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Graduates

As a graduate you will be enrolled into QinetiQ’s two year Graduate Development Programme. This has been designed to give you maximum exposure to the company as well as all the necessary training for your selected role.


You will be assigned to a Skill Group based on your expertise and experience. The wide diversity of roles within the Skill Groups ensures that a host of disciplines will be able to find a place within the group. Once situated, you will be given access to world class technology, unique facilities and a strong support network to help develop your career path.

You will be able to choose from over 100 rotational placements throughout QinetiQ so that you can learn to understand the company as a whole. These placements will give you an opportunity to assess whether your skills are best suited to your selected role. At QinetiQ we are dedicated to putting the right people are in the right place, therefore it is recognised that initial choices are not binding as you will experience a wide range of activities and locations across the UK as you develop your knowledge and experience.

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package with the chance to do some fascinating work in supportive teams, alongside world experts in their fields. You’ll be surrounded by opportunities; it's just up to you to seize them!

As part of the Graduate Development Programme, you will be encouraged to begin the route to Chartership, where relevant. You will be able to join the QinetiQ Initial Professional Development (IPD) scheme, select the appropriate professional body to suit your qualifications and career choice and we will pay the annual membership fees. Working alongside a mentor, you will quickly begin to build a portfolio of evidence for your eventual Chartership application. Our IPD scheme is accredited by various professional bodies such as the IET and IMechE, and we have links with numerous other professional bodies.

Once the two-year programme has finished, you will become a permanent member of your skill group, bringing with you all the training and awareness that you have developed over the scheme to become a valuable team member.

Interested in joining some of the world’s finest scientific and technical minds and help us make tomorrow work today? Search and view all our Graduate Opportunities here.

Our Early Careers recruitment window for 2021 is now open! View our recruitment process here.

 

We look for graduates who are proactive, passionate, analytical and forward thinking with a questioning mind and commercial instinct and you will be expected to:

  • Undertake technical tasks across a number of projects
  • Build relevant domain knowledge of your particular technical area
  • Gain a comprehensive understanding of the range of capabilities of the group and the wider Division
  • Build on understanding the customers from the group, to grow your role and support succession planning
  • Support the business demands of the group
Knowledge, skills and personal qualities required:

  • A suitable recognised science or engineering related qualification at a degree level or higher in accordance with the specific posts
  • Comfortable working independently, as part of a small intimate team, or with larger groups from across the company
  • Good interpersonal, influencing and analytical skills
  • Good planning, organisation and coordinating abilities
  • The ability to learn quickly to develop domain knowledge appropriate to the tasks required
  • Customer facing skills: good listening and questioning skills to fully understand customers’ requirements and problems, good interpersonal and relationship building skills
  • Good written and oral communication skills, including presentation skills
Challenges:

  • Quickly gaining an understanding of customers’ requirements and related technical issues and problems when on unfamiliar ground
  • Dealing with the different priorities of different stakeholders, reconciling conflicts and differences of view and getting contributors aligned, committed and working cooperatively to deliver their contributions
Key accountabilities:

  • Ensure that customers’ requirements and tasks are fully understood and that problems and issues are reliably identified at the outset;
  • Contribute to the completion of, a detailed technical and commercial proposal for meeting customers’ requirements; provide presentations, reports and papers to customers and at conferences and symposia in support of the bid process as required;
  • Build and maintain technical networks internally and externally; develop good personal relationships
Other requirements:

  • The job is likely to involve travel in UK and possibly overseas and occasional periods away from home
  • The job holder is expected to demonstrate objectivity, impartiality, detachment and integrity in delivering their contribution to QinetiQ’s goals
CV and Covering Letter: Applications will be open in the Autumn. Applicants will need to submit a CV and tailored cover letter on why they want to work at QinetiQ. There will also be some brief questions to be answered to help the applications team ensure you are being interviewed for the right role.

Online Aptitude Tests: Within a few weeks of applying, successful applicants will be asked to complete a brief verbal and numerical reasoning exercise. This should take no longer than 30 minutes.

Video Interviews: Those who pass the online aptitude tests will then be invited to take part in a video interview. Applicants will be asked a series of questions and expected to record their responses via webcam then submit them. These will not be live interviews, though applicants will be expected to treat them as such and take into account their environment and self-presentation.

