During a recent conversation with a Brunel grad they said something which stopped me in my tracks. I was talking, as I do, about the value of applying for SMEs as well as the big players in the grad market place. After all, 99% of businesses in the UK are SMEs. “I have been”, they said, “but the SMEs tend to require me to have work experience whilst the grad schemes seem to require this less”. Then we talked about the old chestnut of not being able to get the experience needed to prove you have the experience to get the grad level job. Chicken, egg.

It stopped me in my tracks because it is a real conundrum – needing work experience to get work experience. Then I did some research with some people who work closely with SMEs and I’ve discovered something very key when it comes to catching the eye of an SME.

SMEs have less people in them than big companies. Obvious enough. The impact on you as a graduate applicant is Continue reading →

Did you know that according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey published this week, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) expect to create 8% more jobs over the summer and will take the lead in boosting employment in the UK. Now you do. The next trick is to find out where they advertise their roles…

Check out the link to “SMEs” in the Find what you want quickly tag cloud on the right for posts that can guide you in the right direction.

On closing this week of small business related posts I do have to say a bit more about what Step have to offer through their Graduate Step programme.

• Last year they placed 375 graduates. That’s 375 vacancies you didn’t know about until now.
• All internships are paid, at a rate of £210 a week, tax free.

The opportunities are across a number of sectors and the breakdown last year was Continue reading →

I know I said contact me for more info on how to do this but having now replied to someone asking that very question I thought I’d share my reply with all of you:

• Ideally face to face meetings rather than letters, email or phone calls though I appreciate you may need to do the latter to arrange the former.
• Be professional in all your communications. Correct use of English in your written communications. Polite telephone manner. Attentiveness, curiosity and positivity in your face to face interactions.
• Do your research in to the company. Find out Continue reading →

I’ve challenged in the past the reports of small businesses being reluctant to recruit graduates. Step support this challenge. Small businesses are trying to reach graduates. But it can be in a very clunky way; googling “Graduate internships” or “Graduate recruitment” for instance. Step do get approached by small businesses looking for graduates. In fact requests for graduates have  Continue reading →

I’m being a little indulgent here and hammering home one of yesterday’s main points. Let me use an aeronautical engineering example to illustrate it. At a larger aeronautical engineering company you might be involved in designing the front edge of a wing. At a smaller company you’re likely to get involved in every part of the aircraft’s design. And that’s the difference. Small companies need everyone to muck in on everything, something which can really widen your own experience and capabilities.

What makes a business “small”? No, not necessarily the £ turn over. It’s usually the amount of staff they have. So what’s in it for you as a grad to join a company with 10/25/50 people in it?

• There can be far higher levels of responsibility early on. The buck stops with you far more often.
• That includes contact and consultations with clients.
• There’s far more chance of the Continue reading →