This blog gives you the lowdown on Autotrader's Graduate Academy program packed with real-world projects, personal growth, and everything you need to succeed.

If you're a recent graduate looking to launch your career in a dynamic, supportive environment, Autotrader's Graduate Academy is the perfect place to start! Our program isn't just about learning the ropes - it's an experience designed to help you grow, develop new skills, and set yourself up for long-term success.

Why Choose Autotrader?

We've been running our Graduate Academy for a while now, and we've refined it over the years based on feedback from our grads and the changing needs of our business. The program is always evolving - which means it's not a one-size-fits-all approach. We don't believe in setting strict grades or subject requirements because we know talent comes from all kinds of backgrounds.

Our goal is to attract passionate, adaptable, curious individuals who are eager to learn, regardless of what they studied, and provide a learning environment as bespoke and tailored to you as possible.

So, whether you're into tech, sales, marketing, software engineering, or something else, if you've graduated within the last five years, you're welcome to apply for any of our Graduate roles.

What You Can Expect

Our Graduate Academy is designed to take you on a learning journey but with real responsibility, starting from day one. You'll have the opportunity to work on exciting projects, connect with colleagues from across the business, and receive all the support you need to grow both professionally and personally.

The Academy Foundation: Getting Off to a Great Start

Your first few weeks with us will be all about setting you up for success. You'll take part in our Great Start workshops, meet people from different teams, and dive into all things Autotrader. We've got loads of activities planned to help you understand everything from how we work to who our customers are. It's also a great opportunity to start building relationships with your fellow grads and colleagues.

The Academy Foundation covers key themes, like:

• Understanding Yourself and Others
• Autotrader & Our Industry
• Our Customers & Consumers
• Our Culture
• Our Technology
• How We Work Together

This foundation phase will help you feel confident and prepared as you begin your role at Autotrader.

Getting Stuck In

After the foundation, you'll dive deeper into your specific role within Autotrader. Whether you're in technology, marketing, sales, or another area, this period is all about building your expertise and really getting to grips with your responsibilities. You'll be hands-on from the start, learning by doing, and becoming a key part of your team.

Practical Projects

You'll take part in a few practical projects over the course of the program, giving you the chance to broaden your skills. These are designed to challenge you and build your problem-solving abilities, all while giving you a deeper understanding of our business.

We regularly review our projects, but here's some examples of previous ones:

• Project Possible - Working in teams with Early Careers colleagues from across Autotrader, to live and breathe the experience of our Retailers. Building upon knowledge developed in foundation to build experience and insights into customers, consumers, products and the Automotive Ecosystem, whilst developing skills in collaboration, communication, planning and organisation, working with customers and delivering results.
• InsightOut - The Entrepreneurial project where Early Careers colleagues experience how we develop our products, from idea generation, to testing desirability, exploring viability, feasibility and scalability. Learning from experts from across communities and getting hands wing ideas using lean agile techniques.
• Collaboration -Working with The Collaboration Company to take on a business challenge as a collaborative team. Exploring and developing collaboration, decision-making and ideation techniques, building on communication skills, creativity and problem-solving.

Ongoing Support

You're never alone at Autotrader. Throughout the Graduate Academy, you'll have your manager, and a dedicated Tech Mentor - someone who's there to guide you, help you grow, and answer any questions. Plus, our Early Careers team will regularly check in with you, offering career coaching, feedback, and advice to make sure you're getting the most out of the program.

What Happens After the Graduate Academy?

Once you've completed the Graduate Academy, the support doesn't just stop. We'll continue to help you with career coaching and opportunities for growth for another year, making sure you're well-prepared to take the next steps in your journey with us.

Interested? Here's How to Apply

If all this sounds exciting, and you're ready to take the next step in your career, we'd love to hear from you! Recruitment for our Graduate Academy kicks off every autumn, and we plan our roles well in advance to make sure we're always bringing in the right talent for the future.

So, if you're a graduate looking for a place to grow, learn, and make an impact, visit here on our careers page and check out our latest opportunities

We're looking forward to meeting you!