Applying for graduate jobs - is it worth just applying for big recruiters?

There is an assumption with undergraduates that most graduate vacancies are with big employers, like accountancy firms and retailers. Another assumption is that these employers are the ‘only’ ones that have graduate opportunities, and that they are the only ones that will offer an interesting, challenging and worthwhile graduate career. 

The recent Highfliers Graduate Market in 2017 report has come up with some interesting national statistics about the biggest graduate employers:

The country's top employers plan to increase their graduate recruitment by a further 4.3% in 2017, the fifth consecutive year that graduate vacancies have grown.

The biggest growth in vacancies is expected at public sector organisations and high street & online retailers which together intend to recruit over 1,200 extra graduates in 2017.

Half the UK’s leading employers said they had received more completed graduate job applications during the early part of the recruitment season than they had last year and two-fifths also believed the quality of applications had improved.

In 2015, the latest figures available, there were 248,000 students who graduated. 76.1% of these went onto full time work, 13% did more study, 5% were working and studying (with the rest doing a range of other things!). But it is not just big national employers where graduates end up. Indeed, 35% of those working were doing so for employers with fewer than 250 staff, and 1 in 20 were with employers who had less than 50 staff. (What do Graduates do? 2016 HESCU)

There are benefits to applying for a graduate scheme with a big employer. These often include:  

• Higher starting salary
• More structured training/CPD
• A structured initial career path
• Numerous new graduates starting at the same time

So what about SMEs (small and medium enterprises)? As mentioned, these organisations tend to have fewer than 250 employees. There are definite advantages to working for a SME, including:

• more responsibilities and varied work early on
• more likely to need you to hit the ground running
• a far better work/life balance – no 12-15 hour days as a trainee solicitor or in finance

SME’s are more likely to create a unique job role, depending on your skills and the company’s needs, rather than being one of 500 trainee accountants doing the exact same job.

There are several skills that employers need regardless of size, e.g. commercial awareness and ability to work as part of a team. But smaller companies are likely to want employees who are ‘work ready’ and able to contribute to as soon as possible. This means that you are likely to feel that you are making a contribution/having an impact sooner rather than later!

So, if you are thinking that working for an SME might be an option, then the next question is how to identify where the opportunities are. They won’t be advertised on the Association of Graduate Recruiters, prospects or graduate milkround websites! This is where LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and google will be very useful tools to identify and research potential SME’s. But its not only online that this research can happen, it is worth joining professional associations, talking to tutors and careers staff about their contacts too. On top of this, actively making use of business organisations like the Essex FSB, Essex IOD and chambers of commerce will be helpful if you can. They will often have members meetings where you can meet employers over breakfast or at certain events. Smaller organisations are more likely to respond to a speculative approach than the big graduate recruiters, and will have vacancies at different points of the year, whereas quite often big employers will often have set times of the year they advertise to recruit graduates.

And finally, most graduates will work for SME’s at some point after they have graduated, regardless of the amount of media ‘time’ the well known employers get in talking about their recruitment issues or shortages. Don’t be put off by the competition for a graduate scheme place with a big employer either. What you will need to do is think through not only what career you would like to do, but the different challenges that the size of company you work for will offer you. Preparation and planning will be essential for getting your application right, regardless of company size.