The opportunity proved popular with more than 4,400 university leavers applying for the roles at the country’s biggest electricity distributor, and skills he learns will contribute to maintaining a reliable electricity network as people increasingly use electricity to run low carbon technologies such as Electric Vehicles and heat pumps.

Originally from Southall in London, he studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at City University and will be cutting his teeth in the capital from the company’s headquarters in Southwark, London.

Hamza, who will be producing electrical designs, said: “I’m over the moon to be able to apply the electrical theories I learnt at university to real-life projects, it’s both rewarding and exciting.”

He added: “The job directly relates to my core interest working around energy and electrical distribution to millions of people across the UK.”

UK Power Networks Services delivers projects in aviation, rail, defence, ports and other commercial and industrial ventures, amongst others.

Hamza said: “It’s an important joint effort and collaboration and I will be playing a part in shaping a better future.”

The scheme is the first of its kind in five years at the electricity firm, designed to tackle the fact that engineering roles are among the hardest to fill as university leavers are more inclined to join other industries such as finance, data and IT. However, according to Engineering UK, engineering and technology jobs are predicted to grow faster than other occupations, in all UK regions between now and 2030. In addition, the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) estimates there is a 173,000 shortfall in workers in the STEM sector – costing the economy £1.5bn per year.

Stephanie Baxter, head of policy at the IET added: “Graduate schemes like this are a great step towards plugging the nation’s STEM skills gap and ensuring the next generation are equipped with the right skills and knowledge to engineer a better world for us all.

“Many people still don’t understand the work of engineers or appreciate how much society depends on their skills and innovation. This is why the UK is not going to have enough engineers in the next decade, so it is vital that we attract lots of new people from different backgrounds.”