Episode 48 – How to get a graduate job at Enterprise Rent-A-Car

August 14, 2016 Podcast

In episode 48 of the Graduate Job Podcast, I am joined by Ashley Hever, Director of Talent Acquisition at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, as we discuss their award-winning graduate scheme. In this half-hour we explore their graduate management trainee scheme, examining what exactly it is, how you apply, and how you can stand out from the crowd when you apply. We discuss the application process in detail, their brilliant internship schemes and also cover why Enterprise Rent-A-Car could be the ideal place to start your career. No matter what graduate scheme you are applying to, Ashley’s insight and advice mean that this is an episode that you won’t want to miss. As always, all links to everything we discuss and a full transcript are available in the show notes at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/enterprise.  Before we start a quick request from me, your feedback helps me to create the episodes you want to hear, so I’ve set up a super simple and very quick survey, as I want the show to best serve your needs. It’s got 5 questions and will take you a minute, so please check it out at http://www.graduatejobpodcast.com/survey/ . I look forward to hearing your thoughts. But in the meantime, let’s crack on with the show.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ MORE SPECIFICALLY IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

  • The graduate schemes on offer at Enterprise Rent-A-Car
  • Top tips for your online application
  • How to impress at the assessment centre
  • How an internship at Enterprise could land you a graduate job
  • Why you need to pop into an Enterprise branch to say hello
  • The secrets to impressing in the role-play exercise

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:

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Transcript – Episode 48 – How to get a graduate job at Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Announcer: Welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, your home for weekly information and inspiration to help you get the graduate job of your dreams.

James: Welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, with your host James Curran. The Graduate Job Podcast is your weekly home for all things related to helping you on your journey to finding that amazing job. Each week I bring together the best minds in the industry, speaking to leading authors, entrepreneurs, coaches and bloggers who bring decades of experience into a byte size weekly 30 minute show. Put simply, this is the show I wish I had a decade ago when I graduated.

For episode 48 of the Graduate Job Podcast we niched down again on a specific company, as I am joined by Ashley Hever, Director of Talent Acquisition at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, as we discuss their award winning graduate scheme. In this half hour we explore their graduate management trainee scheme, examining what exactly it is, how you apply, and how you can stand out from the crowd. We discuss the application process in detail, their brilliant internship schemes and also cover why Enterprise Rent-A-Car could be the ideal place to start your career. No matter what graduate scheme you are applying to, Ashley’s insight and advice means that this is an episode that you won’t want to miss. As always, all links to everything we discuss and a full transcript are available in the show notes at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/enterprise.  Before we start a quick request from me, your feedback helps me to create the episodes you want to hear, so I’ve set up a super simple and very quick survey, as I want the show to best serve your needs. It’s got 5 questions and will take you a minute, so please check it out at http://www.graduatejobpodcast.com/survey/ . I look forward to hearing your thoughts. But in the meantime, let’s crack on with the show.

 James: I’m very pleased today to welcome Ashley Hever to the show, the director of talent acquisition at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car, who were recently awarded the title of being the UK’s number one graduate employer. Ashley, welcome to the show.

Ashley: Thank you for having me and for that lovely introduction.

James: And congratulations on the award. I’ll link in the show notes to the award page on Total Jobs, it looks like you were having a good time.

Ashley: Yeah, it was a great, great evening. Real shock actually. But, again really, really really proud of the work that our team and all our employees do out there on campus to really showcase our brand, about the opportunities, the development sites, the promotion sites, so a really really nice award to end the year with.

James: Excellent, and today we’re going to dive into this scheme itself and then go into the application process of how to apply and what you look for from your candidates. So, starting with the scheme itself, could you tell us a little bit more about how it’s structured and what listeners would actually be doing?

