After three years at uni you’d think you have a grad scheme sorted, or at least a decent CV. But with all your exams over, well, here you are.
Grad schemes are a great way to receive well-paid, on-the-job, training. They tend to last one to two years and are an opportunity to build rapport with an employer and get an introduction to the working world. You often start at the same time as others and many enjoy the social benefits of this.
However, the application process is hard. It can include pages of questions on your strengths and suitability and psychometric testing. Some even want five-minute video submissions, explaining why you’ve got the skills they are looking for. “You have to set aside a lot of time to apply,” says recent graduate, Mathilda Frampton, 22.
Competition is fierce. Salaries start at about £19,000 and reach £40,000 in some industries and the schemes cover a broad range of sectors from banking, law and engineering, to retail and hospitality. In 2018, the NHS said they had 17,000 applicants for 200 spaces on one scheme. Freshfields, one of the top five City law firms, say they get around 1,300 applications for 80 training contracts.
Grad schemes are not, however, the only option, so are they worth it?
“Definitely,” says Raph Mokades, founder of Rare, a recruitment agency for ethnic minority graduates. “Grad schemes are a leg up. You become part of a cohort and the company invests in you.”
Graduates agree. “It’s been challenging and I’ve learned new skills that I feel proud of,” says Elena Waite, a software engineer at a beauty and wellness tech startup in Manchester.
Many grad jobs give you the chance to rotate through divisions within the company to get the best sense of what you want to do. If you have been trained there, the goal is often to retain you once you finish.
Tarique Chowdhury, head of communications from the NHS Graduate Management Scheme, says it will be offering 500 placements this year. “Trainees get frontline experience, strong support and we educate them throughout,” he says.
Grad schemes do historically have a diversity problem and intakes tend to be white and middle-class. According to the Institute of Student Employers, more than 70% of employers now see tackling social mobility as a key priority. Many are targeting a broader range of universities and there has been a recent drive towards contextual recruitment, which means each applicant’s achievements are assessed in the context of their socioeconomic background.
Mokades thinks this is evidence that progress is being made. “It used to be that everyone had great grades so they took the ones with the flashiest work experience,” he says. These days, if you went to a school in a disadvantaged area and you haven’t got work experience or climbed Kilimanjaro, recruiters will “totally understand why you only have Primark” on your CV. “They’re falling over themselves to try and get you,” he says.
Others are sceptical and think those from privileged backgrounds still dominate. “We get students who have never done an interview in their life,” says James Catchpole, director of the Legal Practice Course at the City Law School. “They are intimidated as soon as they walk into an office block. They feel like they are going to mess up and it can knock their confidence.” Although he thinks big organisations are interviewing candidates from a more diverse range of schools and universities, he questions how many jobs are really available to them.
With organisations such as the Sutton Trust and the Social Mobility Foundation, working hard to help young people from less advantaged backgrounds into graduate jobs, Mokades says recruitment practices are changing and there is no reason you can’t succeed. “Twenty-seven percent of those getting training contracts are from disadvantaged backgrounds,” he says. “How has that happened? By organisations working to up-skill people so they are on a level playing field.”
The UK labour market
The UK’s employment has been hit by highs and lows over the years. Since 2016, full-time work opportunities have grown, and unemployment levels for young people are low. A part of this is as a result of an increase in “atypical” roles: two-thirds of the growth in employment since 2008 has been in roles such as self-employment, zero-hours contracts or agency work.
Unemployment rates, like wages, are lower than they were before the financial crash. While real wage growth is on course to strengthen further this year to 1.5%, making it the fastest growth since the EU referendum, the pay growth is still well below the rate from before the financial crash, which was 2.3%.
In some sectors, employment rates have dropped. For one, the retail industry’s share of the UK workforce has shrunk, with 320,000 jobs being cut since 2003. But on the flip side, this has led to job creation in other sectors – from social care, to hospitality. And thanks to technology, there are new roles being created, too. Rather than replace young people in working jobs, AI, robotics and other forms of smart automation has the potential to bring an abundance of new, creative roles. Rossalyn Warren