Dr. Sauer & Partners at the Athens Career Day for Tunnel and Geotechnical Professionals

Greek Young Members emerge with Athens Career Day

GREECE - The first activity of the Young Members Group of the Greek Tunnelling Society (YMG-GTS) enjoyed an enthusiastic industry reception. The ‘Career Day for Tunnel and Geotechnical Professionals’ was held on 28 September during the 2nd Eastern European Tunnelling Conference in Athens, Greece and its attendance of 80 professionals exceeded expectations.

The main objective was to bring together tunnelling engineers with companies from Greece and the rest of Europe. The two-part event began with presentations, first from the companies setting out their work and development plans, then a talk by ITA Young Members Group vice chair Petr Salak on the growing role of young engineers in the ITA. The second part of the event was a networking session between the companies and attendees.

The GTS has informed Tunnels and Tunnelling that following the event; at least ten professionals are known to have been invited to a second interview stage with a view to employment.

A GTS spokesman assessed the success of the day: "Both the companies and participants requested a one hour extension at the end of the day. We also had more companies and participants than expected, and the feedback was entirely positive. But we are most pleased with the number of follow-up interviews."

Companies involved included: Hill International; Dr. Sauer and Partners; Systra; Geos Ingenieurs Conseils; Geodata; Vinci Construction; Omikronkappa Consulting; Lombardi; and Pini Swiss Engineers.

The spokesman added, "We believe that this event proved that despite the financial crisis of recent years, Greece has a very high level of students and professionals in tunnelling and geotechnical engineering. [Due to the success], our intention is to organise another event in the future. However it is too early to say exactly when."