What are Employer Graduate Programmes

Friday, October 7, 2022 - 10:15

Employer graduate programmes are structured employment programmes, run mainly by large employers, and are open to applications from final year students and recent graduates.  They are usually between one to two years in duration, although they can be longer or permanent.  Most employers provide opportunities at the end of these programmes for graduate trainees to apply for permanent jobs with their company and employers are eager to retain talent.  These programmes provide the opportunity to learn and further develop the key skills needed to work with that particular employer in their particular industry. 
 
Some graduate programmes require that you have studied a particular subject or subjects but a lot of Graduate Programmes are open to final year students and recent graduates of any degree/subject.  Employers refer to this in their advertising as – ‘Open to graduates of any discipline’. This means that employers are more interested in the skills you have developed from your studies rather than the specific degree subjects e.g. critical and evaluative thinking, research skills, time management, and that you are interested in work within their business area in the particular role.
 
You apply for graduate programmes while you are in final year (you do not need to wait until you have graduated).  Some employers have closing dates that are very early in your final year e.g.   Accounting, Business, Finance, IT, Law and more.  You could therefore have a job offer before you complete your final year studies (conditional on your final year results)
 
Successful candidates would then start work with their employer on the graduate programme usually in August or September following graduation, but the start date can vary, and some employers will get new recruits to start as soon as possible. 

Large and some medium sized employers also advertise graduate jobs, graduate internships and entry level jobs.  Small employers mainly advertising entry level roles, and in small and medium sized Accounting also Law firms, both will advertise training contracts relevant to their areas . The advantages of working with small and medium sized employers is that roles can be less rigid and graduates can get experience and develop skills across a wide variety of business areas from day one.

Employers that advertise directly with the MU Careers Service post their graduate programmes, graduate jobs, graduate internships, entry level roles, also immediate start graduate jobs, along with their recruitment and career information events on the Careers Connect portal.  It is recommended that you set weekly or daily Job and or Event alerts in Careers Connect.  Careers Connect can also be used to send questions, book appointments with the Careers Service or to find more information.

You can Login to Careers Connect using the link below
http://mu.ie/careers-connect  Use your student number and usual MU password to login.

Find out more about Careers Connect here.