization. We create world-class sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology. We’re transforming the world’s infrastructure and energy systems, growing partnerships with our clients and bringing the most complex projects across the world to life. Our global team of 36,000+ employees speak over 70 languages and represent 130 nationalities across six continents.

Our placements are a great way to get a taste of what it’s like to work with us and are designed to support and complement your degree studies. Whether you’re spending several weeks with us over the summer or 12 months on an industrial placement, you’ll gain invaluable experience in the working world, equipping you with knowledge and understanding of the industry that couldn’t otherwise be obtained through academic studies alone. Upon completion of a successful placement, you could potentially be fast-tracked onto our Graduate Development Programme! Exceptional candidates may also be offered financial support when returning to university.

Our Placement opportunities are now open for applications! If you don’t see a suitable opportunity, why not join our Talent Community?

We’re delighted to hear you’ve taken the first step on your journey with us and made your application. You’ll see live updates on your application by logging into your candidate area. You’ll also receive email updates, so keep an eye on your inbox..

Yes – AtkinsRéalis is an A rated sponsor within the Home Office Sponsorship Management system under Skilled Worker Visas. This means we can sponsor candidates who don’t currently have the right to work in the UK but possess a valid Student Visa or Graduate Visa. Due to the new UK immigration system in place following Brexit we can also support candidates with pre-settled or settled status. However, this does vary so please ensure you check the eligibility criteria in the job description. If you’d like to apply for an industrial year placement and you’re on a Student Visa, then the placement must be an essential and assessed part of your course. For further information please visit our dedicated webpage here .

Our paid placement opportunities are designed for students from all degree years (except the final year of study generally) and include:

Summer placements - lasting at least 8 weeks and are completed during your longest academic break from university. They usually run from June through to August.

Industrial placements – often built into and count towards a degree course. They usually commence from the beginning of the academic year (September/October) and they typically last 12 months.

The exact dates for both types of placements are finalised at offer stage.

The structure of your placement will depend on which team you join. However, we can guarantee that you’ll be learning about the exciting world of engineering through challenging tasks and responsibilities which help contribute towards our company vision and goals and prepare you for your future graduate career. You can read about experiences of some of our placement students here.

Our placements are full time paid work posts, designed to support and complement the academic learning of undergrad and post grad students who are studying a relevant degree. Whether it’s spending several weeks with us over the summer or 12 months on an industrial placement, you’ll gain invaluable experience in the working world, equipping you with knowledge and understanding of the industry that couldn’t otherwise be obtained through academic studies alone. Plus, it’s a great way to get a taste of what it’s like to work with us.

You can find full details of our application process on our ‘How To Apply’ page.

Our closing dates may vary by role, so please read the job description for details. However, we may close earlier than the specified date based on volume of applications we receive, so we recommend you submit your application as soon as possible to ensure that you don’t miss out on your preferred role.

We don’t accept or need CVs or cover letters for our Early Careers roles. We capture all the details we need to assess your application on our online application, which is designed to identify your potential, rather than looking back at past experience.

Please contact placements@atkinsrealis.com with a brief description of the issue and a screen shot if possible. We’ll be in touch as soon as we can to support you through the next steps. We recommend that you save your application as you work on it and you’ll have the chance to edit it before you submit.

Our online Immersive Assessment takes a ‘day in the life of’ approach where we’ve blended a few assessments to make it easier for you and to give you a feel for what it might be like to work for us.

This is a key part of the selection process so it’s really important that you focus on your answers and take it seriously, as the outcome will determine whether you progress to the next stage of the process. You’ll only have one opportunity to do it - so take your computer somewhere quiet, go through the introduction guidelines and listen to the advice that gives you a feel of what to expect.

The test will take you approximately 45 minutes to complete and will consist of several situational judgement questions and questions focused on numerical and verbal reasoning. It concludes with one question requiring a written answer and two questions requiring short, videoed answers (you’ll get a chance to practice the video questions). This further assesses your alignment to our roles and the company. Please note this test is not timed so you can do it at your own pace - the above is an approximate guideline to how long it might take.

Interviews for our year in industry roles usually take place between November and April. However, we recommend that you complete your application as soon as possible as some roles are very popular.

For our summer students there is no longer a need to do an interview, we'll take your application and online immersive assessment and consider you for the role you've applied for.

For our year in industry roles we’ll let you know when you can expect to hear from us at the end of your interview. The exact timeframes may vary depending on the role you’re being considered for, but we’ll contact you by phone or email with an update, so please make sure your details are up to date in your application.

Yes, we’re proud to be a Disability Confident accredited employer, and we can provide reasonable adjustments to enable you to demonstrate your full potential throughout our recruitment process. Please let us know as soon as possible about any adjustments you may require so that we can put them in place at the right time. Please contact us on placements@atkinsrealis.com to discuss this in confidence. Learn more about AtkinsRéalis as a disability confident employer.

We want you to perform your best at all stages of our recruitment process, and can make adjustments to support this. Examples of adjustments we have made in the past include, but are not limited to, providing assistive technology; extra time; changing the format of an assessment; scheduling an interview at a specific time; and ensuring there is access. For further information and to discuss how we can support you, please contact placements@atkinsglobal.com. Learn more about AtkinsRéalis as a disability confident employer

If you have a specific question related to disability, please contact placements@atkinsrealis.com. All conversations are confidential.

As a placement student you’ll be aligned to a specific office, but you may be required to have a flexible and agile approach to working from other offices, client sites or from home depending on the projects you are working on.