Careers and Employability Centre

Graduate schemes

The major graduate schemes start recruiting from the beginning of your final year. The start date for the job to begin will generally be the autumn after graduation. Many of these schemes have pre-January deadlines and some sectors are notorious for having early deadlines, including finance and advertising.

Other graduate schemes now have 'ongoing deadlines' or have no closing dates listed. In reality, this means that their recruitment processes are open now and they will close them when they are full. Even where a specific deadline is given, employers will still look at applications as they are received and may even start the interviewing process too.

So, if you are interested in applying for particular graduate schemes, don't wait!

Applying

Do your research. Find out what is available using our Grad Scheme Search links, or pick up some free directories from our Centre. We have Times Top 100 Graduate Employers, TARGETjobs Get and Real Prospects directories to take away.

Look for the employers/opportunities that interest you the most, and find out more about them:

  • Try to visit some graduate careers fairs. Ours is generally in November, but there are others in London in the Autumn and Summer
  • Use these for information-seeking. Find out about the corporate culture, the sort of work you would be doing, what sort of people they look for. These sorts of insights can help you decide both whether you want to apply and how to focus your application
  • Use our researching employers page to help you dig further
  • A growing number of graduate employers are using Twitter and Facebook as part of their social media presence and/or recruitment process. These are often staffed by recent graduates, so are a great way to pick up useful information and advice

This all takes time. It is better to focus your attention on a few well thought out applications than to send off loads of generic ones. Tailor each application based on the job description and your knowledge of the employer gained through researching them. We have lots of information to help you when applying for jobs and advisers are here every weekday to help you with feedback and advice.

For more advice on applying for graduate schemes see TARGETjobs

Remember

Graduate schemes are often seen as the main aspirational route for graduate careers. Given the number of free directories we have to give away each year, you would be forgiven for thinking they are the only route for graduates. However, employers pay to be in these directories and their graduate schemes account for under 10% of the total number of graduate jobs each year. These schemes also tend to be in the corporate world of business, finance and retail.

Be aware that there are alternatives which will suit some people better. Even if you are intent on getting onto a graduate scheme, but are unsuccessful initially, there are still ways to navigate a successful career in your chosen area. But it may require some creative jobsearch strategies

Resources

Grad Scheme Search

See also