Welcome to Venture Graduates
Connecting talented graduates and ambitious businesses all year round
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What is the Venture Graduate Programme?
The Venture Graduate Programme is on a mission to enhance the levels of productivity, innovation and economic growth in the Cardiff Capital Region. We’re doing that by linking talented graduates with ambitious businesses across South East Wales – through a best in class, end-to-end recruitment and development service.
Our aim is to ensure that the Cardiff Capital Region is an attractive destination for graduates to begin their careers, retaining talent within the region as well as enabling business growth – through the critical advantages brought by a skilled, future proofed and ever developing workforce.
Whether you’re an employer or a graduate looking to achieve your ambitions, find out how Cardiff Capital Region’s commitment to fulfilling the potential of our region, can offer you a professional and fully funded service, at zero cost.
Access to the best available talent through our university partnerships and nationwide recruiting partners.
Provision of professional guidance and cutting-edge recruitment and assessment practices.
No unnecessary paperwork, no longwinded processes. We are easy to deal with and deploy process with pace.
Access to a global network of professional mentoring services through our partnership with Global Welsh.
Lloyd Williams, Employability Development Manager at the University of South Wales talks to us about the proactive partnership role the 4 SE Wales Universities; Cardiff University, University of South Wales, Cardiff Metropolitan University and the Open University have played in advising and supporting the Cardiff Capital Region Graduate programme to date and outlines the continued commitment to the partnership as the successful programme is being rebranded Venture Graduate and relaunched and repurposed to be able to scale up in response to increased demand.
Global Welsh
Global Welsh is a not-for-profit organisation on a mission to connect Wales to the Welsh diaspora – those with a connection to Wales scattered around the world. Through our partnership Global Welsh we are offering graduates and business owners a FREE 12-month Pathfinder or Pioneer membership of Global Welsh. This includes access to our global community platform, Connect and global mentoring programme, MyMentor.
Darogan Talent Cymru
Darogan Talent exists to support students and graduates to find great opportunities in Wales, and to promote Wales as a graduate destination. Through our website, we highlight opportunities on our job board, share news and advice about the world of work in Wales, and allow students and graduates to connect with one another through our members’ area. We work closely with CCR to promote the many graduate roles, in a variety of sectors, that they facilitate in the region, and have worked alongside them on events about Wales’s graduate economy. We look forward to continuing our close partnership to promote the best graduate opportunities Wales has to offer.
6 graduates placed in companies across Caerphilly
5 graduates placed in companies across Monmouthshire
9 graduates placed in companies across Newport
1 graduates placed in companies across Torfaen
1 graduates placed in companies across Merthyr Tydfil
7 graduates placed in companies across Rhondda Cynon Taf
4 graduates placed in companies across the Vale of Glamorgan
6 graduates placed in companies across Bridgend
61 graduates placed in companies across Cardiff
We have appointed 181 graduates across the Cardiff Capital Region
Venture Graduate works with a wide variety of businesses within the region, ranging from start-ups, Micro, SME and larger businesses, all keen to give our graduates an opportunity to start their careers and use their skills and knowledge to help their businesses grow. Several of the businesses including, Spire Renewables (Caerphilly), Mag Manager (Monmouthshire), Lovell (Cardiff) and Clifton Finance (Cardiff) are now hiring their second and third graduates through this scheme.
2000+
applications received to date
85%
of internships made into permanent roles
341
new business contacts made within CCR
53%
of graduates appointed to date are from local universities