Ashley: Yes, I… the main sort of entry point for graduates and for interns into our, into Enterprise is through our Graduate Management Trainee Program. That’s working in one of the stores or one of the local branches. Really, I suppose the easiest way to put it is, learning and developing and training to run your own business, ultimately, at the end of the day. So, that’s sort of the main entry point. You’re learning about everything to do with what it’s like to really run, set up, be, you know, and have a performing business.  Sometimes people get put off by the product, which is the car. That is all it is, it is just a product. You know, we really focus on everything else that goes with it. Such as, you know, improving on your management skills, looking at your leadership, your communication, your customer service, your marketing, finance, you’re really getting a whole breadth of training and development, and developing you as an employee, so ultimately we only promote from within. So, it really is allowing you to get those skills that are going to make you a success with our business in the future.

James:  Excellent. And is the scheme a set length of time where you start and you go through and it’s quite structured in terms of what you’ll be doing?

Ashley:  It’s structured in so far as, all of your training very structured, you’re given a, what we call a 12-month training folder. Now, that 12-months is just a guideline.  We just had an employee get promoted to an assistant manager in six months. So, it really is down to you how you progress and how quickly you progress, there’s no time limit on how long it takes.We usually say that the minimum would be around six months to get that training folder completed.But that’s the beauty of Enterprise, it is really down to you and your performance and how you go out and seek that training and development and work alongside other people in the business to really help you progress.So, yeah, there really isn’t any set time, start and finish for that. And, you know, I would still say I’m on that training program today because, you know, you do learn stuff every day, so it does carry on throughout your career.

James: And speaking of progression, what would then the, you mentioned going on to the assistant manager, what would the next few years look like, once you’ve progressed out of the scheme?

Ashley:  There are sort of two ways in which you can go. A lot of, the majority of our employees will stay on within the retail operation, so they’ll become an assistant manager at that point. And that’s really a great turning point within your career, because you then start earning a percentage of profit off the performance of your branch and then, as you progress, you’ll be a branch manager if you, if you get to that next level. And again, you’re earning potentially a bigger percentage of the profits from that location. You’re not just given these opportunities; it’s very much based on performance. The one criteria is that you have to have a good, a customer service score that is above our average across the whole of the company and that’s importance we place on that service piece. You can progress into, if you want to stay in retail, then into the, the rental operations, sorry, then area manager, group rental manager, general manager, and beyond. But, the beauty of Enterprise is that 95% of all our promotions come from within. So, it really is a feeder as well to a lot of our other opportunities within the business. So, you know recently we’ve had someone come from our rental operations who is now our graphic artist. She studied a degree in that at university. We have people move into our legal department who may have studied that degree in law at university. I did criminology, I now run and manage our talent acquisition program across the U.K. So, sales roles, IT roles, accountancy. So, that’s what I see as the beauty, you can really choose which career path you ultimately want to, want to go down, and know that the work that you’ve been doing within, within the ranks of operations can really pay dividends,  and then you’re not competing with people that may not have done that as well. So, there’s a whole host of different roles and varieties that you can go down to within Enterprise. I’ve had about six different jobs in the time I’ve been here.

 James: Excellent, and it’s always good when there are companies where everybody who works there has started at the bottom and worked their way up so they know about the company and, you know, they know what it’s actually like on the shop floor.

Ashley: And I think that really helps, and I spoke about development earlier and all of our branch managers, all of our area managers, have all been in that position where you’re starting a new career for the first time, you think, you know, “What questions can I ask? What should I do? What shouldn’t I do?” And when I was an area manager, you know, you can sometimes see the questions before they’re being asked, so that’s a great development tool in terms of you doing that development and people aren’t actually having to ask you those questions because you know some of the challenges that new employees are going to face in your business.

 James: And how does it work in terms of location? Do you apply centrally, then get allocated to a location? Or do you apply for a specific location?

