Graduates

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Graduates Schemes Industrial placements and summer internships

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Putting your
degree into action

Congratulations! You’ve completed your degree but what now? Reaching the end of your time at university is an important point in your career, and a graduate scheme at Kier could be a great next step for you.

Each year, we take on candidates onto our structured graduate development programme, providing the opportunity, experience and tools you need for progression within your chosen career.

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What is a graduate
scheme?

Once you’ve completed your degree, you can join one of our graduate schemes which is a structured training programme, designed to support you in your career goals.

It runs for 2-3 years and we will dedicate the time and resources needed for you to excel, including on-the-job experience, formal technical and commercial learning and develop your line management skills.

All graduates on the programme will be supported not only by their line manager but will also receive an experienced professional body mentor who will help with the development of goals and gaining chartership to a relevant professional body.

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What are the
requirements?

We have no grade requirements but generally we ask for your degree to be related to the graduate scheme you are looking to join.

However, we are big believers in finding potential, regardless of qualifications. So if your degree isn’t directly relevant to your role, but you can demonstrate transferable skills, we can look to enrol you onto an upskill apprenticeship to equip you for your chosen career.

What's the application process?

Take a look at our vacancies and if you spot something you like, apply online.

If you meet our criteria on the initial application questions, you'll be invited to complete online assessments.

If you pass the assessments, you'll be added to a shortlist and presented to our hiring managers.

From there, you’ll be invited to an assessment centre which will include a panel interview and a team exercise.

If you are successful after the assessment centre, we’ll ring you with the good news!

We’ll then follow up our verbal offer with a formal written one for you to sign and agree your start date. Good luck!

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Take time out to gain
real world experience

There’s nothing quite like putting your learnings into practice is there?

If you’re currently studying for a degree, our 8-week summer internships and 12-month industrial placements are a great way to immerse yourself in the world of construction.

You’ll get to look inside a leading construction and infrastructure contractor and find out about the work that we do and the sectors we support. You’ll get to see your learnings in real world situations and gain hands-on experience to support you in the rest of your degree.

Just like our graduate schemes, we do not have any grade requirements for our roles, but we do ask that your degree is related to the placement you wish to undertake.

8 week summer
placement

Every summer, we take on a group of interns across the business on an 8-week placement. Applications open in September and the placements start in July, finishing in August.

Apply Now

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12-month industrial
placement

These yearly industrial placements start in September and end the following August. Applications for our placement years open in January with a start date for the September of that year.

Apply Now

Hints and tips

1. Give yourself plenty of time to write applications Good applications take time and concentration. Never leave them until the last minute. Find a place where you won’t be distracted when you are working on them.

2. Complete all sections of the application and make full use of the wordcount to really sell yourself, there could be hundreds of applications for this role so make sure you stand out.

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3. Do your research, show that you're motivated by the opportunity and align your answers to our business values and vision.

FAQs

Visit our job search page and apply for any roles you feel suitable for. Each role will have information about specific requirements in the job advert.

You can find more information about our graduate programmes and industrial placements on our dedicated page.

Applications will open mid-September, and will close at the end of November.

We may have additional roles available later in the season, so make sure you keep an eye on our website and register your interest to be the first to hear about new roles.

If we are receiving a high volume of applications, we do have the right to close the vacancy earlier than planned. So make sure you get your application in early!

We consider graduates and placement students from varied academic backgrounds, but some opportunities may be more specific than others.

So make sure you have reviewed the essential criteria prior to sending your application to avoid disappointment.

As a disability confident employer, we are committed to ensuring that our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible for all of our applicants.

You'll have the opportunity to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you need, throughout the application form and any following stages of the process.

No information relating to your request will be shared with the hiring teams unless you give consent.

If you have any questions relating to disability or reasonable adjustments, please contact the emerging talent recruitment team at emergingtalent@kier.co.uk

You'll receive an email acknowledging we have received your application within 24 hours of completing your application.

Most applications will complete the initial assessments and progressed to the next stage within 3-6 weeks but it's good to know that the whole process can last up to 8 weeks in total.

We'll aim to keep you informed throughout the time that your application is being considered, but due to the volume of applications we receive, we are not able to respond to individual requests for status updates.

Unfortunately due to the volume of applications we receive, we are unable to provide individual feedback in the early stages of our recruitment process.

The most common reason for applications not being progressed, is that the essential requirements for the role have not been met.

Our graduate programme is aimed at candidates with less than two years of relevant industry experience.

We provide a structured programme to develop our graduates during the early stages of their career journey.

If you have two or more years of relevant experience, opportunities at an assistant level might be more suitable for you. These can be found on our vacancies page.

We welcome applications from those changing career who may have more than two years of experience in other industries or sectors outside of construction.

We look for applications that demonstrate a clear interest in Kier and the role and discipline you are applying for.

Think of ways that will make you stand out to the people reading your application.

Research Kier, and the particular area that you are applying for.

Please be aware, whilst we don't actively prohibit the use of AI, applications that appear to be heavily AI-generated may be rejected.

We want you to be authentic in your application, and we want to learn more about you in your own words!

Kier is Built by Brilliant People™.

It's our people, the culture we foster and the values we work to that makes us unique.

Don't just take our word for it, take a look at some of our employee stories to get an insight into what it's like to work at Kier.