Employers can receive graduate talent grants of up to £7,500 when recruiting into a graduate level role. Our graduate placement programme is supported with match funding of £2,500 towards the salary of a recent graduate from any course or University for a placement that lasts 12 weeks.
This can be accessed up to three times per graduate, for each 12 weeks they work, totaling £7,500 in funding to the company.
Employers can access FREE advice and support to help attract high calibre applicants and successfully recruit to graduate positions in their business - talk to our Graduate Talent specialist for dedicated support tailored to your business.
- Role needs to be graduate level, for 12 weeks or longer. Speak to our Graduate Talent specialist for further information if you would need support with this.
- Graduate is selected by the company and employed by them
- Graduate can be from any course and any university, as long as they graduated in the last 5 years.
- For every 12 weeks they work, company are eligible for £2500 match funding, up to a maximum of 3 times (so a total of £7,500)
- Companies can hire and receive funding for multiple roles
- Company must be enrolled on Enterprising Ashfield before graduate starts to receive funding.
- Last start date for graduates to be eligible for the funding is 30 September 2025.
Five reasons why your business would benefit from employing a Graduate
- up-to-date with the latest technology, techniques, processes and knowledge in their chosen field.
- bring enthusiasm and fresh ideas that can help your businesses grow and evolve.
- skilled in researching information and exploring options and can analyse and summarise information.
- experienced in working collaboratively in teams to achieve a shared goal.
- skilled at expressing ideas and opinions in written reports and presentations.
Frequently asked questions
There are a number of job titles that easily identifiable as a graduate level role, while for some other roles it may be more unclear. We can review a proposed job description for you for free and advise whether it meets the criteria to be classed as “graduate” level. The job title can have a significant impact on attracting graduate talent into your business
No, each business has total control over interviewing and selecting their own candidates. You decide on the salary, and terms and conditions too. We can work with you to suggest tweaks to maximise the impact of your recruitment message, to increase the quality and/or number of applicants you receive.
Absolutely. Although our maximum grant is £2500 for a period of 12 weeks, we can also support shorter periods of employment of 6 weeks with a grant of £1250.
- To employ a graduate from any University into a graduate level position
- To support graduate recruitment into a permanent role, or a shorter minimum 6 or 12 week position
- To employ graduates with qualifications at undergraduate, masters, or doctorate level from any degree, including international candidates
No, whilst we would absolutely love you to recruit one of highly skilled graduates, the grant and all the other talent support is not restricted to just graduates from NTU. The talent grant is available to support the best graduate for your business.
By working with us at NTU we can advertise your vacancy for free on our job board to our recent graduates and alumni plus, with the help of our graduate support team, we can direct graduates who match the skills and knowledge you require to your vacancy.
Not a problem. There is no specification as to how long ago the person you employ graduated. The Graduate Talent grant can be used for appointments for any graduate level role within your business. If you need someone with experience or further qualifications such as a Masters degree, then we are here to support you in just the same way as for an entry level role.
Other consultancy and advice we can provide:
- Do you have employees that may be thinking about retirement, and are you concerned about the gap in knowledge that this would create?
- Do you have staff that you would like to promote within your business but they need upskilling in certain areas?
- Do you have some roles that are hard to fill because they are highly specialised?
- Do you find you make offers to candidates but constantly lose out because they take a role elsewhere?
- Are you keen to offer your staff training and development but don’t know where to access the correct courses?
- Would you like to upskill your staff but are finding the cost prohibitive and would like to know more about free courses?
The Enterprising Ashfield project has been very useful and it was easy for my company to sign on. I have been able to receive a talent grant towards the pay of my employee which has allowed for me to free up funds that I can invest back into the businesses marketing.
Our Graduate Placements are available to businesses within eligible postcodes in Ashfield. Visit our eligibility checker page to see if your postcode makes you eligible for the project.
If you’re not eligible for the Enterprising Ashfield project please take a look at other ways NTU can support businesses and employees.
The project is delivered by NTU, in partnership with Ashfield District Council and is part-funded by the Government’s Town Fund.
Business & Enterprise Support in Mansfield & Ashfield
Find out more about our links with the local area and how we can work with and support local businesses.
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