#GradStories Ciara Crosby, Sustainability Co-Ordinator at Kingspan

What are your main tasks in a typical week?

While my tasks and activities vary week to week, we have a very structured workflow within our team. We have team meetings on Mondays and Fridays where we go through different deadlines and priorities for that week.

My role is split between data and reporting and supporting the sustainability programme’s agenda. This includes ensuring completeness and accuracy of our non-financial data which is inputted monthly into a centralised system. Tasks would include auditing the energy, water and waste figures that are entered by our manufacturing, assembly and R&D sites.

At Kingspan we have a ten-year sustainability programme called Planet Passionate and us as the sustainability team have the responsibility of liaising with different divisions and tracking progress against those charts. We also have the responsibility to develop different procedures and technical documents on the subject.

Another key aspect of my role is internal education. This includes developing different learning assets for different colleagues on topics of sustainability within the business.

What skills do you need to be successful in this role?

Communication is essential when working in a team. Building rapport with the people you work with is essential to driving progress or getting different projects across the line. Having the motivation to learn and ask questions is also important. The graduate programme within Kingspan really enabled me to develop these skills even further. During the programme we were tasked with creating a project that would benefit the business and presenting the project to senior management.

How did you get into your job?

I graduated from Maynooth University with a bachelor in geography and accounting. My initial plan was to become a secondary school teacher but when I was in college, I took a climate change module and took an interest in the subject. Following from that, I completed a masters in climate change science. I then started applying to different graduate programmes and was lucky enough to be accepted to the graduate programme at Kingspan.

One thing that drew me to Kingspan was their extensive sustainability, goals and targets. I joined Kingspan as a sustainability graduate. Another thing that drew me to company was the fact that your role was made permanent from day 1 so it showed their willingness to see you grow within the company.

What advice would you give to a new graduate?

One key piece of advice I would give to a student or graduate looking to pursue a career in this sector would be to have a keen interest in sustainability and always be keen to learn more about the topic. Sustainability is a new aspect to any company that has been growing and is driven by policy and legislation. It’s good to always want to learn more and educate on the subject particularly as a graduate.

I find e-learning modules and webinars and events very helpful to grow your knowledge.

What do you love about your job?

One thing I love about working for Kingspan is the people. My team is very supportive and always willing to help you when you need it. I also have the opportunity to build global relationships with people across the business and with that comes the opportunity to travel to different companies, visit different manufacturing sites and learn the processing of different Kingspan products and how they are made.

Another thing is how no day is the same. Having a diverse workload has always appealed to me.