Design thinking and innovation were on display in our North Sydney office recently, as Ventia graduates gathered for a fun-filled workshop. 

The day, run by external facilitator Phuel saw our graduates tackle two design thinking simulations that challenged them to collaborate, be creative and work under pressure. 

Phuel facilitator, Rob Rossano led an 'ExperienceInnovation' simulation which posed the problem statement, 'How might we help citizens make connections between their sustainable behaviour and wellbeing?'. 

Working in teams, our #VentiaGrads were guided through a rapid-fire design thinking process to understand the users at the heart of the problem and create human-centred solutions. No idea was too radical to be explored from a community sustainability fair, to recycling games and automatic sorting bins.

Being creative and coming up with solutions in a fun and non-judgmental environment was a really great way to learn about the design-thinking process", says Business Graduate, Ashleigh Rogers. 

The day was wrapped up with an 'Innovation Jam' which centred around current challenges faced at Ventia where teams came up with quick-fire ideas, curated their best ideas, prototyped them and presented them to the group. 

For many of our grads, this was their first-time meeting in person due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

"It was a fantastic opportunity to get together with the graduates and share a few laughs," says Business Graduate, Anastasia Rimagmos. "Some of the grads I had only met virtually, so it was great to be able to catch up in person and talk about what we'd been up to on our rotations."

The day was a great developmental opportunity for our grads and provided them with practical tips and processes for the upcoming Graduate Case Challenge. 

The Graduate Case Challenge 

Each year the Graduate Program runs a Case Challenge that sees our graduates working in teams over six months, to develop creative and innovative solutions to a current Ventia challenge. 

It's a chance to showcase fresh approaches to business problems, whether it's for a new product, a more efficient way of working or a unique business model. As emerging leaders, this is a great learning and development opportunity for our graduates to collaborate and network with leaders and subject matter experts from around the business. 

Nina Firth, Organisational Development Specialist, manages the Graduate Program and says each team is sponsored by leaders from the business, who provide advice and direct the graduates on where to find information to develop and support their initiatives. 

By giving the graduates real-life challenges to solve and providing them with subject matter experts in the business to support them, we give our graduates the support to transition from the full-time learning environment of a university to the practical world of the workplace.

Innovation@Ventia

At Ventia, we are obsessed with doing things better than we have ever done them before. Fostering an innovation mindset in our graduates encourages them to bring fresh ideas and new ways of looking at problems to their teams and the organisation.

"The benefit to Ventia is having a fresh perspective on challenges we face," Nina says. "We always get some great initiatives come out of the case challenge."
 

Join our award winning #VentiaGrad Program

Application for our 2023 program close on 31 July.

If you or someone you know has completed an undergraduate degree in the last two years, or you are in your final year of study across the disciplines of engineering or business - we want to hear from you!

To learn more and apply, visit: www.ventia.com/careers/graduate-program