Leeds City Council | Project Provider

How were you involved in the Summer Graduate Programme?

We have the summer graduates each year to do a placement with us and this time round they did a few weeks working on some financial and process flow projects for us, centred around the social values fund we've been rolling out.

What would your top tips be for approaching projects?

The first tip I have for approaching the projects is to learn from us. We’re not setting you a test, take the time to get used to the office environment, ask us all the questions, and remember we are here to help you settle in and get the most from the experience.

Take your time to reflect on the work you’re involved in, work as a team, ask those questions, and once you’ve completed something, take a step back and make yourself a cup of tea — have a little think about how you’d like to present it.

What are the benefits of working with participants?

The benefits of students and graduates working with ourselves is that we do gain those fresh perspectives, and something I advocate for in the workplace is keeping up with the next generation coming in. They think differently, they work differently, every new generation does, and we need to keep up with that.

It feels really nice just to be preparing them for the workplace too. I work in the public sector and often it’s not the first choice that people want to work in. It's probably because people don’t know a lot about it, so it’s really nice to promote ourselves and actually be a place of choice that people want to work for after they graduate.