Graduate program

ORIMA Graduate Program

ORIMA’s graduate program has been operating for 20 years. ORIMA Research is an industry-leading private social research consultancy with offices in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane, and staff and field researchers located across Australia. We aim to improve the wellbeing of people through our contribution to high quality, evidence-based research, advisory and data analytics services for a range of clients in the public and not-for-profit sectors. Our research expertise spans a range of important sectors, including healthcare and wellbeing, employee engagement, education, environmental assets, social policy, disability, sports programs, communications, First Nations, and more. You can find out more about our work here.

All of our work is underpinned by a commitment to our corporate values. In order to foster a high-performing and productive organisation, we invest in the professional development, growth and wellbeing of our staff. This includes a range of mentoring and development opportunities with experienced colleagues, various wellbeing initiatives, avenues for regular feedback and performance review, opportunities for cross-team collaboration, committees to contribute to our broader company culture and a high-quality working environment.

“ORIMA Research is strongly committed to its Graduate Program. The program enables the company to identify, recruit and develop high potential junior staff. It plays a key role in supporting ORIMA’s growth as Australia’s leading provider of market and social research, data analytics, organisational performance measurement and related advisory services to government agencies. Graduates who participate in the program obtain the opportunity to learn from Australia’s most qualified and experienced group of research consulting professionals – ORIMA has 27 Qualified Professional Researchers (QPRs) among its staff (4 times more than any other firm in the industry), 3 of whom are Fellows of The Research Society. Graduates who successfully complete the program often rapidly progress their careers within the company. Many of ORIMA’s senior staff initially joined the company as graduates.” – Szymon Duniec, Managing Director

What to expect

ORIMA Research provides high-potential graduates with a pathway to a rewarding career in research and consulting through transparent career progression within the company. Regular reviews against a Competency Framework and check-ins with managers enable ongoing career advancement within ORIMA Research. Our graduate program provides the opportunity and support to learn and develop research skills through ongoing, unstructured learning during the course of a variety of projects, as well as a formal training program. You will learn the technical and non-technical skills required for a successful career in the research consulting industry directly from some of Australia’s leading researchers — ORIMA Research has the highest number of Qualified Professional Researchers (QPR) in the sector, making us well-placed to support new staff to grow and succeed.

“The ORIMA graduate program benefits young researchers as it provides a fast-paced yet incredibly supportive environment for individuals to commence their career in professional social and government research services. ORIMA’s strong focus on rapid skills development allows our graduates to quickly become involved in highly important and exciting projects, and ultimately lays the groundwork for individuals to build a long and successful career in the industry. Our onboarding process is designed so that groups of graduates commence their roles at the same time, allowing them to build a strong network of supportive colleagues.

Managing graduates at ORIMA and witnessing their incredible growth and development over time has been a highly rewarding experience. ORIMA’s graduates bring a fresh perspective, positive attitude, and strong energy to our teams. This offers immense benefits to myself as a manager, as well as to colleagues at all levels of the business. Their openness and curiosity encourage us all to constantly challenge our own thinking, evolve and refine our approach to our work for the better.” – Clare Gelman, Senior Research Manager

You will be working on substantive components of varied, interesting research projects from day one. Successful graduates across all program pathways will be given the opportunity to develop their skills through ownership and management of a graduate project. This opportunity will facilitate professional growth to become a well-rounded researcher and consultant from the earliest stages of your career.

Our graduate program offers a unique opportunity to be part of an expanding, high performance, award-winning privately owned research consultancy with a supportive and strengths-based culture, underpinned by positive psychology principles, with a strong focus on collaboration, development and doing meaningful work.

“As a participant in ORIMA’s inaugural graduate intake, in 2003 (!), I was impressed with the welcoming culture and emphasis on learning and growth from the outset. My experience over the years has reflected an excellent balance between being developed and brought along at an appropriate pace against being challenged and given opportunities to shine. Put simply, I have been consistently put in positions to succeed at ORIMA.

