The Newton Experience – Professional Development
Your time with Newton begins with an intensive three week induction course (with the third week abroad) that will teach you the skills that you need to succeed in your Newton career. In the three weeks you will cover a wide range of topics including:
- The Theory – Calculating plant and labour efficiencies, identifying all the losses in an industrial process and putting a value on them, measuring cycle times of sub-processes, mapping the output profile of the line, identifying bottlenecks and prioritising areas for the focus of improvement work.
- People Skills – The success of a project will always depend on your ability to get along with the on-site teams; this means that your ability to manage a client team and to handle difficult situations and people are critical. You will cover a wide variety of scenarios and approaches to help you deal with these, sometimes in role, and usually with one of the directors playing the position of an obstreperous member of a client team!
- Presentation Skills – When working on a project you will be required to give regular updates to the senior member of the client team, and since these presentations are central to the impression that you give of yourself and Newton on site, there is plenty of practice to develop and hone your ability to present your work and results clearly, concisely and at a level of detail appropriate for your audience.
Personal Mentoring
After the initial induction period, all your time will be spent on site under the guidance of the lead consultant for that project. Straight away you will be given your own line, and will be responsible for improving it with the client team. This means that the majority of your personal development will be guided by one-to-one mentoring from the lead consultant on site. We have a great feedback culture and in the early days on site this will be key to your rapid development. You should feel that you can call anyone in the company at anytime to ask for help or advice, and you will learn huge amounts from working with senior Newton consultants, and your interactions with the client. In addition there is a formal appraisal process that happens every six months. This is an opportunity to discuss your progress, and identify strengths and weaknesses, highlight any problems you may have, and plan how best to develop your skills over the next six months.
Company Development
Every two weeks the whole company meets up for a day to review all the current projects. This is always an enjoyable day where you can get presentation feedback, and guidance for the work that you are doing. A room full of consultants can quickly identify solutions for any problems that you may have. They can sometimes highlight areas that you may have missed in the day-to-day running of a project. In addition to reviewing the progress of all the projects, this day is used to pass on newly developed ideas and methods to the rest of the company, and to try out new client workshops. As you progress through your career with Newton, you will become increasingly involved in the development of the company and methods that we use. These meetings are also a great way to get to know everybody, and play an important part in the open culture of the company.
Engineers Without Borders
Newton is actively involved with Engineers Without Borders UK. EWB is a student-led charity that focuses on removing barriers to development using engineering. Their programmes provide opportunities for young engineers in the UK to learn about technology's role in development. EWB's members are making a difference to people's lives around the world. Newton consultants are involved with training for EWB as well as taking part in their placement programmes around the world.
Skill Set Development
You will attend a number of in-depth courses off site. These sessions are tailored to your position in the company and whether you need specific training for a particular project. Development topics include:
- Teaching our methodology to clients
- Sales and marketing
- Factory assessment
- Project management
- Project finance
- PLC programming
- Advanced Excel
- Warehousing
- Production planning
- Dealing with difficult situations
Appraisals
We have a formal six monthly appraisal system to ensure you are on track and developing as fast as possible. At least once a year this will be with a Newton director.
