The first CIVL Career Fair, hosted by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CIVL) on March 19, 2024, was a significant event for the department’s Year 3 and Year 4 undergraduates. It provided the students with an opportunity to connect with leading civil engineering companies and gain insight into the industry’s operations, work culture and career prospect.

Six participating companies—AECOM, Arup, Dragages, Kum Shing, Mannings and Meinhardt—set up booths to showcase their work and engage with the students. Representatives from each company enthusiastically responded to students’ questions and offered them guidance on potential career paths.

Adding to the information booths were presentations by alumni and company representatives at the Citigroup Lecture Theater (LT-A). Such first-hand experience sharing enabled students to understand the speakers’ work and the requisite skills and qualifications for different roles. The presenters included Mr. Alex LI and Ms. Giselle LEE, HR representatives from AECOM, Mr. Nelson WONG, people team representative from Arup, Ms. Catherine LEE, HR & Corporate Communications Director from Dragages, as well as CIVL alumni including Ms. Janice PANG (Class of 2022), assistant engineer (HKIE Scheme A) at Dragages, Mr. Lotus AUYEUNG (Class of 2005), assistant general manager at Kum Shing, and Ir Eric LEE (Class of 2018 and chartered in 2023) from Mannings. In addition, Ir Stephen T. M. MAK, operation director—infrastructure, Ir Allison LUNG, senior engineer, and Mr. David YUE, project engineer, all from Meinhardt, also spoke at the event.

The event was topped off with on-the-spot interviews provided by Arup and Kum Shing. This gave the students an opportunity to present themselves and potentially secure a job or an internship, along with interacting with industry professionals.

Overall, the CIVL Career Fair was a success, and the participating companies were impressed with the quality of the students and their optimism for the industry’s prospects.