Graduate Scheme.

I joined Pegasus Group in October 2020, during the peak of Covid-19, as a Graduate Urban Designer in the East Midlands office. I previously studied BA Urban Planning and MA Urban Design at Newcastle University. Working at Pegasus Group, I have been supported to work both at home and in the office whilst developing my knowledge of Urban Design. I have been exposed to a wide aspect of design including: masterplanning, detailed layouts and house type design.

The graduate training programme has further developed my knowledge of the corporate world, my understanding of the company as a whole and supported the transition between education and the professional working environment. Further to this, Pegasus Group encourage a good work-life balance and aim to create tight knit teams. Summer days out, Friday drink and office dogs all help teams to bond and strengthen the workplace relationship.

I joined Pegasus Group during the pandemic and began by working from home. The Graduate Training Programme helped bring the graduates together in a time where networking and socialising were difficult. The information sessions held as part of the programme further eased me into graduate life and familiarised me with Pegasus Group as a business. Working alongside industry experts has been vital to my professional development as an urban designer and this has aided my transition from being a student to become a professional.

Since joining Pegasus I have adapted and grasped new skills quickly considering I started this new position from home. At the start of my role, I was assigned a mentor within the London Office, and have been well looked after (if only virtually at the start), which has given me so much confidence. I have seen my abilities go from strength to strength each month and my monthly coaching sessions with HR have helped me recognise those improvements and encouraged me to push myself that little bit further every time. In such a short space of time I have learnt so much. I have grasped the basics (researching planning history; policy designations and constraints; drafting appraisals) and I am now able to draft cover letters, planning statements, pre-application letters and manage my own applications. I am now ready for so much more and Pegasus have created a seamless balance between guiding and challenging their graduates to prepare them for their future in planning.

Pegasus Group really welcomed me from the moment I got offered my position here. The team and the graduate training programme have helped me to get up to speed with my role within the company and general workplace skills. Each project we work on is unique, making every day a new challenge. My role incorporates many different tasks, for example I can go from a site visit to talking with highways officers at a council to junction modelling in a single day! I have learnt so much in only six months and am looking forward to progressing in my own discipline and developing a more nuanced understanding of the crossovers with other disciplines within the company.