There are three positions with News UK closing next week along with a great graduate development program with Barratt Developments! News UK and Barratt Developments both have a great selection of reviews available with theJobCrowd, straight from employees themselves. Let’s take a brief look at what you can expect from a career with both firms…
Barratt Developments
Position Available: Aspire Graduate Development Program; 2 year program including 6 rotations. 2:2 degrees accepted. Deadline 15th February.
Average Working Hours: 8am – 5pm
Average Salary: £23,000 – £25,000
Best and worst things about working for Barratt Developments?
1. ‘The graduate scheme is the best thing about Barratt Developments. The graduate scheme is well coordinated and structured, providing graduates with the opportunity to work in each discipline of the business. This gives the graduate an excellent overview of the business before specialising in their chosen discipline. The graduate scheme also offers extensive training opportunities and gets graduates involved in projects to improve the business nationally and charity projects. Working in housebuilding is an opportunity to work in a varied, exciting and fast paced environment. It allows you to contribute to changing the nature of the natural environment, creating a legacy of well designed housing developments.’
2. ‘Responsibility – able to work on a range of projects dealing with different individuals and organisations. Varied with lots of different elements to role. Dependent on Markets therefore potential of job insecurity.’
3. ‘The graduate scheme is absolutely fantastic and would recommend it to any budding surveyor. As a graduate, I get to see all areas of the business, learn from senior people and have a good environment with a lot of perks. You’re not just another employee, you’re definitely seen as a valuable part of the team. Nothing really!’
News UK
Positions Available: Business Intelligence Graduate, The Sun, The Sunday Times, 2:1 degrees accepted. Deadline 15th February.
Average Working Hours: 9am – 5pm
Average Salary: £21,000 – £23,000
Best and worst things about working for News UK?
1. ‘The working environment is great, we’re lucky to be in an amazing new building with great views over London. The work culture is very important here, on our floor in commercial, we have a hot desking policy which means we’re encouraged to move around and sit with different people across the department. We often stick within our teams but a little variety each day in this respect is really good. The variety of the job is probably what I enjoy the most, each day is often quite different and you’re never working on one thing for a very long period of time. As a grad, I’ve had lots of opportunities to shadow other members of my team which has meant getting to help out on lots of different and exciting campaigns across our titles. Of course, this has been a perk of being new, there’s a lot involved in managing these campaigns and I’m aware that it can be very hard work! Flexible working is great too, there’s a lot of trust so people can work where they want, most people like to be in the office but it’s nice to have this flexibility! Since the company is very big, it’s harder to get to know everyone and there are always new faces around but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing!’
2. ‘Opportunity to learn many new skills. Workload is highly variable.’
3.’The major thing that makes News stand out from other companies I worked for is the relaxed atmosphere. It helps a lot especially when you start and have millions of questions on how things work, why they produce this or that report etc. The atmosphere encourages those questions and every time I needed to ask something it was very welcomed and people spent time with me to explain it in detail. That was something really incredible to see a smile on people’s face when you ask an incisive question about their work. Also, you find yourself in the buzzing environment together with the best journalists and specialists from corporate communication. Depending where you work you will have more or less of that. I’m based in Peterborough for the 2/3 years of my scheme but I still get to travel to London so I get the opportunity to feel that buzz. And even in Peterborough I’m surrounded by a great mix of people with experience in working for the biggest auditors, corporate giants from other industries or people that have spent their lives at News and know every details about the company. Every rotation is well structured and timed and you get additional bits to do as learn. Later you see how all pieces fall together, for example how Financial Accounting or Shared Costs impacts on Treasury. Also, if you do want to change something in your schedule, for example swap rotations or get something completely new you can talk to your manager. I got blessed with a great one who agreed with me having a stint in the finance technology department. I had one of the best and intensive times there and it helped me a lot later on in other departments where I could use the knowledge of systems to design new reports or change the ways of working – oh, that’s another thing. People are always open to new ideas which gives you the space to shine. News has been great at supporting me in my CIMA exams. I get days off, financial incentives, very supportive study buddy, and mentor whose role although wasn’t based around studying, kept me motivated and energetic. There is also a personal development scheme where you attend workshops with other graduates. The trainer we have is excellent and knows a lot about how to engage people in discussions which help in clarifying your understanding of yourself (e.g. whether you’re an intro- or extrovert, what motivates you etc.) and the environment.There’s not much to say here, really. It’s an excellent place and the rotations are very well structured so I seriously cannot complain!’
