Quote Originally Posted by boingy View Post
Of course there are exceptions Al but you can never substitute experience which is why people should work their way up rather than just be put in a position of oversight when they cant know the job as well as staff who have been there years. Just basic common sense. Its embarrassing all round.

Decent graduate schemes Boingy with large powerful blue chip companies recruit grads to spend three years working in all departments such as marketing, new product development, purchasing, commercial, operations, customer focus, customer service to get an in depth knowledge of the whole business and then they are fast tracked to the top. I knew a grad years ago and now he's the CEO of a multi national company who turn over many millions - you knew from day one he was going to make it to the top - he was that good and his brain was always top notch. I agree about experience but we are talking about different things - a qualified buyer ( CIPS ) for example usually aspires to become a purchasing director but tends to keep to the role which matches their qualifications. Aldi and some other supermarkets/stores start their grads on over 40K for a reason after 4/5 hard interviews ( one with a board director ) so usually they go on to succeed. Most decent grad schemes won't look at anything less than a 2.1 and with 3000 applicants for less than 20 jobs - it's unlikely they would select an idiot which is why they have a specialized grad recruitment teams and get a director involved.

There are many small companies now though who take on what they call "graduates" and this is just a title and not the same, and in many cases an apprentice could do better. This is probably what you refer to.