Explore career options
School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering (ABCE)
Civil and Building Engineering
Your careers team
Careers Network is here to support you by providing information, advice, guidance, events and opportunities to enable you to secure placements, work experience, self-employment and graduate careers.
Working closely with your academic school, our team of experts ensures that every student has access to careers advice. As well as large careers fairs, we hold sector-specific events, involving employers and º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ alumni, to help you make valuable connections and secure high-quality placements and graduate roles.
To find out more about what we do and how we can support you, visit Meet the teams.
Details of the Placements Officers for your school can be found here.
We look forward to supporting you throughout your º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ journey.
Key skills developed during your degree
A civil engineering degree develops many skills that are valued not only by engineering employers but also by those in a variety of sectors, including financial services, management and information technology.
- Ability to research, and analyse and interpret data
- Analytical and decision making ability
- Awareness of issues when planning and managing projects
- Business/Commercial awareness
- Communication skills, written and oral
- Creativity and problem solving ability
- Critical thinking and the ability to evaluate design, plans and projects
- Interpersonal and team-working skills
- Languages (optional module)
- Numeracy and computer literacy
- Organisation, time-management and planning skills
- Understanding of effective leadership skills and management
- Understanding of health and safety
Career options
Career areas related to the Civil & Building Engineering courses:
- Building Control Surveyor
- CAD Technician
- Consulting Civil Engineer
- Contracting Civil Engineer
- Construction Manager
- Design Engineer
- Estimator
- Mining Engineer
- Nuclear Engineer
- Quantity Surveyor
- Site Engineer
- Structural Engineer
- Water Engineer
Careers where your degree would be useful:
- Architectural Technologist
- Building Services Engineer
- Engineering Geologist
- Environmental Consultant
- Environmental Engineer
- Estate Agent
- Facilities Management
- Fire Risk Assessor
- Geotechnical Engineer
- Patent Attorney
- Property Management
- Sustainability Consultant
- Town Planner
- Urban Designer
- Remember 60% of graduate roles are open to all disciplines. A civil engineering degree develops many skills that are valued not only by engineering employers but also by those in a variety of sectors, including financial services, management and information technology.
You can also look at other course pages depending on other modules you have taken and/or are interested in.
Further study
Further study at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ:
The School of Civil and Building Engineering offers postgraduate courses in a variety of disciplines
The School also offers PhD / MPhil research opportunities
Further study elsewhere:
Postgraduate taught programmes:
PhD opportunities:
Professional development websites:
Where do graduates go?
What do º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Civil and Building Engineering graduates do?
Graduates from this subject area have gone on to destinations where:
Employers included:
AECOM, Balfour Beatty, Barclays, British Army, Eurovia, Kier Group, Laing O’Rourke, Lendlease, Mace, Mott MacDonald, Softcat and Vinci.
Roles included:
Army Officer, Civil Engineer, Commercial Manager, Construction Manager, Design Consultant, Insurance Underwriter, Highway Engineer, Networking & Security Specialist, Quantity Surveyor, Site Manager, Software Developer and Structural Engineer.
Further Study included:
Civil Engineering graduates undertook postgraduate courses at Coventry University and the University of Nottingham.
Further information
For more information on companies graduates work for, industry links and career opportunities, visit the subject area page of the University website. You can also find out what our students say in our student stories of personal journeys through and beyond º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ and track the career journeys and º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ experiences of some of our alumni.
Resources to research career areas
- Institution of Civil Engineers: careers advice
- Prospects: overview of property and construction
- Prospects: what can I do with my degree in civil engineering? (Includes job descriptions, salary and working conditions, details of employers, where to find vacancies and more)
- TargetJobs: construction and property - industry overview
- TargetJobs: engineering
- TargetJobs: routes to achieving chartered and incorporated status
- RICS Surveying Careers Guide
- Obtaining a career in Construction Management ACI article
- UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC)
- Talentview Construction
Resources to find experience, placements and graduate jobs
Students have the option of taking a year-long placement in industry which provides an invaluable opportunity to develop their professional and technical skills further.
Additionally, we advertise many opportunities for summer internships and encourage students to gain experience valuable in the workplace through extra-curricular activities such as volunteering, committee memberships, work-shadowing and part-time work.
- See Target Connect for vacancies and opportunities
Other useful links:
- Prospects:jobs search
- The Engineer jobs
- Gradcracker
- Just Engineers
- Matchtech
- Target jobs
- EDT Placements
- Engineering Jobs
- RateMyPlacement
- STEM Women
- Engineers Without Borders UK
- Careers In Construction
- ICE Recruit
- New Civil Engineer Careers
- Talentview Construction free to use recruitment platform for a range of opportunities in the Construction industry
Professional bodies, sector and labour market information (LMI)
Professional bodies:
- Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE)
- Chartered Institute of Building
- Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES)
- Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT)
- Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)
- Institution of Structural Engineers
- Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
- The Engineering Council
- Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM)
Sector and labour market information (LMI):
- Careers in Construction: articles and careers information
- ICE: civil engineering sector news
- The Association for Consultancy and Engineering: latest political, industry and economic news affecting the engineering sector
- RICS: News & Insights
- New Civil Engineer: the office magazine of the Institution of Civil Engineers
- The Student Engineer
- The Engineer: Civil & Structural
- The Engineer: Energy & Environment
- The Engineer: Rail & Marine