Ashley: We have got over 400 locations across the U.K. and we do, people can, we know that the challenges some people face when they first leave university, and so we really try to help candidates and new hires by starting them in a location that might be closer to their homes so that they’ve not got those big travel things or relocation. But, you know, someone’s gone to university in Cardiff, lives in Leeds, but wants to relocate to London. Then again where we’re really flexible with that as well. What I would say is though is that, if I’d chosen to spend my whole career in Leicester, I wouldn’t be where I am today. So, I’ve really gone out, and gone for those jobs and relocation has been, been an important part in that. But, yeah, we do try and place people closer, as close to the branch or the region in which they initially choose to apply for, is online as well. So, and we work throughout the interview process with the candidates to make sure that we’re working with them, we’re letting them know where they’re going to be located, and just making sure, from an on-boarding perspective, that that’s as smooth as possible.

James: So, moving across then to the candidates that you look for, what are some of the key skills and values that you look for from your candidates?

Ashley: There’s different things that we look for throughout the process, you know, throughout the process and when people are applying and interviewing with us. I think, what I would I would say is that, if you don’t like customers, then maybe Enterprise isn’t the right, career choice for you because, you know, you are heavily involved with dealing with customers on a day-to-day basis and, you know, I’m still doing so today. So, we do look for people with a customer service aptitude, and that’s not saying you have to have been a customer service manager. But, it can be anything from volunteering or from work experience or from working in a club or society where, you know, maybe perhaps your colleagues are your customers at that time, or the university is your customer at that time. So, that’s something that we look for. We do look for, you know, some element of leadership skills as well, great communication skills, maybe some experience within, you know, within a sales environment, and again that goes back to the customer service, that doesn’t mean you have to been door-to-door selling, you know, you could be doing a project with five other people on your course, and you were the project leader and you’re getting people to come around to your way of thinking. That to us is having that sales aptitude as well. We like people who’ve got that flexibility in there as well, and that’s being able to, you know, juggle a few different tasks at the same time, being able to prioritize your workload, and again it’s just using situations that have happened to you either at university, through your work experience, through any, you know, volunteering that you’ve done, and being able to relate that to the real world and to a job interview. There’s a lot of, you know, communication, you’re dealing with customers from a whole diverse background, you’re working with fellow employees that are from a diverse background, so great communications skills are also needed. And, as with any graduate job, it’s not, it’s not really a 10 till 4 job. It’s, you know, you are going to have to work smart, there’s going to be times when a customer is going to need your help, and I think having a good strong work ethic as well goes also a long way within the process.

James: Of course, and you mentioned that you did criminology, and is there a particular type of degree that you’re looking for? Or are you open to a whole broad spectrum of different, different degree types?  

Ashley: Yeah, a whole broad spectrum. I mean I’ll do my data at the end of this year, but we will have hired from probably a hundred different universities by the end of this year. So, the reason we don’t just target certain universities are, our belief is that great talent goes to all universities, and so that’s why it’s really important for us to engage with people from, from all sorts of backgrounds. Like I say, you never, you know, I think our employee who did the design and graphic degree couldn’t believe that one day the opportunity would be able to put that into practice at Enterprise. So, you know, the same with me with a criminology degree, our, sorry, our managing director studied Japanese and Oriental studies, so there really isn’t a hard and fast subject or course that we’re really looking for. I mean, many of our employees do come from a business studies background, but we have such a vast array of different degrees, and it’s interesting, some of our most successful area managers actually studied a psychology degree. So, you know, and I think that people management, people development piece is also really important in the business. So, yeah, no real hard and fast degree subject to have studied. Which is, which means that we’re going to gain such a diverse workforce within the business and that we’re not getting, you know, 600 graduates who have all studied business studies at one of the top ten universities in the country, because I think that’s really important for any business.

James: Yeah definitely. And how many hires did you make last year off onto the graduate management training?

Ashley: Onto the graduate scheme we took around 700 graduates onto the program, and around 200 interns. So, from both that are doing a work placement as part of their degree course or even those that are doing it on a six month or just those that are, you know, looking for some ten-week summer placement opportunities to enhance their skillsets and get some experience of working within, within a business as well.

