Stay Away - Terrible Experience for Interns and Grads and Zero Transparency - Intern Sydney Water Employee Review

1.0
23 Oct 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Some nice people on individual teams (though that depends entirely on luck) - Flexible hours and an okay work-life balance

Cons

If you’re a student or recent grad considering this company, please take this as a warning: avoid it at all costs. Only take an internship here if you truly have no other options and just want the money desperately. This should be your absolute last preference. The company completely failed its interns and early talent. They hired less than half the number of grads they originally promised, leaving most interns, many of whom had been there for 1-2 years, without a grad offer. The excuse? They “hired too many grads last year” and “don’t have the budget” this time. What makes it worse is the dishonesty. Just 2-3 months ago, they promised all interns an interview for the graduate program and didn’t even deliver on that. Many were rejected outright, without a chance to interview, with vague excuses that their “skillset” didn't match the roles. It’s an incredibly disappointing and unprofessional way to treat people who’ve put in real work for the company. And if you think the grad program itself is better, it’s not. I’ve heard they treat grads the same way. It’s a 27-month program, and by the end of it (or during it), barely any roles are available for grads to move into. The company doesn’t retain most of them either. The whole early careers team and the grad program manager are terrible; they didn’t even bother to set up meetings or apologise to interns who’ve been there 1-2 years. Let alone an apology, they didn't even bother to give proper reasons; they just sent a vague email. Sure, it might not be entirely in their control to hire everyone, but there’s something called basic decency. They could’ve at least communicated properly, explained the reasons, or given honest updates. Instead, the grad recruitment process dragged on endlessly with no clarity; interns were kept completely in the dark, waiting for answers that never came. On top of all that, the internship experience itself is worthless. You won’t learn anything new. Teams just hand you boring, repetitive tasks they don’t want to do themselves. I honestly feel like I gained nothing of real value during my time there.

Explore other reviews about Sydney Water

3.0
23 Jan 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

9 Day fortnight Work/life balance Easy to take time off If you have a good manger they can mentor and develop you to where you want to be

Cons

If you are in team where you have bad manager it is hard to progress and grow. Any family or husband and wives working at the company need to be in completely different divisions to get rid of negative conflict of interest tactics.

4
1.0
9 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

High pay, good flexibility, you can slack off and no one cares.

Cons

Good people are terminated or made redundant to make way for managers friends. Recruitment is not merit based. Unqualified people are appointed to roles ahead of qualified people. Our manager was made redundant and the HoB then appointed his friend who met NONE of the job criteria.

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All