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Small to Medium Sized Enterprises - Your next graduate job?

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Wednesday, 1st of February 2012

As the application stage for graduates schemes with large companies are drawing to an end, you may be thinking that you have no other options available. However, this is not the case as Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) may just be your lifeline. graduate-jobs.com are going around universities across the country delivering a set of presentations entitled 'Getting a graduate jobs with an SME - Britain's largest employer' to which we are convincing students and graduates that getting a graduate job with an SME is just as good, if not better than getting a graduate job with a large employer, you just haven't heard about them.

The Statistics

Firstly, did you know that in fact SMEs make up 99.9% of all enterprises in the UK and almost 60% of the British workforce? SMEs are clearly crucial to the UK economy and it is important to understand that SMEs really are a big contender when it comes to big business and employment.

The foundations of your career

Working for an SME can build the foundations to your career in relation to the skills and experience you develop compared to working within a large company. You may not necessarily have one specific role or working on one specific project if you work in an SME. For instance, if you work within the marketing team (if there is a team), you could be working on a variety of different projects that you are solely responsible for and projects that may cover different aspects of the business. In all, this will give you an array of tools and skills that you can then use throughout your career and learn a significant amount in a short space of time.

A different environment

SMEs have a unique environment and culture to which many graduates find appealing. Clearly, with small teams you are more likely to know your colleagues rather well with a sense of shared values and goals. In larger organisations, this may not be the case as parts of your team could be in another office or another floor and overall, you are unlikely to be exposed to the bigger picture within the organisation that you do by working in an SME. This is an important point because often, people find this motivating as you can significantly contribute and engage with the company, meaning you can feel part of their success and achieve a lot.

These are just a few points as to why you may want to get a graduate job with SME, rather than a larger organisation. If you attend one of our SME presentations, you will find out what SMEs specifically look for from prospective employees, guidance to getting a graduate job with an SME and the strategies you can adopt in order to find SMEs to work for. Check out our Facebook and Twitter for updates!