James:  Excellent, and we’ll delve into the internship scheme later on in the episode So, thinking about the application process then for the main graduate scheme, what does the application process look like? What would be the starting point for listeners?

Ashley: Starting points, is that, you know, a whole variety of different starting points, but a majority of our starting point is meeting a student at university through a campus event, a careers fair, through our campus brand management program and, you know, engaging with them in conversation, telephone calls, and then inviting them to make an application. Once they’ve made their application we would then do a short five to ten-minute telephone interview with them, and at that time arrange to meet them face-to-face for a more formalized face-to-face interview with the, with the candidate. That’s usually around half an hour, 45 minutes long and really digging into a little bit more about some of the competencies that I spoke about before, some of their experiences at university. If they’re successful at that stage, then they’ll be invited to spend two to three hours at one of our local branches, really ensuring they have a great, they’re knowing about the role, about the job, they’re meeting their potential line managers, meeting some of that colleagues, and it’s a two-way thing really, we’re looking to make sure that they’re the right, the right person for us and that we’re the right employer for that individual.  And in that branch visit they’ll get to ask a whole variety of questions, they’ll buddy up with someone else who is maybe new to the business or has just got their first promotion, and at the same time they’ll have an interview with the local branch manager as well.If they’re successful at that stage they’ll be invited to an assessment centre where they’ll be with around 8 to 10 other individuals that all got to that stage of the process.It’s a very sort of typical assessment centre in so far as there’s group discussions, interview, a couple of role plays in there, and another individual exercise. And I think what we try to do is find, you know, bring out a bit more of the personality of the candidate.It’s not formal, we have a lot of our senior managers there really telling their stories about the career, and just that really is just sort of bringing everything together throughout the whole interview process and at the end of that we bring together all of the, all of the interview stages and then make decision on that candidate.

James: Excellent, so there’s a really nice mix there of chances for you to find out more about the candidate, but also for them to find out more about, more about you, and what it is you do. There’s nothing worse than when you see candidates who go through the process and, you know, they’ve not really put the thought and attention in, and they’ve not thought about what is it that they’re actually going to be doing day-to-day basis for the job.

Ashley: Yeah, and I think another reason why we do that is to make sure that, you know, in any role you don’t want to walk in on day 1 or day 7 or day 50, and think, “Actually, this isn’t what they said it was going to be.” So I think that branch visit and the assessment centre really is able to, for people to really see what the role is like and also for a lot of the senior team to give their stories and show, you know, tell how their, how they got to the level they got to, the career path, the opportunities they’ve been given and you know it’s a great way, like you say, it’s a two-way process, any interview should be a two-way process.

James: So, breaking down then the different steps of the process there, so the first interview there, the competency interview. How do people tend to let themselves down at this stage of the process?

Ashley: I think at that stage candidates are probably sending out 4, 5, 6, 7, 20, different applications and sometimes though we’ll, the way where we, people really fall down is that they haven’t done their research, as simple as just going on to our website, finding a little bit more about us, and not be able to tell the reasons why they want to come and work for Enterprise. And I think it’s really important, yeah we are in a retail customer facing industry, but, you know, we want people to dig in our values and to make sure that they’re aligned with what their values are. And, you know, there’s nothing worse than going to an interview and listening to someone say, or asking, “Why enterprise?” And, “Oh, I just need a job.”  So, it’s about spending, and it does happen, it’s about thinking about that just for, you know, two or three minutes and just having a bit of an elevator pitch of what the reasons why you you’ve joined us and then a lot of times, I found when I was doing interviews is that you would ask a question on, “Tell me about a time that you feel that you’ve exceeded a customer’s expectation,” and throughout the answer it’s, “We did this, we did this, I was told, you know, someone told me to do this,” and I don’t care what everyone else did. It’s you that’s in front of me, and I want to hear what you did. What your role was, how you resolved a situation, that sort of thing. So, people tend to forget that that interview is, it’s a sales process, and they’re selling themselves to us.  And those are two of the key things and then also at the end of the interview, I always think that if you sat there and you haven’t got one or two questions to ask me or one of the recruiters, then, again you haven’t really delved into that research.  So, always have one or two questions that you’ve got, you know, that you’re looking to ask. And then that closes off that interview very nicely.

