Arriva - Our Graduate Programme

One of the problems with most Graduate Development Programmes is that they often expect individuals to fit prescribed formulas. It would be convenient if it worked out like that, but in real life, everyone's different. We know you aren't a robot. And we know that everyone needs support if they are going to progress at the right pace, develop as an individual and help us meet our business needs.

Off-the-Job Training

The Arriva Graduate Development Programme is supported by off-the-job training courses that are conducted for all graduates. An overview of the off-the-job courses are detailed below:

Finance for non-financial managers - this 2 day course provides graduates with the form, content and terminology of basic financial statements.

People Management - the course builds your confidence in managing people through an understanding of key principles and the opportunity to develop skills and approaches.

Project Management - this 1 day course provides a practical understanding of project management (for small projects) - processes and approaches.

Graduate European Placement

As a graduate on our programme you will also have the opportunity to visit and work in another European business within Arriva.

The 2 week European placement will commence prior to your 6 month substantive role, typically 12 months into the development programme. It will provide you with an opportunity to improve and enhance your skills through placing you in different work situations/environments and enables the identification and sharing of best practice across businesses.

Your Induction

You'll get a warm welcome when you arrive here. But don't expect to be wrapped in cotton wool for the first few weeks - this is an operational business, so we want you involved and contributing from the start. Your Induction begins with an in-depth introduction to our industry, the Arriva Group and our core businesses, as well as our brand and philosophy.

At the same time, however, it will be one of our main priorities to develop your Personal Development Plan, so that you can start progressing your development right from the beginning. You can be sure it will have clear objectives, and you will soon know what you need to do to achieve them. There's a strong review structure in place too, so your Personal Development Plan will evolve as your skill-set changes.

The Graduate Network

For us, a Graduate Network means more than just making sure everyone gets a phone list. Our Graduate Development Programme is intended to introduce talented people into our businesses on a regular basis. We aim to provide and give new graduates plenty of opportunities to get together, share experiences and share ideas.

An important part of the network is ensuring that graduates meet on a regular basis, and even tackle Group-wide projects together. For this reason, we make sure that much of your induction and your training are organised for you as a group. This means that, even though each graduate will be placed into a business where they tackle real-life challenges, you also spend time together. So you can get to know each other professionally and socially, make friends and build a strong group of business contacts for the future.

Some of the Group-wide training events and courses will also give you some exposure to Arriva across Europe. We think it's valuable for our new graduates to learn about businesses overseas and build international contacts - and there's no better way to do that than by paying them a visit!