Landing your first new job in the career path you dream of is by no means easy. Finished university as a graduate and still having to compete to secure the next chapter of your life with your first position at a new company. However, companies are enabling the route to your chosen career path by supporting with graduate scheme opportunities.
2019 marks the first year of the TrustQuay graduate scheme, this new initiative gave 8 new graduates the opportunity to join the business and start down their career path, offering opportunities in customer support, development and quality assurance. TrustQuay recognised that there was STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills gap within the company and that there is an emphasis on the importance of sourcing junior talent in order to develop the company, meet TrustQuay's growth strategy and, furthermore, create awesome software.
My First week at TrustQuay
New graduate starter in Quality Assurance, Huda Salameh, shares her personal diary experience of her first week in her new dream role since leaving university….
“I began my journey at TrustQuay at the start of July 2019 and on
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my first day I was introduced to eight other graduates who had also secured positions on this new initiative. It was exciting to be amongst my new peers learning from them and being part of the company I had applied for. Everyone was very welcoming and I was thrilled to receive a welcome pack, as well as my new laptop. After being shown around the office and becoming familiar with the environment I had an insightful induction into what the business does, how they operate and who their customers are. I learned about their flagship solution, TrustQuay 5Series which enables the trust, fund and corporate services industry to become more efficient. My role will focus on how a solution can be further enhanced to enable businesses to meet their challenges and goals. I have learnt how TrustQuay adopts agile methodologies within product development and how this pragmatic way of working provides a faster and more efficient route to market. Product development encompasses the customer centric values of the business, ensuring that customer feedback is incorporated all the way through the development and release cycles. Within my department, I get involved in live projects through ‘pair-programming’, which involves pairing with a colleague who will talk through how to perform a task and do some programming. I found this an exhilarating way of learning about my new role and TrustQuay 5Series as it was not only practical, it was also quick. I could not ask for a better team as I have received a lot of support and encouragement from my colleagues and line manager and take advantage of the learning offered on the graduate scheme, which has been very motivating. Looking ahead in to the future, I am filled with excitement with what the future holds and I feel really privileged to have received the opportunity to be part of this. I’ve had a glimpse of the other opportunities on offer at the company and stepping stones for the road ahead, but for now, it’s one step at a time and I look forward to growing my career here at TrustQuay."
It's Not All Work and No Play
Many of us have had first day of work nerves and we didn’t want the graduates to feel this too heavily on their first day. Therefore we organised an activity session at GoApe before many of the graduates joined. This was then followed by a meal out so that the graduates could meet many members of the team. This was very enjoyable for all of the graduates and teams alike.
That's not all though as, in their third week there was a Summer Boat party organised to help welcome the graduates to the company, calling TrustQuay employees from as far as Cyprus to take part in the 'getting to know you' celebrations with the graduates. Good food and drink whilst cruising along the River Thames is a great way to get to know people, after all.
The graduate scheme is now a yearly initiative so, if you are looking for a graduate scheme or know someone who would be interested, we will be looking for our 2020 graduate intake in the Autumn of 2019 which will include a variety of technical roles like software development. For more information on the graduate scheme please click here