FOR final-year students looking to land a graduate job, one of the biggest challenges can be understanding the many different recruitment processes that graduate employers use.

About half the recruiters in the UK have a single annual application deadline for their graduate schemes, but these can range from mid-October for some of the investment banks and consulting firms to late June for some parts of the public sector and industrial companies. Increasing numbers of employers recruit year-round, or have a series of different application phases, but often these operate on a first-come, first-served basis until their vacancies are filled.

This means that to try to apply to even a modest short-list of potential employers before leaving university can often take months of research, applications and interviews at the same time as preparing for final exams.

Recruitment for the legal sector follows a completely different pattern and for those studying law, applications for training places are made during the penultimate year, more than two years before starting work.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is one of dozens of major law firms currently accepting applications for their August 2007 intake. A recruitment code of practice, established by the Law Society, requires each firm to operate the same end-of-July application deadlines, conduct interviews over the summer period and make offers from early September.

The advantage of this regulated system is that law students who have secured a training place can concentrate on the final year of their studies without the distraction of job-hunting. Those studying non-law subjects need to apply during their final year, before starting a postgraduate law conversion course.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer also offers work experience placements in the year. The deadline for the summer 2005 vacation scheme has passed but the firm is advertising its 2006 programme.



Martin Birchall is editor of The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers



What does it do?

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is a major international law firm with offices in 18 countries and more than 2,400 lawyers in Europe, Asia and the US. By fees earned, it is the third largest of London’s so-called “magic circle” firms that handle merger and acquisition and corporate finance work.



What do its graduates do?

The firm is recruiting 100 trainee solicitors to begin work in August 2007 and February 2008.



Where are the graduate jobs?

London.

What is the firm paying this year?

Trainees are paid £29,500, but this rises to about £50,000 upon qualification.



What’s the competition like?

The firm generally receives about 30 applications for each training place.

How has Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer done in the Top 100?

2000 - 57
2001 - 75
2002 - 55
2003 - 65
2004 - 52
2005 - 55

The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers is based on research with more than 15,000 final-year university students. Order the latest edition from Times Books First for only £11.99 (RRP £14.99). Call 0870 1608080 or visit www.timesonline.co.uk/booksfirstbuy

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