James: That’s a really good point on the research, and with some of the clients I coach when they first come to me, they have this scatter gun mindset of just wanting to apply to as many different jobs as possible as quickly as possible.

Ashley: Yeah.

James: So I’ll talk them around into, you know, it’s better to focus on a just a small number and make sure you’ve, you’ve done the research and are able to do the research, because if you’re applying to 20 different grad schemes you’re not able to know in depth about what their values are, what they’re looking from their candidates, what the are companies like. And, as you said, when you come to the question about why you want to work there, if you’ve not put the work in, that’s always where I found it so easy to separate the good candidates from the average candidate, was with that question.

Ashley: Yeah.

James:  And the, thinking then about the two to three hour branch visit, how can, how can candidates stand out at that stage of the process and put themselves into the exceptional candidate category?

Ashley: I think there’s two people, I was a branch manager, and I would have one of my employees, what we say is we’d buddy up them up with the person so they’d be looking after them, they would be giving them more details, talking them through the training and development and those exceptional people that walk into the branch, you’d think they were one of your own employees from, from the minute they will walk in. They, you know, they are talking to customers, they’re asking lots of questions, they’re not just talking to the employee who is their buddy, they are talking to all employees, and just finding out as much as possible about what it’s like to, you know, what a day in the life of it is at Enterprise, and you know, and then those that perhaps, you know, some of the traits that I used to see, and still see now, is when someone comes into the branch they just sit down in the corner, they don’t get involved day in what’s going on, they don’t ask any questions, and it really is just embracing that situation and just thinking of it as, you know, you’re just with, you know, chatting to some people that you met for the first time, and just asking questions and just getting involved, you know, I’ve had people come in on our branch visits that have been answering the phones, that have been, you know, talking to customers while they’re waiting for their car to be all, to be all sorted out for them. They are helping out on, you know, with with anything really. And that’s the difference between a candidate that perhaps, is again, just going through the process to somebody who really is engaged in our business and really wants that opportunity.

James: And of course, the perennial question that’s always in the back of every interviewer’s mind is, “Would I want to work with this person?” And if you see people who are getting involved and, you know, as you said, speaking to customers, it just puts him across as a candidate that you’d actually want to work with and would want to have as part of your team.

Ashley: Yeah exactly. And you know I used you, the first person I, you know, even after my interview I would go straight to the person who has been looking after him for that couple of hours and just finding out what their impression was. Did they, you know, did they, were they doing everything that is somebody that is really exceptional in asking those questions, getting involved, and, you know, being able to communicate with all different individuals that are in that branch on that given day. So, yeah it’s a really good opportunity for both us and for the candidate as well.

James: Excellent, and moving on to the stage of the process that candidates often find the most daunting, the assessments centre. So, with your assessment centres, are they all held centrally? I mean where could people expect to be to have the assessment centres?

Ashley: Yeah, as a business we’re quite, we are decentralized, so each region would have its own local Head Office. So, that’s usually in one of the major towns or cities that would, within that region, so it could be in Leeds, Cardiff, just outside London, just outside Manchester, so anywhere around the U.K. where we try and hold those, hold those assessment centres. And, I think yes it quite daunting, but it’s also a stage where we have investing a lot of time into a candidate. So, as an employer, we don’t want to trip people up because there’s been a lot time investment both from the business and from the talent acquisition team to get the person to that stage. So, that’s one of the thing that some candidates really, that’s one of my tips, is don’t think that the employer is trying to trip you up at that stage, they’ve invested, they’ve invested in you and they want to hire you. So don’t be, I know it’s easy to say, but try not be nervous at that particular, at that particular stage. But, and, you know, you’ve learned a lot about Enterprise when you get to that stage, and it’s really just using all of the information that you’ve gathered from your interviews, from your research, from your time in the branch, to really help you in that assessment centre, and there’s nothing on the day that you wouldn’t know, if that makes sense. So, everything that we do and discuss and talk about, all the candidates should have an understanding of it, of what to expect. So, again no real surprises. And it’s just a great opportunity to network and meet different people within the business. But yeah, it is one of those, the assessment centre, I think is just, with the name itself, it just creates nerves. But those people that are really successful go in there and adjust themselves and make sure that they enjoy it, they have fun, and just take all of the information that they’ve learned and gathered over the process so far and put that into practice on that particular day.

