Springwood resident Alecia Newton has secured a place on the highly coveted 2020 Sydney Water Graduate Program.
The new graduate in Environmental Science from Western Sydney University is one of just 13 selected from more than 1700 applications received from university students across Australia.
Sydney Water's program has been operating since 1991 with around 570 graduates joining the program since then.
"I applied for the graduate program because throughout my degree and work experience with Blue Mountains City Council, I learned how appealing water science was to me and I enjoyed working with water," said Ms Newton. "There are so many areas within the water industry to explore and I look forward to starting this journey with Sydney Water."
This year Ms Newtown will be working as a graduate environmental scientist at Sydney Water's wastewater treatment plant at Penrith.
"I hope to help protect and monitor the environment and our water throughout my career," she said.
Sydney Water's program specialist Susan Bentley said the award-winning program allows Sydney Water to draw on the best candidates coming through universities across a range of fields including digital and analytics, engineering, science, finance and communications.
"Graduates are offered a four-year rotational program with up to four, 12 month work placements. During this time, we help them to discover their potential through a range of learning opportunities.
"The program develops our future leaders. We focus on harnessing the diversity of thought, experiences and perspectives our graduates bring," said Ms Bentley.
Sydney Water's graduate program provides on the job experience and learning opportunities to university graduates, including a two-week induction period to help with the transition from university to full-time work.
Ms Bentley added: "Sydney Water has been ranked as the second-best place to work in Australia for new graduates entering the workforce by the Australian Association of Graduate Employers.
"The top employers in the rankings are those organisations that provide the most positive experience for new graduates based on the opinions of graduates themselves."
Applications for Sydney Water's 2021 graduate program closes on March 15, 2020. Candidates can submit an online application and find out more about the program on Sydney Water's website www.careers.sydneywater.com.au.
