WHAT floats your boat? The key to weighing up the graduate packages on offer is to answer this question honestly and choose accordingly.
Money isn’t everything. A couple of investment banks are offering graduates starting salaries of up to £40,000 this year, which sounds tempting to say the least. But Carl Gilleard, the chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters says: “I don’t believe that salary, for most graduates, is the biggest pull. Job satisfaction, the type of work and the opportunity to train and develop are equally important.”
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Get perky. Some firms offer impressive benefit schemes: pensions, SAYE (Save As You Earn), share options, private healthcare, parental allowances and subsidised leisure facilities, all of which add weight to your wallet and quality of life. Some benefit packages are flexible and allow employees to opt for extra holiday one year and nursery vouchers the next. Also worth considering are the free or heavily subsidised perks inherent to the job — chocolate at Cadbury Schweppes, cosmetics at L’Oréal and travel with BA.
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Do you want to travel the world? Or are you happy not to step foot outside the Square Mile? Find out where your prospective employer has branches. The novelty of the bright lights in the big city might wane with time.
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Consider the brand. Some companies have solid reputations as training grounds, eg, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and L’Oréal for consumer goods marketing; Shell, BP and Mars for general management. “If you have a stint at some of these well known companies, when you subsequently apply for other jobs people know what to expect. It is the recognition factor,” says Terry Jones, a spokesman for the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services.
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Doing good. Graduates want to work for good companies and want the opportunity to do good themselves. Many big corporations post their corporate social responsibility credentials online. Some large graduate employers, including Accenture, Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers also offer employees the chance to go on sabbaticals and volunteering opportunities.
CAROL LEWIS