James: One of my previous guests, and forgive me I can’t remember exactly who it was, but had a really nice analogy for the assessment centre not being the stage for you to be ruled out, it’s a stage where you, for you to rule yourself in. So, you know, you’re not in competition with the people there. It’s just about showing what you can do. As you said, they’re not looking to trip you up. They’re not looking to, for you to make mistakes, they want to help you to, you know, if you’re the right candidate for them.

Ashley: I know, cause you know, in our team, you know, they’ve work hard to get a candidate to get to stage in the process, as well as the candidates worked hard themselves, so, you know, the name is in our title, we’re graduate recruiters. So we want to recruit people into, you know, into the business because, you know, that’s only going to help it be more successful and what I’ll add is that for every stage of our process we’ve got blogs, we’ve got case studies, we’ve got real life examples, we’ve got inside information, hints and tips, on every stage of our process on our website, which all candidates can look at, we put it out over social media. So, you know, if anybody is in the process then just go enterprisealive.co.uk and you can you can read people’s own, we’ve got one which is, ‘The Insider’s Guide to the Assessment Centre,’ which is an anonymous blog that gives people like some hints and tips on those unwritten rules that sometimes people don’t always see or understand.

James: Excellent, and I’ll link to everything we discussed, there’ll be a full transcript in the show notes at graduatejobpodcast.com/enterprise. And one final question on the assessment centre actually, any tips for the role play part of the exercise?

Ashley: Yeah and I think, no I don’t think, I know that that is probably the one where people really do get stuck on, again it’s nerves and it’s the getting everything that you’ve learned, so it is just looking at, we don’t expect people to 100% know the ins and outs of our business, or even 10%. It’s really just looking at what your philosophy is around customer service and how you would deal with a customer in any given situation, and that’s what we’re looking at, and if you’ve spent time, when you, you know, when you walk out of our branches you will know that our philosophy is we are a customer service driven, you know, environment and culture. And that’s really what we’re looking for when we’re doing one of these role plays and just, even if you ask for feedback yourself at the end of that role play, our employees are more than happy to, you know, maybe give you some feedback and coach you and things like that throughout that, throughout that process as well.

James: Excellent, and you talked earlier about the campus brand manager position. Do you tend to, and also the internships that you do, do you tend to actively look for people who’ve been through the brand manager and the internship to, as a key part of the people to apply the graduate scheme?

Ashley: Yeah, I mean if you’ve done an internship with us then you’ve performed throughout those 12 months you don’t have to go through the process again. You will be converted straight onto our management training program, and a lot of our interns actually earn their first promotion during the first 12 months. So, they can join the business and be already promoted. So, they’re already earning more then what, a lot of their peers could potentially be earning because some of them are going straight in as assistant managers.  So, yeah, it is really is a fast track to management if you have done a placement with us previously, and then a lot of our placement or interns will then go back to university and be a campus brand manager and represent us, then you can start earning money for referrals. We actually just had our National Campus Brand Manager of the Year Awards on Wednesday. So we had four campus brand managers from across them, from across the U.K. competing each other for that title. So, then you can see all about it on our on our social media channels, but a young girl, one of our placement students, Chelsea Gannon, who was at Liverpool John Moore, won the trophy, won the award, and you know it’s just a great, a great story, and she’s going to be coming back as an assistant manager, she’s started back in the business already. Yeah it’s a great great program, and I’ll say that the campus brand manager program it’s something that is good because, and that’s also a way, you know, one of my other tips is to find out if there is an Enterprise brand manager at your university, they’ve done our program, they’ve been, they’ve been through the internship, so can really give you, again, that insider’s guide to what it’s like, what are the, you know, what are the good points, what some of the challenges and, you know, help you in the whole process as well. They really do hand-hold you and help you through each stage of that process.

