Santander has announced its decision to remove the 2:1 degree classification requirement from its Graduate Scheme from January 2023. The move reinforces the bank’s focus on a broad range of assessments to measure potential and is an acknowledgement that performance at university is not the only indicator of success in the workplace.
Around 16% of students leaving university do not achieve a 2:1 or 1st class degree qualification. The change to entry criteria means over 64,000 more graduates are now able to apply for the Santander Graduate Programme.
The Santander Graduate Programme provides experience across a number of the bank’s functions including Audit, Corporate and Commercial Banking, Cyber, Everyday Banking, and Finance & Risk.
It benefits people starting out in their career by focusing on personal and professional development through mentorship from senior leaders and ongoing career coaching. New recruits are exposed to critical business projects and rotation across different business areas, with the opportunity for a permanent position upon completion.
Anouska Ramsay – HR Director, Culture & Capability, at Santander said, “Academic achievement is important, but it is only one of many factors we look at when searching for new talent. We believe potential can be found anywhere and this move reinforces our commitment to finding the best candidates from a wide range of backgrounds.
“We’ve won awards for our social mobility initiatives, and this is an important development to widen our recruitment criteria. Those that join us can expect to build a foundation for working in finance and grow their career path within the bank.”
Santander recently won two awards for social mobility and providing employees with opportunities to develop and progress their careers at Santander, the TIARA award for Best Early Careers Initiative and the Lord Mayor’s Dragon award for Advancing Socio-economic Diversity in Business. The bank has also been shortlisted at the UK Social Mobility (SoMo) Awards.
Santander is also ranked as one of the Top 75 employers in the Social Mobility Employer Index and is a founding member of Progress Together – a membership body for UK financial services firms and the first of its kind focusing on progression, retention and socio-economic diversity.
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