Three young graduates have taken their first steps onto the career ladder after winning places on the North East’s biggest building society’s graduate management training programme.
Oliver Earl, Ellen Dawson and Ryan Snowdon Scott have all started 18 month placements with Newcastle Building Society, which will see them gain experience of working across specific aspects of the Society’s core operations.
Northumbria University Business With Economics graduate, Oliver has joined the training programme’s Operations Management work stream, while Ellen, who is from Gateshead and holds an Accounting & Finance degree from John Moores University in Liverpool, is working in the Society’s Finance function.
Also from Gateshead, Ryan has studied Business & Marketing Management at the University of Sunderland, and is now working as part of the Society’s Marketing and Product Development team.
Each graduate has a dedicated line manager to support them in their learning, and to ensure a consistent point of contact and management throughout the programme.
Ryan Snowdon Scott says: “I wanted a position that matched up to the areas that I most enjoyed, and the job description and scheme assessment showed that the Society’s graduate scheme would very much meet my ambitions.
“I’m already learning a lot about how all the different parts of the team come together to create a unified approach to the Society’s marketing efforts, as well as getting a proper feel for the sorts of work that I think will suit my skills in the longer term.
“There’s a big difference between studying different aspects of marketing and applying what you’ve learned in a busy workplace, and having the chance to contribute to different projects over the next 18 months should help me greatly improve my personal capabilities and knowledge.”
It’s the second time that the Society has run its graduate trainee programme, with the three successful candidates for 2016 all making excellent progress over the last 12 months, and more than 100 candidates applied for positions in this year’s scheme.
Andrew Haigh, chief executive at Newcastle Building Society, said: “We created the graduate programme to help us identify and channel talented young people with the aptitude, skills and character to succeed with the Society.
“Growing and developing talent within our Society is a core element of our commitment to provide a great place to work for our colleagues. The training and development opportunities we’ve designed as part of this programme give our graduate recruits real opportunity to cultivate the skills and knowledge that will serve them well throughout their working lives.
“The competition for places on our graduate recruitment programme was extremely strong, and Ellen, Ryan and Oliver have already shown themselves to be exceptional individuals by successfully coming through the selection process.
“Our 2016 graduate recruits are all contributing directly to the Society’s success, and we have high hopes their successors will do just the same.”
Full details of current Newcastle Building Society vacancies can be found at www.newcastle.ciphr-irecruit.