James: That sounds amazing and the internship placement schemes when are they, or is that just for people on a sandwich course as part of their degree?

Ashley: A lot, we do the 12-month program, but, so a lot of people will do that as their third year in industry but we also have our summer placement opportunity, we really try to push that to our first years at university. A lot of employers don’t, graduate recruiters don’t offer that for first years, and we just think that it’s a great opportunity to start bringing people into our business, giving them some, getting our brand out an early age in that, in their university life, so that’s open to first years, second years, to do that summer placement with us.

James: What does the application process look like for those? Is it broadly similar to the graduate scheme?

Ashley: Yeah, it’s exactly the same. So, that’s, one of the reasons we do that is to give, you know, interns a real insight to what a graduate recruitment process looks like, so, you know, if you’re not successful, at least you’ve gone away with some skills and experience of what that, of what that placement, of what that graduate recruitment process would be. So it very much mirrors the graduate recruitment program.

James: And applications for the graduate scheme, is that year-round Ashley? Or is it just the specific milkround opening in September October time?

Ashley: Yeah, we are open all year-round. I, you know we get a lot of people that perhaps want to, they finish university, and they want to do three or four months travelling, so rather than having to wait a year to start a graduate program then, you know, we have monthly intakes every, every month. But, for all individuals, and you know, sometimes we want to encourage people to maybe do take those two to three months out, because you’ve just come out of a three-year, four-year course and you just, sometimes need some down time before you go straight into the world so work. So we’re flexible and we really work closely with all of our hires to make sure that when they do come in and join the business, it’s the right time for them.

James: Excellent. Ashley, unfortunately, time is running away with us. But, one final question before we move on to our weekly staple questions. What would you say to someone to convince them, who might be in two minds about whether to apply to Enterprise?

Ashly: Well, one thing that would really make people stand out if they’re really unsure, we’ve got 400 locations across the U.K., walk in, speak to our people in one of our local branches, and just ask them, “You know, I’m thinking about apply to Enterprise. Tell me a little bit more about the program. What do you enjoy about it?” And that makes you stand out as a candidate before, you know, before you even perhaps make your applications. So, you know, don’t be afraid to go in and speak to our employees. The one thing that everyone says about Enterprise people is that they’re great, they’re so friendly. Nobody will turn around to you and say no. So, yeah, go in, pick up the phone, speak to a local branch, speak to one of our local recruiters and just find out yourself as to what people really think about it.

James: Brilliant, that’s great advice. I love that one. So, Ashley, moving on now to our weekly staple questions. So, first question up, what one book would you recommend that our listeners should read?

Ashley: I’m reading, well I’ve just finished one, I’m reading another, and there’s a third that I like. Can I give three or not?

James: Go on then, I’ll let you have three.

Ashley: Okay, there’s a great one that I’ve just read called, ‘The Damage Done,’ which was by Warren Fellows,” one that I’m reading at the moment is called, ‘The Lie,’ by C.L. Taylor, and there’s a business book which I’m reading which is called, ‘Persuasion: The Art of Influencing People.’ So there are my three books.

James: Excellent. And, have you learned a lot then from Persuasion? Are you now, Jedi mind control tricks?

Ashley:  I think. Well, yes?

James: Excellent, and next question. What website would you recommend that listeners should visit?

