Updating Results

Worley

4.2
  • 50,000 - 100,000 employees

Soniaa Suresh Karrunan

I love how every day I get to immerse myself in new challenges and contribute to a project that will eventually be approved for execution in the future to be built for use.

Where did you grow up?

I was born in Malaysia and grew up there until I came to Australia to pursue my tertiary studies. I went to the University of South Australia in Adelaide. After my second year of university, I went home during the summer to do an internship for two months at what was then WorleyParsons which was in Malaysia’s capital city, Kuala Lumpur. 

In my third year at the university, I got accepted into an undergraduate program for the WorleyParsons office in Melbourne which led me to step out of my comfort zone and live in a city that was new to me for three months. After successfully completing the program, I was offered a graduate engineer position in Melbourne where I would start after graduating. After the undergraduate program ended, I came back to Adelaide and continued my final year of study while working with the WorleyParsons team in the Adelaide office.

How did you get to your current job position?

While working with the team in Adelaide, they offered me a graduate position as well and I decided to take up the role and stay back in Adelaide after I graduated. I have made the transition from being an undergraduate engineer to a graduate engineer for about a month now.

How did you choose your specialisation?

I believe choosing what you specialise in would stem from what you’re interested in. Another crucial aspect is choosing a specialisation that piques your curiosity. This will ensure that you are constantly keen to learn new things throughout your job.

What was your interview process like?

My interview process to get the job started with applying for the undergraduate program. The beginning stages of the application involved filling up forms online and following up with the company’s HR team throughout the next couple of months. The final process when I was shortlisted was to create a video answering a few questions that were given to me. Among the questions that I was asked to answer in the video were: 

  1. Why do I want to work for the company?
  2. What will I be able to contribute to the company?
  3. What are my skills and attributes?
  4. What are the challenges I will face if I get accepted into the program and how will I overcome it?

I was also supposed to use a creative approach with my video. So I decided to draw my answers out and included a voiceover in the video. 

What does your employer do?

Worley is leading global provider of professional project and asset services in the energy, chemicals and resources sectors. 

What are your areas of responsibility?

My responsibilities include equipment checks, developing engineering calculations, reviewing engineering drawings, project management tasks etc. 

Can you describe a typical workday?

A typical day of work always starts with coffee! Then, I go through my emails from the day before (I do have my work email synced to my phone, so I am aware of the emails that I need to look through the next day). Once I am done with emails, I would look through the pending tasks from the day before to see what needs my attention first depending on deadlines and start there. When I start to zone out and lose focus, I go for a little walk around the office or get myself a snack. This usually gets me feeling refreshed and then I am back at my desk completing my tasks. On certain days, there are client meetings that I attend for the current projects that I am on. This would mean going to the client’s offices where being punctual is a very important attribute to have.

The last thing I worked on was reviewing piping tie-ins for a section in a smelting plant. I was required to go through engineering drawings to ensure that the tie-ins were in the right place and was connected to the right tanks and pumps. 

What are the career prospects with your job?

There is a wide variety of opportunities when it comes to branching out from a graduate engineer. Among the different pathways are specialising into project management, technical work, sales or even the business side of the company. 

What would your career be if you weren’t doing what you’re doing now?

I almost did dentistry but decided to go with engineering. So, I think it is safe to say I would have been a dentist or some other career-related to the medical field. 

What do you love the most about your job?

I love how every day I get to immerse myself in new challenges and contribute to a project that will eventually be approved for execution in the future to be built for use. I am very keen on the project management, technical and safety-related tasks of my job.

What’s the biggest limitation of your job?

Currently, I don’t see a limitation to my job but there is a lot of responsibility that comes with it as it deals with high-risk factors. A lot of lives are at risk, so it is extremely important that every deliverable in a project is reviewed and accessed for its safety of use. For every document and calculation that I work on, every single detail needs to be justified and backed up with legitimate numerical values and standards.

The work-life balance is crucial when you take on a stressful job. So, I don’t work on the weekends. I take this time to relax, do fun things and focus on my personal life. There is no need to work on the weekends yet but if I get my job done productively during the workdays then there is no reason to stretch workdays and be less productive. 

Which three pieces of advice would you give to a current university student?

My first advice is to look at the bigger picture. When you’re too focused on the little things for too long, you tend to lose perspective on what you want to achieve out of this stressful university study period. From time to time, take a step back and shift your focus towards the end goal and get your perspective of your plan on track. 

The second one would be to take care of your mental and physical health. Take some time off if you’re feeling stress or overworked. Practice self-care regularly. This could be going out for a walk, watching your favourite movie or cooking a proper meal for yourself. 

Last but definitely not least, create connections. Join university clubs and make sure it is something that you are passionate about and attend social networking events to build your network. This will help you improve your communication skills and may also open new opportunities for you in terms of future work in the industry.