The CS Energy Graduate Program aims to help graduates bridge the gap between university and working life. The program gives participants the chance to work across the entirety of our business and they are supported through structured work rotations and mentoring from seasoned industry professionals.
Three people who have spent plenty of time on site are the previous graduate program intake – Steve Schluter, Andrew Bazeley and Mahali Heffner who joined CS Energy in 2018. All three are mechanical engineers and have progressed into engineering roles with the business.
Steve Schluter (pictured centre above) is based at Kogan Creek Power Station on Queensland’s Western Downs and works in the site’s plant engineering team. For Steve, one of his biggest learnings from his time as a graduate was not technical.
“Knowing who the right person to contact for more information or support is a really key part of being a graduate,” Steve said.
“The program reinforced for me that working as a team is incredibly powerful, and by visiting each site and meeting people from all different aspects of the business makes day-to-day work life so much easier.”
Mahali Heffner, who works in the plant engineering team at Callide Power Station in Central Queensland, had a similar learning experience.
“There are a lot of experienced people within this company that are willing to support and help you if you ask,” Mahali said.
“I also enjoyed the graduate quarterly workshops where the graduates could catch up, share our experiences and undergo additional training to develop and strengthen our power station and engineering knowledge.”
The third of the original trio of graduates – Andrew Bazeley – is working in the Brisbane-based Asset Management Team. Like Steve and Mahali, Andrew has enjoyed applying his theoretical study from university to the real-world technical challenges that a power station can present.
“We’ve been trusted with challenging projects. Since joining CS Energy I have delivered capital projects, worked on major unit overhauls and assisted with inspection and repair scopes on forced outages,” Andrew said.
“My advice for the new graduates is to enjoy the experience, ask lots of questions and don’t be afraid to put your hand up if you want to get involved in an interesting project.”