When you look for a job at the end of your course, the graduate opportunities open to you will be found in the following types of organisations.
Click on the links to go to the sections below
Large national and multinational organisations
These organisations recruit signifcant numbers of graduates to their structured graduate training schemes. Only employers in certain sectors operate these schemes. Some employers such as BP and Network Rail will recruit over 100 graduates a year whereas Indesit and Hilton recruit between five and 20 graduates a year in the UK. These companies often recruit for a specific management function and typical roles include:
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accountancy
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human resources (HR)
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engineering
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sales
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IT
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marketing
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management
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logistics
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retail
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purchasing
Employers come onto campus in the autumn and spring terms promoting their vacancies - check out the Events pages.
Be aware of the recruitment cycle for your chosen area
The deadline for applications for the some of these scheme can be in the autumn term. Take a look at the final year career timetable but do check with the companies directly. If you are a postgraduate student and are interested in a graduate training scheme, you’ll need to apply as soon as you start your course – take a look at the postgraduate career timetable
Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
SMEs are companies employing less that 250 employees and 99 per cent of all business fall into this category.
Watch this video to find out what it is like to work for a SME (7 mins), getting started (7 mins) and getting work experience (13 mins). This video is only available to The University of Nottingham students.
SMEs are an important source of opportunities to:
In a SME you are more likely to:
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be working directly under the managing director
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be in direct communication with customers or suppliers
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have more responsibility at an early stage and contribute directly to company profits
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gain a wide range of experiences
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see your ideas put into practice
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have more control over your progression
Vacancies are advertised in these types of companies all year round. So you may be applying for vacancies during your final year or postgraduate course and once you’ve left.
The public sector and voluntary sector
There are a small number of graduate schemes in these areas, for example:
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Civil Service Fast Stream
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NHS Graduate Management Scheme
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National Graduate Development Programme (local government)
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Cancer Research UK graduate programme
As well as these schemes, vacancies will be advertised in local and national newspapers and through job boards on the internet.
Use the Public Sector section and the Charity, Development Work and Regeneration sections to find out more.
Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP)
A Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) is a graduate recruitment programme operating in over 3,000 organisations from micro-sized to large businesses. KTP is a three way project between a graduate, an organisation and a university, research organisation or further education college.