Careers blog written by Isabella Simms, Graduate Intern, Careers

Latest stats indicate that over 30% of this year’s graduate vacancies will be filled by applicants who have already worked for the organisation during their degree course. This means that a third of graduate jobs have already gone by the time you reach your final year! Researching and applying early for insight days and summer internships means you could be in that 30% already employed before your last year at university.

To help you get started, we’ve put together a list of some organisations offering insight days for first year students, aimed at helping you get a feel for an employer and that sector of work, and employers offering summer internships to second/penultimate year students. Many of these have imminent deadlines, or recruit on a rolling application basis, so getting your application early gives you a good chance of securing a place. This list is not exhaustive, however, so provides only a sample of organisations offering insight days/internships.

First year insight days

1. PwC

• Accountancy: rolling applications, so apply early

2. Lloyds Banking Group

• Banking: rolling applications, so apply early

3. KPMG

• Accountancy: rolling applications, so apply early

4. Deloitte

• Accountancy: rolling applications open 1 November 2014

5. Barclays

• Banking: rolling applications open 1 November 2014 to 31 January 2015

6. JP Morgan

• Investment Banking: apply by 30 November 2014
• Sales, Trading & Research: apply by 30 November 2014

7. EY

• Accountancy: apply by 22 January 2015

8. Morgan Stanley

• Investment Banking: apply by 31 January 2015

9. RBS

• Banking: rolling applications until 31 January 2015, so apply early
• Support & Control Functions (HR, Risk, Internal Audit, Finance): rolling applications until 31 January 2015, so apply early

10. Clifford Chance

• Law: apply by 29^th March 2015

Second/penultimate year summer internships

1. Deloitte 

• Actuarial: rolling applications, so apply early
• Consulting: rolling applications, so apply early
• Professional Services: rolling applications, so apply early

2. Lloyds Banking Group –

• Banking: applications open from September, so apply early

3. KPMG  –

• Audit: rolling applications, so apply early
• Advisory: rolling applications, so apply early

4. EY

• Global Student Experience programme: rolling applications, so apply early. Some locations already full.

5. PwC

• Actuarial: apply by 30^th October
• Corporate Finance: apply by 24^th December
• Consulting: apply by 28^th November

6. Barclays

• Investment Banking: rolling applications until 9 November 2014, so apply early

7. Bank of England

• All disciplines: apply by 14 November 2014
• Economics/Finance: apply by 14 November 2014

8. RBS

• Corporate and Institutional Banking: apply by 28 November 2014

9. JP Morgan

• Finance: apply by 30 November 2014
• HR: apply by 30 November
• Investment Banking: apply by 30 November

10. Goldman Sachs –

• Summer Analyst: apply by 7 December 2014
• Summer Associate: application deadlines vary

Our online CVs and applications resources are a good place to start to give you some tips and advice about getting started, or you can book a CV/Application Review appointment  with one of our staff. Good luck!