Having development opportunities within a supportive and engaging work environment has meant that progression from research assistant to analyst to becoming a team leader, and most recently ORIMA’s Privacy & Ethics manager, has felt smooth and well-paced. The opportunities have included an extensive list of internal training sessions and most importantly ongoing mentoring from Directors/ Partners, alongside generous support to attend external training, conferences and to take on representative roles within the research industry.” – Tyler Forrester, Principal Research Manager (Graduate program, 2003)

Graduate program pathways

Successful applicants to ORIMA Research’s Graduate Program will be generally placed into one of two primary research streams, outlined below. Some intakes also include Data Science.

Qualitative Research: As a Graduate Research Assistant within our qualitative research division, you will provide direct support to senior qualitative research specialists on a broad range of research projects. Most of our qualitative research is conducted for government agencies and other peak bodies, and our projects regularly cover topics related to technology, health and wellbeing, education, employment, and First Nations communities. As a qualitative Research Assistant, you will be exposed to a broad range of qualitative methodologies and will be actively involved in the support and conduct of fieldwork (e.g., in-depth interviewing and focus groups), analysis and interpretation of qualitative research findings, client inception meetings/ presentations and report writing (e.g., literature reviews, desk research, topline and full-scale research reports). This role involves regular interstate travel, and some weekday evening work is required.

“As a graduate in the qualitative research stream at ORIMA Research, I was exposed to interesting and impactful projects from my very first day. I had the opportunity to work on projects that informed federal government social marketing campaigns designed to raise awareness and support Australians in relation to important topics, such as childcare, online safety and domestic and family violence. We conducted focus groups and interviews with people from across Australia, often traveling to cities and regional towns I had never been to before. My role in these projects was to support the senior researchers throughout the project planning, data collection, analysis and reporting phases of the project. My team had an incredibly supportive and nurturing culture that enabled me to learn and develop from each new experience.” – Alison McLaverty, Senior Research Consultant (Qualitative Research, Graduate Program 2018)

Quantitative Research: As a Graduate Research Assistant within our quantitative research division, you will dive straight into involvement in all facets of project work. This can include client meetings, research design and questionnaire development, survey fieldwork management, as well as data analysis and reporting. You will have the opportunity to work with data in SPSS and Excel, as well as Q and R in some teams. You will use these programs to clean and process raw data to be client-ready, to code open-ended comments into set themes, and to produce charts and descriptive statistics for use in reporting. Finally, you will contribute to written project reports and proposals. Our quantitative teams run projects in education, client and stakeholder research, disability sector research, campaign and program evaluation, community research and more, for a variety of government agencies.

“During my time in the Graduate Program, I have had the privilege to work with some of Australia’s leading Qualified Professional Researchers (QPR). The knowledge and experience they bring to each session are valuable for anyone looking to pursue or further their career in professional research services. Each session is carefully designed to train and equip its graduates to become accomplished researchers in their respective fields. Having been more involved with quantitative research, the Graduate Program has provided me opportunities to hone my skills in programming, data analysis, and research framework development. Furthermore, I have had the opportunity to work on exciting projects with high-profile clients such as the Australian Federal Police, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and many others. I highly recommend the ORIMA Graduate Program to anyone looking to work alongside an expanding, high-performing organisation that is built on a friendly and inclusive environment.” – Jack Chou, Research Assistant (Quantitative research, Graduate program 2022)

“As a graduate at ORIMA not only do you get to work with some of the most qualified researchers in the industry, but you also get to work on extremely engaging and challenging projects. In my first year as a Data Scientist, I had worked directly with clients at the Department of Education for which I had developed dashboards, analysed, modelled, and extracted millions upon millions of rows of data for. One of the biggest strengths of the graduate program is the focus on a sustainable work-life balance. This balance has been instrumental in my motivation not only to keep learning, but also contribute to some of the most interesting projects in the industry.” – Rhys Tooth, Data Scientist (Data Science, Graduate Program 2021)

How to apply

Our Graduate Program applications open twice a year. Please keep an eye on opportunities that will be listed here:
Work with us – Research and consulting careers at ORIMA