Why I built this

I'm Thomas. I studied MEng at the University of Leeds, completed a placement year at a Big 4 firm, and then landed a grad offer at a major bank.

Before I started applying, I knew grad schemes were competitive enough that I'd need to treat applications seriously and at volume. I worked through close to 100 applications across a range of competitive industries – and in doing so, sank hundreds of hours into understanding the process: what each stage was actually testing, how different firms structured their assessments, and where most applicants were going wrong.

The problem I kept running into was the quality of content online. Most of what I found was either recycled advice ("be yourself," "research the company"), written years ago by people who hadn't been through the process recently, or so general it applied to any job at any company.

GradOffer exists because I wanted a place with the type of content I was looking for when applying. Things like: why do so many people fail HireVue before they even get a chance to impress? What does an assessment centre actually look like? What numerical tests do they use? What happens in the group exercises?

If you're a UK student or recent graduate aiming for competitive grad schemes – banking, consulting, Big 4, tech – this site is for you. I'll keep adding content as I write it, and I'll be expanding into tooling (CV reviewer, application tracker) over time.