The banking and finance industries are notorious for opening early for applications (it’s usually in the summer or early autumn), so I’ve just spent a few days looking at company websites to see when they open applications for their 2025 internships, insight days, placements and graduate schemes. I’ve found very little apart from that Goldman Sachs open for their New Analyst Grad Programme on 1^st July.  What I do know though, is that if you’re interested you MUST apply early, so here’s what you can do while you wait for those elusive dates to be announced:

Do your research:

Decide which companies you’d like to work for, what position you’d like, and where. To help you decide

• See our subject leaflets: University of Surrey (careercentre.me),
• Look at Prospects.ac.uk and type in your degree to find options.
• Also see Finance graduate schemes 2024 | Prospects.ac.uk.

Consider applying for smaller finance and banking companies and less popular locations. These will receive less applications.

Investigate what the application criteria may be (i.e degree level and qualifications) and find out what the companies might expect from an application.

Read these articles –

• How to prepare yourself for an entry level finance job (Surrey careers blog)
• How to get a banking and investment graduate job: the basics (targetjobs.co.uk)

If you need any help book an appointment to see a Careers Consultant.

Register your interest:

To be notified about key dates go to the Early Careers page on the website of every company you’re interested in working for and register your details.

Continue adding to your CV:

• Gain more experience that will look good on your CV and help your application, for example you can complete short virtual internships here: https://www.theforage.com/virtual-internships. On this website you’ll find internships from over 300 companies including KPMG, PwC, Citi, and Bloomberg.
• Bright Network are running a 4-day virtual internship in Finance, Professional Services and Consulting? You will need to apply by 11^th June and the experience starts on 17^th June. Apply here: https://www.brightnetwork.co.uk/internship-experience-uk/
• Another great place to look is: Graduate Careers For Bright Minds | Bright Network
• During term time we will also hold employer events where you can network and chat with employers of interest. To find out more click here https://pathfinder.surrey.ac.uk

Be ready to apply:

Make sure your CV and cover letters are ready. For our samples see University of Surrey (careercentre.me). You’ll need to tailor your CV and cover letter for every application, so you can start writing these with certain companies (and the skills they require) in mind. Book an appointment with your Career Consultant or Placement Team as they can check these documents for you (online or in person over the summer too): https://pathfinder.surrey.ac.uk.

Many companies will close as soon as they receive enough applications, and they get thousands (in 2023 UBS received over 1000 applications in 48 hours for one of their schemes).

DON’T wait for the close date, apply as soon as the application window is open!