Graduate training schemes have demonstrably accelerated promotion patterns

For many years the demise of the graduate recruitment scheme has been predicted, some suggesting that dynamic employers want graduates that can take substantial responsibility and contribute to bottom line profitability within months of joining an organisation. Contrary to this view, some “blue chip” (organisation that if invested in, would be considered to be very reliable and safe and among the strongest performers in its sector) employers have retained their “scheme”, believing that hand picked recruits developed in(to) the organisational “mould” are more likely to achieve the medium‐ to long‐term results so desperately sought. This paper demonstrates that one such scheme produces greater career progression among scheme recruits when compared to graduates recruited outside the scheme. Further, this paper demonstrates that one such organisation operating such a scheme actively facilitates the personal development of such scheme entrants to generate enhanced career progression as a consequence of enhanced performance. The paper concludes that scheme practices could be equally applied to non‐scheme recruits to further enhance the overall performance of the organisation.