Recruitment Timeline

Typically graduate schemes start in the August/September of the student’s graduation year, with advertising and recruitment taking place well in advance. This can cause problems for organisations without a formal graduate intake to attract and recruit the best quality students, particularly from highly sought-after disciplines like Engineering and Computer Science, as students are often offered graduate scheme places early in their final year of study. It’s helpful for businesses to understand the typical graduate recruitment timeline when planning your own recruitment to ensure you’re giving yourself the best chance of recruiting the graduates you need.

Below is an outline of typical recruitment touchpoints throughout the academic year. This is by no means applicable to every student, and many students hit only a few or none of these points or won’t look to apply for graduate positions until after graduation, but awareness of this timeline can help you to plan your own student engagement and recruitment activities.

Typical Academic Year at Durham University