Four Offaly graduates embarking on ESB development programme

Four graduates from Offaly have commenced a two-and-a-half-year development programme with the ESB.

Darragh O'Brien, Shane O'Rourke and Callum Bergin, all from Tullamore, and Sarah Hutchinson, from Portarlington, are among the graduates from Irish and international third-level institutions who are taking part in the prestigious initiative.

The 80 graduates span the fields of engineering, IT, HR, commercial and finance, and their induction was held at ESB's head office in Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin.

This year's graduates will be placed across five business units – ESB Networks, Generation and Trading, Engineering and Major Projects, Customer Solutions and Enterprise Services.

The tailored programme offers each graduate the opportunity to gain experience by working on challenging assignments and major projects that offer exposure to the varied businesses of the organisation.

Each graduate will receive a range of supports including being partnered with individual mentors from within their business units, IT equipment, and access to allow hybrid working as part of ESB's smart working offering.

ESB's Graduate Development Programme aims to recruit talent to drive innovation and support the delivery of its 'Net Zero by 2040' strategy.

The company pointed out that this year's intake was the largest number of graduates it had recruited in more than five years.

"Nurturing professional and personal development is at the heart of our programme, and we see great potential for what our graduates, individually and together, can achieve during their time with ESB," said Sinéad Kilkelly, the company's executive director for people and organisation development.

Recruitment for the 2024 Graduate Development Programme will open on Monday, September 18, and the ESB is inviting applications from all final-year students.

Applications can be made at: www.esb.ie/careers.