When searching for placement and graduate opportunities, it can be tempting to only apply to companies that you are already familiar with. These are likely to be the large, global organisations \u2013 the household names and the well-known brands.<\/p>\n
The problem with this approach is that, while there are many advantages to working for big employers, there are just as many benefits to working for small or medium-sized companies (also known as SMEs) that you perhaps might not have heard of. Being brand-conscious restricts your job search, and your access to some fantastic opportunities.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, some students decide that they would prefer to work for a small, local company over a large, global organisation and limit their job search accordingly.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to explain why we at Gradcracker think it\u2019s important to keep an open mind when choosing which companies you\u2019d like to work for, and, by extension, which opportunities to apply to.<\/p>\n
Companies on Gradcracker come in all shapes and sizes, and we ensure that they all operate on a level playing field by giving them equal space on their Company Hub to advertise their opportunities. We do this because we believe that each company is equally relevant to our student audience, regardless of size \u2013 and here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n
As I\u2019ve mentioned, there are many advantages to working for both large organisations and SMEs \u2013 but there is also more overlap between the two than you might expect.<\/p>\n
Something Gradcracker often hears from students who are set on working for an SME, is that they are reluctant to apply to larger companies because they fear they\u2019ll be \u2018a small fish in a big pond\u2019. But we know, having spoken to employers from the likes of Atkins to Siemens, that large organisations are often organised into small, close-knit teams. This enables them to maintain a \u2018family feel\u2019 and provide graduates with the time and attention necessary for their development. (They aren\u2019t called graduate development programmes for nothing!).<\/p>\n
Equally, it is sometimes thought that large organisations will have more structured and comprehensive training programmes than smaller companies. But again, this just isn\u2019t the case. We\u2019ve spoken to students and graduates from various SMEs on Gradcracker who have received an immense amount of training and support. Often, they have been able to experience multiple teams, projects, and business areas, and have received high levels of responsibility very early on.<\/p>\n
My point is that there are many misconceptions surrounding large and small employers, and you shouldn\u2019t let these cloud your judgement when choosing which companies to apply to.<\/p>\n
Research is key to finding out what working at a particular company is really like, and you can use the resources on Gradcracker to do this. Most Company Hubs have an \u2018Our People\u2019 page, where you can hear from students and graduates who already work there and find out what to expect. Many of our employers have also taken part in a live webinar or Insight Day with us; watch and listen to these videos (on their hub or in the CareerCentre) for a behind-the-scenes look at the company\u2019s opportunities, culture and working environment.<\/p>\n
Choosing the company you\u2019d like to work for is an important step to finding a job you love. My advice, when looking for opportunities, is to keep an open mind, do your research and don\u2019t exclude companies based on size alone.<\/p>\n
By considering the full range of companies on Gradcracker, you open yourself up to more opportunities, and more chances of success. But, equally importantly, you increase your chances of finding the opportunity that is most suited to you and your development.<\/p>\n
Explore the 200+\u00a0Company Hubs<\/a>\u00a0on Gradcracker. Or hear from a wide range of STEM employers in our\u00a0employer webinars<\/a>.<\/p>\n ______________________________<\/p>\n Big thanks to\u00a0Hannah Vernon, Media & Communications at\u00a0Gradcracker<\/a>, for writing this blog! We hope you find it useful and it inspires you to start your job hunt today. For even more opportunities, have a look at our online job listings on Engage<\/a> (updated daily).<\/strong><\/p>\n Please be reminded that if you need careers support, your Careers Team is only an email \/ a message away!<\/p>\n E:<\/strong>\u00a0careers@westminster.ac.uk<\/a>|\u00a0Website<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|Careers Blog<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When searching for placement and graduate opportunities, it can be tempting to only apply to companies that you are already familiar with. These are likely to be the large, global organisations \u2013 the household names and the well-known brands. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":287,"featured_media":11075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,9,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-employability","category-employer-guest-blogs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/287"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13156,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11074\/revisions\/13156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/careers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}