Paid Internships: Adding value to early careers and smaller businesses for decades.
Step has been bringing Business and Graduates Together since the mid 1980s. Originally set up as the Shell Technology Enterprise Programme, the aim has always been to create meaningful paid internship opportunities, removing barriers to opportunity for all students. In 2024, 40 years since its inception, Step endures as a commercial graduate recruitment agency. As…
Unlocking the Potential of the Graduate Visa Route: A License-Free Way to Hire International Talent
Use it or lose it! The Graduate Visa route is a simple way to hire international talent without the need for costly and bureaucratic Sponsorship licenses. Overview of the Graduate Visa Route A recent article with contributions from the Institute of Directors, Kaplan and the Higher Education Policy Institute showed some worrying trends around the Government’s…
Why should you invest in your early careers talent pipeline? (ISE)
An ISE article published in July 2022 boasted that employers are boosting work experience opportunities for the first time since the pandemic. This is great news for students and graduates who have suffered with a lack of opportunities due to cancelled programmes throughout 2020 and 2021. But the article was clear that a proportion of…
Understanding The GCSE 9-1 Grading System – A Guide For The Graduate Employer
GCSE results are something that all employers are generally interested in when hiring someone. However many graduate employers are still confused by the new numerical grading system that was introduced in 2017. Research that was commissioned by Ofqual in 2018 found that more than one in five graduate employers wrongly believed that 1 was the…
How a Undergraduate Internship turned into a Permanent Graduate role
Step recently spoke to Charlotte Webb who undertook an internship at the British Coatings Federation, along with her supervisor, marketing manager Alison Brown. Q: Charlotte, what were your career aspirations and interests before and during University? My career aspirations developed from a young age watching my father at work in the car industry. However,…
The Ongoing Debate: The Relevance of Cover Letters in the Age of AI
In 2017, we delved into the contentious topic of the cover letter’s role in graduate recruitment. Fast forward to today, and the debate remains as pertinent as ever, especially with the advent of AI-driven tools in CV and cover letter creation. While some argue that cover letters are becoming obsolete, it’s crucial to revisit and…
Why low levels of unemployment make students and graduates more attractive
Why low levels of unemployment make a placement scheme more attractive. The economy is in quite a questionable position at the moment with many crises occurring. With the mini budget causing the pound to fall, the media saying that the cost of living is skyrocketing and inflation steadily rising. One area that is being overlooked…
The graduating ‘Class of Covid’ – What was University like for them?
The graduating ‘Class of Covid’ – What was University like for them? For the students attending university during the rise of Covid, they did not have the typical university experience that previous graduates can relate to. This is due to the global pandemic, Covid-19. When starting university, students believed their camera roll would be full…
Three Employee Rights that directly affect Students and Graduates
Three Employee Rights that directly affect Students and Graduates Leaving the *comfort* of your university digs and entering the big wide world of work for the very first time can be a difficult and scary transition to make. As you switch out mid-week lie-ins for mid-morning meetings, there is so much new information and knowledge…
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What constitutes a graduate role?
‘Graduates won’t want to come and work for us, and we don’t have the time to train them’ These are a couple of common misconceptions that we come across regularly here at Step, mainly when speaking with some of the smaller sized businesses who have yet to buy into the many benefits that hiring a…