How to Apply for the Santander Graduate Scheme in 2024 – A Career Guide
Updated January 4, 2024
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What Is Santander UK?
Santander UK is one of the biggest banks in the country, and it prides itself on being customer-focused and challenging the big four UK banks.
The company is owned by the Spanish Santander Group. Still, Santander UK manages its own business autonomously and is wholly responsible for its own business decisions and performance.
The bank serves its customers through local branches, digital channels and Corporate Business Centres.
Employees of Santander UK have the opportunity to work for a successful company and will have the chance to grow and progress in their careers. One way to begin a career with Santander UK is through the Santander Graduate Scheme.
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What Is the Santander Graduate Scheme?
The Santander Graduate Scheme offers a range of programmes that provide professional qualifications and training. The Santander graduate scheme salary starts at £30,000 for university graduates.
This highly sought-after scheme gives successful graduates the chance to gain their potential and start to grow professionally in the world of work after university.
Numerous Santander grad schemes are available for candidates. Please note, that these Santander graduate roles vary by location.
Audit Consultant Graduate
This graduate scheme provides the opportunity to learn about compliance and operational systems within the company. The role includes working to keep Santander’s great reputation intact.
Areas that the successful applicant will get to experience include learning the latest technologies the company uses, discovering how the senior executives work, gaining expert knowledge from the team, and gaining relevant qualifications, skills and capabilities.
You will also be able to challenge, suggest and implement improvements to any relevant areas to help the bank maintain that reputation with its customers.
The role is based in London, but there is the opportunity to travel too.
Corporate and Commercial Banking Programme
This Santander UK Graduate Scheme is focused on the customer, and your role is about understanding the company’s missions and helping them fulfil them. This is a hands-on role, working across various departments and locations.
The daily job role includes:
- Helping to build and maintain strong customer relationships
- Developing data-driven insights into the different services and business areas of the company to ensure improvements can happen
- Working with experts and colleagues to gain knowledge and experience
- Working with customer-facing teams including Capital Management, Credit Risk, Growth Capital and International Trade.
This graduate scheme allows you to travel twice a year, with roles in the main cities of Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester to Oxford, Bristol and Cambridge.
Finance Santander Graduate Scheme
This scheme allows graduates to work towards becoming professional accountants by working in all areas of finance.
Graduates gain experience in areas including forecasting, budgeting, reporting and planning. They work with various teams across the company, gaining insightful skills and knowledge along the way,
The Santander finance graduate scheme is based in several offices in London, Leicester, Milton Keynes and Manchester.
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What Do You Need for the Santander Grad Scheme?
Historically, many Santander Grad Schemes required applicants to have a 2:1 Degree in a relevant subject.
However, the Santander Graduate Scheme 2024 requires a degree in a relevant subject, with no grade specification, and three relevant A-Levels.
Application Process at Santander
There are four stages to the application process for the Santander Graduate Scheme.
The first part is completing the basics and filling out the online form. This should take approximately ten minutes, and you can easily transfer information from your CV to the form.
Remember to refer to the most relevant details that relate most to the role you are applying for.
Santander does not expect their graduates to have much, if any, relevant work experience, so do not worry about this.
The next step is that Santander will invite you to do an online assessment via their assessment partner, Hirevue. Here, candidates will play online games and answer pre-recorded questions highlighting their cognitive skills and abilities.
There is then a video interview where applicants are asked five questions that allow the company to get to know you better.
The applicant has seven days to complete this part of the process.
It is wise here to try and practise interview techniques and remind yourself of your strengths. Santander will then review the applicant’s scores and interview questions.
Successful candidates who reach the final part of the application process will be asked to attend an in-person or virtual interview where they will need to prepare a presentation based on a brief given beforehand.
They will also have an interview with some of their possible future colleagues. This is a time for you to ask any questions you may have.
Tips for Applying for a Graduate Job at Santander
The Santander graduate programme is highly desired by applicants, with only a maximum of 70 graduates securing one each year. With that in mind, here are some tips to help with the application process.
Research as much as you can about the company, its values and ethics, what its previous employees have said and what the company is looking for.
For maximum performance at each step, ensure you have slept well and are not hungry or thirsty.
Act professionally in interviews, dressing smartly and arriving in advance for in-person meetings.
Check the requirements for the role thoroughly to ensure you know what is to be expected and if you have enough skills and experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Santander requires all applicants applying for the Santander Graduate to have a university scheme in a relevant subject and three related A-Levels.
The applicants then must apply and go through each process to succeed.
The application process for the Santander Graduate Scheme starts with completing a form that includes letting the company know basic information about you.
Next is an online assessment and pre-recorded interview highlighting the applicant’s skills.
After a review, Santander will ask any successful candidates to attend a final interview with colleagues and prepare a presentation.
To successfully secure a job at Santander, it is competitive, and applicants must have a degree in a related topic and three A-Levels.
They must then complete the four-part application process. It is recommended to follow tips during the application process, as only 60 to 70 positions are available each year.
The first stage to get into the Santander Grad Scheme is to possess a degree in a related subject in addition to three A-Levels.
