Graduates

As a recent graduate looking to begin your career in engineering or a student looking to gain some work experience, it's important you look beyond the traditional graduate recruitment channels. Blue-chip companies and big "household" names may come to mind first but did you know only 14% of graduates join such schemes?

A great deal of innovation comes from SMEs. There are over 3.7 million SMEs in the UK which makes up 90% of businesses. The UK has a strong track record of invention so why not see what a career with an SME can do for you?

Benefits of starting your career in a SME

• Variety & Early Responsibility – Job roles are often less rigidly defined giving you the flexibility to get involved in a variety of tasks and functions. Not only will you get a better understanding of different disciplines, you’ll learn how a business operates as a whole and also get to work closely with other people including senior management.
• Higher profile - You’re much more likely to get noticed in a smaller company than in a larger one. Also there are less layers of management which means a working environment may be less bureaucratic and you can progress quicker or get "fast – tracked".
• You can make a genuine contribution – You can make a real contribution - seeing your ideas implemented and experiencing projects from start to finish. Research has shown that job satisfaction is often higher with small companies.

In general, SMEs do not have a formal graduate scheme and are not tied to any set methods of recruitment so vacancies might occur at any time of the year. Do you want to know where to find them and who they are? Come to Derwent Associates and we’ll put you in touch.