Assessment Centre: This is the final step of the process. In the New Year, the applicants will be invited to an all-day assessment centre at one of our sites. The day will consist of a series of group and individual exercises and is designed to help QinetiQ determine both the candidates technical abilities as well as their team working skills.

Offers: The offers will be sent out once all the assessment centres have taken place. Applicants who have been made an offer will be expected to start in September, though they may be invited to an open day beforehand to meet their future employer. 

Graduate Bio: Connor Guy

I have a degree in Physics and I joined QinetiQ in September 2016. My motivation for applying to QinetiQ stemmed from wanting to work on cutting edge technology in a fast moving industry. This is perfectly reflected in the role I was given as a Graduate Research Engineer whose team is leading their field. The reason I was able to find such a perfect fit in QinetiQ is in no small part due to the application process and how well QinetiQ got to know me as a person.

The video interview portion of the process was something that I had never done before and was not sure what to expect. In fact its just a chance for you to articulate yourself in person instead of on paper. It consists of sitting in front of a webcam and recording your responses to a series of questions. You can re-record your answers as many times as you like so there's no pressure at all.

One of the main things that stood out for me on the day of the assessment centre was how much emphasis there was on just being yourself and networking with people that you may end up working with on a day to day basis. During the breaks you get a chance to meet people from many aspects of the company and chat in a relaxed environment. I met the manager I currently work for on my assessment day during a lunch break and ended up chatting to him for half an hour.

QinetiQ are very supportive in helping you through the transition from university to working life and you can attend various training sessions and workshops. The early careers team are friendly and always available to help you out. You will also be assigned a graduate buddy from a previous year who you can contact with any day-to-day questions.


Graduate Bio: Stephanie Tudgey

Before joining QinetiQ on the Graduate Scheme, I completed a four year integrated Masters in Environmental Sciences at the University of Southampton.

I chose QinetiQ because I was impressed with its unique technology and facilities, and wanted to apply my knowledge in environmental science to the defence sector.

The majority of my time has been spent within the Environmental Consulting team, where we provide specialist environmental advice to QinetiQ’s customers. I was quickly given responsibility on several customer projects and have since developed my knowledge in Environmental Management Systems, Environmental Impact Assessments and Environmental Auditing. I have also completed two successful placements with the Energy Management and Corporate Responsibility Team, which have improved my wider understanding of environmental management and sustainability within the company.

I also chose QinetiQ, as the organisation is extremely supportive with professional development and over the past year I have benefited from training courses that have helped further my technical knowledge and membership with the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA).

One of my most recent highlights on the graduate scheme was during my Hangar Placement in Boscombe Down where I gained experience on the flight line and even marshaled out an Alpha Jet! This was completely different to my usual day in the office, but actually helped me identify potential environmental impacts associated with aircraft maintenance that I would not otherwise been aware of.

I am also a committee member of ‘Cortex’, our new starter’s network and help facilitate our funded technical and social events. Cortex is a great way to quickly meet new graduates, apprentices and Year in Industry students based on your site.

Overall, I would highly recommend a graduate career at QinetiQ, as the flexibility to move around the company opens up so many opportunities for you to pursue very early on in your career.

 

Graduate Bio: Alex Pell

After graduating in 2015 with a MEng Mechanical Engineering degree I was lucky enough to have been offered a place on the QinetiQ graduate scheme the following September. As someone who had a wide range of engineering interest the QinetiQ graduate scheme seemed like a great place to experience plenty of different engineering disciplines. A year down the line, this has been proven true where I have spent time in areas in Naval Architecture, Communications, Research and Modelling. Not only are there a huge range of technical modules to choose from, there are also opportunities to explore vital non-technical and business skills sets. Overall the QinetiQ graduate scheme is set up to accommodate almost any graduate with almost any interest. The scheme understands the needs of recent graduates both professionally and personally making the transition from academia to the workplace very smooth.

Key areas of development for me have been the advancement of technical knowledge and being involved in business winning environments. Modules are not one dimensional; I have been challenged with new situations frequently which I feel is one of the best parts of the scheme. However, for me, the greatest accolade the scheme has is the graduate network itself. QinetiQ has a strong graduate focus which lends itself to having great co-graduates with whom to experience industry as well as occasionally relive life as a student!

Looking back on the graduate I was a year ago it is clear to see the difference a year can make. I now feel like a developing engineer rather than a graduate and this is largely down to the scheme QinetiQ offers.