Information for employers

“Cranfield students are world-renowned for being the best, from a manufacturing and management perspective.”

– Neil Gibson - CRANE

Our University's close links with industry ensure that courses are tailored to explore real-world problems; meaning our students focus on the practical application of skills rather than pure theory.

The result is that our graduates are more polished, more prepared and often more experienced than those from other institutions.

“We’ve had some great success with graduates from Cranfield. They tend to come with the right professional skills, they definitely come with the right technical skills.”
– Dan Nicholls – GE Aviation

“We’re not necessarily looking for one type of person. We know that if someone’s come to Cranfield, they’re going to be a committed, dedicated individual who’s very bright.”
– Joe Robinson – DPD Group

University overview
Our University exclusively teaches postgraduate students across 8 specialist themes:

• Aerospace
• Defence and Security
• Energy and Power
• Environment and Agrifood
• Management
• Manufacturing
• Transport Systems
• Water

“We like the diversity of the student population [and] because Cranfield caters uniquely for postgraduate students, it means we get people with the experience that we are looking for.”
– Liz Harris – ICRC

“We found [the Careers Fair] to be a useful event, especially to help build our profile… [it was] really well organised by your team [and] we met some really enthusiastic students on the day.”
– Beejal Mann, BayWa r.e.

The Employer Engagement team provide a bespoke talent management service designed to support your hiring strategies. Below is a list of the recruitment activities we normally undertake during non-pandemic times. For more information on how we are now operating during the current situation, please go to Pandemic Solutions / Information for employers.

• Get access to the dedicated Employer Engagement team – we will support your recruitment journey from beginning to end. Create your own bespoke package using the services listed below.
  
  

• Advertise your vacancies for FREE – register on our online recruitment platform Symplicity and post vacancies directly to our students and alumni. Manage your own account, deal with applications direct and book on to our events. See how our students engage with Symplicity’s app.
  

• Employer presentations – these on-campus events give you the opportunity to raise brand awareness and share industry insights with our cohorts. You can directly network with the students whilst they are still studying with us, and tell them about your upcoming vacancies.
   
• Careers fairs – we now hold two major fairs throughout the year, one in November and another in June. These popular events are attended by many employers from multiple industries, and you can hold a stand to speak with over 1,200 students from different cultural and academic backgrounds. Watch the 2016 video. Watch the 2017 video.
   
• Industry networking events – Host a stand, provide a guest speaker or simply come along to one of our subject-specific events. You will get the chance to interact with our students, alumni, and network with industry peers.
   
• Headquarter and Site visits – why not invite our students to come and see you? We can organise transport and logistics, if you provide us with relevant people for our students to speak with. Visits usually booked on a half or full day basis.
   
• Employer speed dating sessions – A time-efficient way to get to know a large number of students. We can book 1:1 sessions with relevant cohorts, and you can decide what you’d like to discuss; whether that be upcoming vacancies, your recruitment process or a discreet talent-spotting chat.
   
• On-campus recruitment activities – we can arrange interviews in quiet, dedicated rooms and facilitate your assessment centres here at Cranfield or Shrivenham campuses.
  
• Student project presentation days – most of our students have the opportunity to work on group and individual projects during the academic year, many of which are sponsored by industry and answer a specific business challenge. To prepare our students for presenting in the ‘real world’, they are expected to showcase their projects in public; allowing you to assess the quality of their work and network with them afterwards.
  

“We received a handful of applications through the Symplicity website and [your Cranfield student] was one of them… She was the best candidate we interviewed for the role… we are delighted with her acceptance.”
– Zöe Todd, Edinburgh Airport

Since the pandemic in March 2020 all placements have been conducted virtually. Depending on government guidance to the contrary, we will continue to arrange these for students on a virtual basis.

“[The internship students] challenge the way that a lot of us look at things in the business…We’ve found process improvements…insights into things that we wouldn’t have come across and we’re expecting some significant financial benefits in the projects.”
– Tim Ballard, Finning UK

Internships and Projects – In addition to the presentation days, you can benefit from having one of your business challenges researched by our students.

Each year between April and September our students embark on a project or internship with an organisation to utilise the skills and knowledge they have acquired at Cranfield. It is an excellent opportunity for them to get involved with companies, enhance their business-specific knowledge and assess potential career paths.

As a participating organisation, providing a project opportunity is a rewarding and worthwhile experience. The benefits include a low cost, high quality source of objective research into an issue of value, provided within a short timeframe, and an opportunity to assess the quality of our talent as potential recruits.

The format and timeframe of student projects and internships vary, depending on which of our top-ranked MBA or MSc programmes your organisation is interested in. The details of the engagement are organised in close collaboration with the participating organisation. To express an interest in working with our students in this way, please contact our Internships and Project Manager, on +44(0)1234 753767 or internships@cranfield.ac.uk, or Head of Employer Engagement, Helen Dalling on +44(0)1234 758193 or h.dalling@cranfield.ac.uk.

You can also submit a project below:

• MSc Management Internship Projects
• MSc Logistics and Supply Chain Management Student Projects

“The possibility to have a summer internship in the UK is a unique opportunity that only Cranfield offers.”

– Carlotta Dragoni, alumna, Management MSc, 2015

Below is a calendar of the recruitment cycle we normally undertake during non-pandemic times. For more information on how we are now operating during the current situation, please go to Pandemic Solutions / Information for employers.

“The reason I keep coming to mentor the MBA students at Cranfield because it is extremely fulfilling and rewarding for me. Coaching is something I am very passionate about and if it is for my own Cranfield family, that is the icing on the cake.”
– Amit Mahajan – PWC. Mentor and Alumnus MBA, 2011

Share your expertise to support our students’ career journey.

We welcome employers and alumni to share their industry knowledge and real-world experience with our students. You can do this in the following ways:

• Student mentoring – coach and mentor our students throughout their job hunting process. This can be a mixture of remote and face-to-face contact time, depending on your availability.
  
  
• Skills sessions – run an on-campus session to provide tips, advice and resources to help our students produce a quality job application. This can be purely hypothetical, or for actual vacancies in your company.
   
• Mock interviews – host an entire interview practice programme, or just as a one-off experience. Provide feedback to our students to help them improve their performance.
  
  
• Industry insights – come to campus and tell our students about what it’s like to work in your industry, your company or your function. These events are always very popular with our students, so expect lots of questions!

“I am over the moon, and I don’t know how to thank you apart from thanking you again for your precious help. We are very lucky as students to have such a professional and friendly career service!”
– Franck Paolillo – Mentee and MSc Automotive Engineering, 2019