• What makes an Agile graduate scheme? Organisations increasingly talk about being Agile. But what does that mean for when graduates schemes predominantly work in an annual cycle?
  • Do ethics matter? Is there such a thing as an Ethical grad or just one who has not started work yet?
  • Is the Hype around Gen Y real or just a way for people to sell books. New research
  • How to make sure that your graduates are engaged and motivated. Engagement
  • Measure - measure - measure. You need data to make the right changes.

The Graduate Works website is a place where you can find out more about what we do and how we think. We are passionate about our area of expertise, helping companies to design, create and deliver fantastic graduate schemes. For the last 10 years we have evolved our understanding of how to achieve this, and how to link the graduate piece into a broader Early Talent Strategy. The end result is that an HR director can reduce the talent risk in the business over the medium term.

Think Graduate Schemes can't be measured? Find out how it is done.

Good Graduate schemes are important and they are expensive to run.  They are important as they are a major source of talent for critical roles and a pipeline for future leaders.  They are expensive as they involve creating a specific employee experience which is more than just a role.

They are also risky, as today’s best millennial talent is quicker than ever to move on to the next opportunity if they are not happy.

How many CEOs run the company they started at?






Some real world tips for what you really need to know when you start as a graduate

1000's of people have just started work as graduate trainees in organisations around the land

Based on real experience here are some selected pearls of wisdom for today's new grads as they start work

The rules of designing a graduate programme based on PIXAR's 22 rules of storytelling

A few months ago Emma Coates of Pixar published a list of rules for telling great stories.

As creating great graduate schemes is a way of helping people tell the first chapter of their work story, here is my attempt at adapting those rules for the people designing those stories

If “fail fast and often” is such a good idea why do most people not embrace it?

Part of the mantra of the Start up movement is the idea of “Fail fast and fail often” and it has crossed into the mainstream of business thinking and advice.

It sounds great but somehow does not resonate with most of the people I come across, why is this?

I think there are 4 big reasons

A check list for taking on a Graduate
