I heard about the open position through Gradcracker, it looked rather exciting and unique hence I applied for it. I had to send a cover letter and my CV, after which I had a technical interview with my now line manager and a full day event at a graduate assessment centre.
This was done throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns, hence it was rather stress free and was done from the comfort of my own home.
It’s been a very positive experience so far, I’ve learnt a lot outside of my function and made friends with the graduate cohort who are going through the same process as I. We had some challenging moments but additionally, we’ve had so many fun positive experiences throughout the two-year programme.
One of the major benefits of the graduate programme is that it teaches you what each function does and why they are vital for the company’s operation. In certain functions, there are cases where you don’t really speak to anyone outside your department, and the graduate programme helped to address that issue.
Additionally, the graduate programme develops your soft skills and exposes you to a large network of people from all sorts of functions that you would never meet if it wasn’t for this programme.
The graduate programme will only be as beneficial as the amount of engagement you put in, you can learn so much from the programme, but you need to put the effort in and engage with the activities.
Throughout the programme, you will be exposed to all types of people, and it is really important you learn from them, listen to their advice, and learn from their mistakes. You’ll make many mistakes throughout this programme, that is normal, but it’s what we learn and how we move on that matters the most.