Ashley: There’s a lot of great graduate websites out there that are going to give you a real insight into all graduate companies. I think the Guardian Career site is fantastic and I also think the Rate My Placement website is a great site as well.

James: Super, and I will link to both of those in the show notes at graduatejobpodcast.com/enterprise. And finally Ashley, what one tip would you give our listeners they can implement today to help on their job search?

Ashley: Okay, many jobs searches or many graduates really get hung up on the fact that, “I want to work in IT, so I can apply for Microsoft or I can only apply for I.B.M.,” or, “I want to work in accounts, so I’m going to only be able to work for the big four.” Always be open minded. Every big company, every graduate recruiter has opportunities in IT, in H.R., in accountancy, in business management, in retail, so never limit who you’re looking at and why you’re looking at them and who you eventually go and apply to, because it’s sometimes not always about the brand, it’s about what that employer is like as a business. So, never, never shut, never shut any doors. Always be open minded to every company.

James: That’s great advice listeners as you go forward looking at graduate jobs. Ashley, thank you so much for your time today. Before we finish what is the best way for people to get to in touch with you and also with Enterprise?

Ashley: Okay, if you want to get in touch with Enterprise, go to our website which is enterprisealive.co.uk.Unlike a lot of graduate recruiters, you will find on there all of our recruiters from across the U.K. with their email address, telephone number, Twitter handle. So, wherever in the country you’re looking to apply you can get straight in touch with one of our talent acquisition teams.If you want to get in touch with me, please visit me on LinkedIn, Ashley Hever. I’m also on Twitter. I’m a big twit- Twitter-er, tweeter. If it’s either about work or my other main passion which is Leicester City,and you will find me @gradu8recruiter. Or follow us at Enterprise Jobs @Erac_jobs, so yeah feel free. I will happily answer any questions that anybody has, or point them in the right direction of the person who might know more than me. So yeah, I’m there for anyone to get in touch with.

James: Ashley, thank you so much for appearing on the Graduate Job Podcast.

Ashley: Perfect, have a lovely weekend.

James: Many thanks again to Ashley. I really enjoyed that episode, and love speaking directly to recruiters to get the inside track, especially when I might be introducing you to companies that you might not have been thinking of applying to. A few things stood out for me from the episode, the first was of the power of internships. Not only will you be gaining brilliant work experience, you’ll be learning about the company and seeing if it is the right fit for you. At Enterprise you also have the brilliant chance to get promoted whilst on the internship. Whether you stay at the company you do the internship at doesn’t matter, the experience will stand you in great stead no matter what you want to do.

My second point is to re-iterate Ashley’s top tip and be open minded about the companies that you apply to. Think about the experiences that you can gain from a company, the variety of work you will be doing and the opportunities you will have to grow and learn. All of these will be more valuable in the long run than maybe a higher starting salary. Follow Ashley’s advice and go and speak to the people working at which ever company you are thinking of applying to, pop into your nearest Enterprise for chat and see if it it’s a good fit for you.

Right episode 48 finished, just one more to the big 50. Before I go 2 final requests from me, if this episode or any of the other 46 have been useful to you, you can thank me in 2 ways, one is to do the survey at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/survey, and the other is to leave me a review on itunes. Apple put lots of weight to itunes reviews and it keeps me high in the charts, so please fire up itunes and leave me a review I will love you forever. To that end, many thanks to Kevin_25 here in the UK for his 5* review which said ‘I recently stumbled across this podcast and it instantly struck a cord with me. As a recent graduate I am debating many things in life and this is a definitely a great tool to add to your box enabling you to move forward as a recent graduate. Keep them coming’. Many thanks Kevin for taking the time to leave a review and listeners please follow Kevin’s lead and head over to Itunes where you can do the same. Links for how are in the show notes at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/enterprise

All that’s left to say is do join me next week when we go niche again, and I speak to Dave Spencer, Co-founder and Programme Director of new graduate scheme Police Now. I hope you enjoyed today, but more importantly, I hope you use it, and apply it. See you next week.