What is the hiring process like at Arup?

- Valuable and flexible experience working on real projects - Very encouraging working environment

- Recruitment process isn't very transparent

- The financial team in the New York City office is small, but everyone was willing to help with any questions I had. - A lot of flexibility to work from home since my team only came into the office twice a week. With that being said, if you’ve never been to New York City, you can use those WFH days to work from a nice coffee shop near Bryant Park or Central Park, like most interns did. - They assign you to actual projects, allowing you to gain real-world experience and take initiative on calls with PMs and PDs. - There is always work to do, no matter what. Sometimes tasks can be completed quickly, while other days, they may take longer. - The senior leaders in the finance team are incredibly kind and genuinely invested in your success, both at Arup and in your future career. - There is only one finance intern role in the NYC office, so you get hands-on experience and full exposure to various financial tasks. - The intern pay for this role is okay, but it's important to remember that this is an engineering consulting firm. After talking to other interns, I realized that the pay is actually pretty good compared to other companies. For the non-technical side, intern pay was $30 per hour, while for the technical side, like engineering interns, it ranged from $32 to $35 per hour, depending on whether they were pursuing a BA or MA.

- I wish I had been told during the final phase of the interview process that there wasn't a return offer in the finance team. I was caught off guard at the end of the summer when HR reached out to me and informed me that there was no return offer for this position, as you have to be a level 4 employee to work in the finance sector of the company. I was offered a chance to work in the cost consulting sector, but the pay in NYC for a full-time role wasn't worth it. Had I known this beforehand, I might have considered another opportunity with a company that guaranteed me a full-time position for the summer role I was interning for. That being said, look at all your options and choose wisely what you want to do.

Consistent work schedule. Good for someone who enjoys doing the same thing on a daily basis. Company allows employees to form small community clubs for creating efforts like sustainability.

Slow progression of projects/repetitive work. It takes a while to hear back. Most work is on fractional parts of large projects. All in all it feels like there isn't enough work to do and there is little reward other than good pay and 401K. Cost of living in Boston is also really high. They tell you that it's possible to seek other opportunities within the company and move departments depending on your capabilities but the logistics don't follow. Company says they are constantly hiring and growing as to not concern you with longevity, but it doesn't make sense with their turnover rates/constant cycling of new graduate workers,

Arup tends to attract intelligent and open-minded people - teams/offices are generally a nice, welcoming environment. lots of sports clubs and other social initiatives. pay and benefits fairly competitive, promotions can be quick but depends on local leadership Good opportunities for in house and external training in early years of career in particular. If you hold strong boundaries, work / life balance can be good; again, this depends heavily on individual team culture. Opportunities to work abroad if you push for it and work in the right sectors. The approach to this is generous with allowances for moving etc. Nice offices in good central locations, and lots of flexibility. Excellent family and illness policies. Access to high profile / interesting projects and clients. The Arup name definitely goes far in that regard.

Short sighted and poorly executed decisions eg a dept I work with a lot experienced three rounds of redundancy in two years and is now in a recruitment crisis as we can’t rehire what was lost. Leadership generally is weak at Arup, with success based on how well you can rehearse the party line; directors are very reluctant to challenge upwards and I sense a culture of fear at that level. Micromanagement of minuscule budgets for non-billable admin causes unnecessary stress for all, especially project managers dealing with the resultant overspend on projects. It also prevents clear data on actual operational costs to the business. Very inconsistent approach to commercial management. New systems, guidance and procedures are regularly published with limited comms and an ‘opt-in’ culture to training. As a result it is the blind leading the blind much of the time. Despite this, when it goes wrong, junior people get the blame. Internal support teams are generally very poor; recruitment is often embarrassing to be involved with, bid support is limited, and HR is very poor. A lot of time is wasted dealing with this sort of stuff and it gets very frustrating. Diversity remains an issue; whilst there has been improvement in gender and racial diversity, class/economic background is the elephant in the room.

Good people, some interesting work

Company vibe has changed a lot the last year. Lots of redundancy and unclear promotions process which doesn't value people who think outside the box

Career growth and benefits for the employees

Very competitive when it comes to hiring processes

The company tries to provide the flexible work pattern, so there is a degree of flexibility in your working hours. Good internal training materials are available too.

Everything (I mean literally, 100%) they have promised to me during the interview was never delivered, and when I challenged my manager he tried to gaslight me by saying that it never happened or I misunderstood what they were saying. I was not the only one in this boat - all new hires had the same issue and the attitude. There is no leadership as only the people who's faces fit get promoted, so in terms of people management it's a complete chaos. Payment is very low for the industry too, and when they say that you will get a rise next year don't trust thes as you won't.

Arup is a principled innovative and dynamic consultancy that seeks out challenging projects in the world of planning, design, construction management and operations. There's great flexibility in working arrangements and terrific teams of administrative, DT, finance, business development and HR support. The benefits package is highly competitive -- at the top end of the scale.

Arup is large and that is inextricably linked with bureaucracy. The extensive on-boarding process helps new employees navigate this.

Good benefits Interesting projects Career opportunities

Company culture thinks Arup is better than all other consultants - tiring! Difficult as an external hire to be respected. Arup mentality is drilled into grads from day 1!