LCR Grad

Part-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and delivered by Careers and Employability at the University of Liverpool, the LCR Grad Scheme connected local graduate talent with SMEs in the Liverpool City Region. Gradconsult supported this award-winning programme by designing and delivering a bespoke six-month development programme for the graduates recruited.

  • The LCR Grad Scheme team partnered with Gradconsult to design and deliver an impactful development programme for the LCR Grads.

    We recognised the challenge in creating a development programme that benefitted graduates in a huge variety of roles, working in many different organisations, and that SMEs would recognise as providing real return on investment for the time graduates spent out of the office. As such, the team conducted in-depth research with local SMEs, through surveys, focus groups and interviews, to understand their early talent development challenges and skills gaps that they experienced in their organisation.

    Through this process, we identified 16 core competencies for graduates working in SMEs in the Liverpool City Region and created a development programme designed to upskill graduates in these competencies.

  • Each session of the professional development programme is framed around a strategic priority for the LCR, for example ‘A Fairer City Region’ (social innovation and inclusivity), ‘A Cleaner City Region’ (sustainability and the green industrial revolution), and begins with a keynote speaker from an LCR SME who demonstrates why that theme is vital to their business and the wider LCR.

    The scheme was awarded ‘highly commended’ by the Institute of Student Employers and nominated for a TargetJobs award and the LCR Culture & Creativity Award for ‘Improving Excellence’.

  • 'I enjoyed the group task as it is an important topic and it allowed us to think about ways in which we can tackle such problems with our society. I also enjoyed thinking about emotional intelligence and cognitive diversity.'

    Graduate feedback

  • 'Having worked closely with Gradconsult for the last 3 years, I’ve been delighted with the great service we've experienced from the team. They designed and delivered a bespoke, innovative graduate training & development programme which was a pivotal to the success of our project. I highly recommend their services and would gladly work with them again if the opportunity should arise.'

    Greg Hunter, Employer Connections Lead, University of Liverpool

Get in touch

Please get in touch with Gabi Binnie to learn more about our regional programmes.