Graduate trainee scheme for lower A level grades

[coldcallerbaiter]

My friends son got 3 C grades, as there was a bereavement at the time and derailed it all, but then got a first class Economics degree.
Has been working for the last year in an office environment but wants to get on to a program with some progression and professional qualifications but they all want higher A levels. Fairly open as to what field but could do, accountancy, data science, finance or related.

Know of one that is open to applications for lower A levels?

Bank of england?

Does he not address the circumstances for the lower results? Surely there must be somewhere he can write about it briefly. I would get him to contact a recruitment agency and ask their advice on it.

Civil Service Fast Stream? I think they only have degree requirements so A Levels wouldnt matter. There is a specific Economics stream and a Finance stream. He would need to wait until the next application round opens though which might be in the new year?

I got on the civil service fast stream as a trainee accountant with no a levels (spectacularly flunked out at AS level) & a 1st class degree.

Valuation Office - train to be a Chartered Surveyor.

Someone else in our group suggested that but when we looked it said 3 Bs for boe

My company run a grad scheme and we don't take A level results into account.

I don't think the Lloyds Bank graduate schemes specify A level results, but this is from memory, so please do check.

When we assess grads we don't look at their A-level grades. Looks better that he got low A levels and high degree rather than the other way around. We test grads anyway to see what their potential is - so they'll get numerical, critical thinking, problem-solving, presentation skills and communication testing. Tell him to crack on with applying - only sure way to fail is not to apply.

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/
https://giveagradago.com/
https://www.grb.uk.com/
https://graduatecoach.co.uk/blog/recruitment-agencies-graduates/

Has he tried these companies - they are just a small sample of googling. Also he should contact his university careers service for advice, they are really helpful - but students seem so reluctant to use them. Does he live in London or would he move for a couple of years to get his career started?
And here's my final point - and I mean this in the best way, we are looking for initiative in our grads - someone who doesn't need to be spoon-fed, (or their mum's friend to get a job) and shows resilience and ingenuity. They need to start speaking to people, phoning up agencies, building relationships, making connections and doing it themselves.
Even though he doesn't know what he wants to do - he needs to start figuring out what kind of job would suit him best, in terms of working style, company culture, his strengths and weaknesses. (Careers dept at my son's Uni was very helpful on this and they will support Students even after a year). He also needs to tailor his approach to each company/industry/job - we employ Economists and I often get approached speculatively - these approaches are about as personal as junk mail and that's what happens to them - they go straight into the junk folder. If someone talked about our past projects featured on our website or our ideas posted on Linkedin and related it to some experience they had or studied - I'd be blown away - but it has literally never happened!!!! Better to send 5 great applications than 500 mediocre applications. Good luck to him.

In my organisation we don't even ask A-Level grades. We don't have a minimum degree requirement either.

Plenty out there who will look past A-Levels.

Deloitte's Risk Advisory graduate scheme specifies minimum 2:1 degree, but makes no mention of A level grades in the job spec.